FORCED PROXIMITY, FORCED CONFESSIONS
1391 Words
The heavy door shut behind her with a final sound. The lock clicked. Aria stood frozen just inside Kael’s chambers. He was already there, waiting in the center of the room. The air felt too tight to breathe.
“You could have told them the truth,” she said, her voice quiet in the stillness.
He didn’t look at her. “I did.”
“You told them I have to stay with you or you’ll die. That’s not the whole truth.”
“It’s the part that matters to them.” He finally turned. His eyes held a faint, dangerous light. “Would you prefer I told them you’re innocent? That this is all a terrible mistake?”
“Yes.”
“And then what?” He took a step closer. “They pity you? They let you go back to my brother? The bond doesn’t care about pity, Aria. It’s a fact. My body is a fact. If you leave, I die. I gave them the only reason that would make them lock you in here instead of casting you out.”
“So this is you protecting me?” She let out a disbelieving breath. “By making me your prisoner?”
“You were already a prisoner!” The words burst from him, harsh and raw. He ran a hand through his hair, struggling for control. “The moment the bond snapped, you became a prisoner to it. To me. I just moved you to a different cell.”
“And you get to be the warden.”
“I don’t want to be anything to you.” His voice dropped, weary. “But here we are.”
Silence fell again, heavier than before. Aria wrapped her arms around herself. “What now, then? Do I sleep on the floor?”
“Take the bed.”
“Where will you sleep?”
“The floor.”
“I’m not taking the bed while you’re on the stone.”
“Fine.” He sounded exhausted. “Then we both have a miserable night.”
He walked to the far side of the large bed and sat on the very edge, his back to her. The message was clear. Aria stood for another minute before moving to the opposite side. She sat down, leaving a vast space between them. She didn’t lie down. Neither did he.
“Why does it happen?” she asked into the quiet. “The curse.”
His back tensed. “You don’t need to know.”
“I’m tied to it. I think I do.”
“Knowing won’t make it easier. It will just give you more nightmares.”
“I already have nightmares.”
He was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was low and flat. “The Moon didn’t just reject me. She punished me. She carved a piece of her own wrath into my soul. It eats away at everything good. Everything calm. It wants chaos. It wants to break me until there’s nothing left but what she made me.”
“What did she make you?”
He didn’t answer.
“Kael.”
“A monster.” He said it simply. A stated fact. “One that even the Moon fears.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You should.” He finally lay down, still facing away. “Go to sleep, Aria.”
She lay down, staring at the ceiling. The bond was a quiet hum between them, a strange awareness of his presence. She could feel his wakefulness. His pain.
Hours might have passed. The room was dark when his breathing changed.
It became ragged. Sharp. A low groan slipped from him.
Aria pushed up onto her elbows. “Kael?”
“Don’t,” he gritted out. His body trembled. “Just… don’t.”
She saw the shadows then, curling up from his skin like smoke in the dark. He curled in on himself, fists clenched.
“Is it the curse?”
“What do you think?” The words were strained.
“Let me help.”
“No.”
“My touch worked before.”
“And it made everything worse after!” He tried to sit up, but a spasm wracked him. He cried out, a sound of pure agony.
Aria was moving before she thought. She crossed the space between them and placed her hand on his back.
The effect was instant. The shadows recoiled. The tension drained from his muscles. He went limp, sucking in a deep, shuddering breath.
For a moment, there was just silence and the feel of his skin under her palm.
He slowly rolled over to look at her. His eyes were clear, but full of torment. “Why do you keep doing that?”
“You were in pain.”
“I’m always in pain.” He didn’t pull away. “This just postpones it. It gathers strength. It comes back angrier. You’re putting a target on your own back.”
“Then what’s the answer? Let you suffer?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one we have.” He sat up, putting distance between them again. His voice was rough. “You need to understand something. This bond you calm? It’s not a sickness I have. It’s what I am. When you push it back, you’re fighting me.”
Her breath caught. “That’s not true.”
“It is.” He looked at her, and his eyes were bleak. “You’re trying to heal a wound that’s actually the core of the tree. You can’t. All you can do is make the tree resent you for trying.”
“So I’m just supposed to do nothing? Watch it destroy you?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to.”
“No.” She shook her head, fierce. “I’m a healer. It’s what I do. And I’m bonded to you. That has to mean something. Maybe this is the reason. Maybe I’m supposed to fix it.”
A harsh, broken laugh escaped him. “You really believe that? After everything? You think the Moon, who cursed me, gave me a mate to fix her own mistake? That’s not mercy. That’s another layer of the joke.”
“Then what is this?” she demanded, her own frustration rising. She held up her wrist, where his accidental mark still showed. “What is any of this for?”
“I don’t know!” He stood up abruptly, pacing away. “I don’t have the answers you want. All I know is that you being near me keeps the curse from consuming me completely. And that my being near you is destroying your life. There is no good outcome here, Aria. Only bad and worse.”
He stopped pacing, his back to her. His shoulders were tight. “You should hate me.”
“I don’t.”
“You will.” He said it with absolute certainty.
Before she could reply, he stiffened. A low, inhuman sound rumbled in his chest. He turned slowly.
The change was faster this time. The silver light flooded his eyes completely. Dark veins climbed his neck. His fingers curled, nails sharpening into points.
“Kael?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Stay… back…” The words were slurred, guttural.
She moved toward him anyway.
“I said stay BACK!” he roared. The sound shook the room. He was losing the fight, and fast.
She reached for him. “Let me help!”
Her hand touched his chest.
The curse didn’t calm. It erupted.
He grabbed her wrist, his grip iron-strong. His other hand came up and cupped the side of her face. It wasn’t gentle. His claws pricked her skin. His breath was hot and ragged against her cheek.
He was holding her, but he was also holding himself back. The war inside him was in his eyes, in the tremble of his arms.
His voice, when it came, was a distorted, haunting mix of man and beast, shaking with agony and a terrifying, final warning.
“If I lose control… I will kill you.”
His eyes flashed.
Then the last of the gray was gone, swallowed by pure, feral silver.
- Writer
