VEIL OF DESIRE

“When a Warrior Weeps”

Chapter 33

The sky outside Aria’s apartment was streaked with the golden hues of dusk, casting long shadows across the living room walls. She slipped off her shoes with a tired sigh and dropped her purse on the chair by the door. The scent of lavender from her oil diffuser lingered faintly in the air, calming her nerves after a draining day.

She looked at the clock. 6:57 PM.

Her heartbeat quickened.

Like clockwork, her phone vibrated on the table right at 7:00 PM.

Unknown Number.

She didn’t hesitate.

“Hello,” she answered softly, the corners of her lips already curling into a smile.

“Hello, Aria.” Elion’s voice came through, deep and serene like the calm after a storm.

She settled into the couch, tucking her legs beneath her. “You always call at the perfect time.”

“I try.” A short pause, then his voice turned playful. “Tell me… is it really possible to see the same person in your dreams every time?”

Aria laughed gently, relaxing further. “That’s what I wanted to ask you.”

“Maybe it means something,” she said, her tone more wistful now. “I see this man in my dreams every night. His eyes… they’re like the ocean. He never tells me who he is, but he makes me feel safe. Alive.”

Elion’s heart thudded against his chest, his fingers clenching slightly around the pendant he wore. His voice came out low, amused, and warm.

“Well, maybe you’re into him.”

Aria let out a soft laugh. “Maybe I am. He’s nothing like the men in this world…”

“I would hope not,” Elion said with a chuckle, then gently asked, “Do you… miss him when you wake up?”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Every morning.”

He closed his eyes, imagining her face. “Maybe he misses you too.”

Before she could respond, a knock jolted her from the moment.

Her breath caught. She rose from the couch, hesitant. “Someone’s at the door.”

She opened it slowly—

Alex.

“Alex? What are you doing here?”

He barged in without waiting for an invitation. “I need to talk to you. Who were you just on the phone with?” he snapped, scanning the room.

She stood frozen, her phone still in hand.

“Who is it, Aria?!” he barked, then noticed her startled expression. His tone shifted into something more venomous. “Is it that same guy you’ve been talking to every night?”

Elion’s voice came through the phone still in her grasp. “Aria? Are you okay?”

Alex heard it. He snatched the phone. “You think you’re smart? Hiding behind some anonymous number? I’ll find you—and when I do, you’ll regret ever speaking to her.”

Elion’s voice was calm but cold. “Harming her will only make you smaller than you already are.”

Alex’s hand tightened on the phone. “She belongs to me. You hear me? I paid for her family’s debt. Half a million dollars. She owes me her life.”

Aria stood frozen, tears forming in her eyes. “Alex, stop—”

Alex turned to her, wild-eyed. “You forgot where you came from, Aria? That house your parents live in? Still under my name. That surgery your mom had? I paid every cent. You think you get to walk away from me now?”

She shook her head, trembling. “You helped because you could. Not to own me.”

Alex threw the phone on the floor and stormed toward her. Elion’s voice, still coming faintly through the cracked speaker, called her name again and again.

Aria backed away. “Please go. You can’t just show up here like this.”

Alex stood in front of her, chest rising with rage, but for a moment, something in her eyes stopped him. He growled under his breath and turned toward the door. “You’ll see. No one will protect you from me.”

He slammed the door on his way out.

She stood still, shaking. The phone was cracked but still working. Carefully, she picked it up.

“El…?” she whispered.

“I’m here,” he said softly. “I heard everything.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he would—”

“You don’t need to apologize,” he said. “You did nothing wrong. I should’ve protected you better… I swear, Aria, he won’t hurt you again.”

She sank to the floor, tears falling freely. “I’m so tired, El… I feel like I’m trapped.”

“You’re not alone,” he whispered. “Not anymore.”

Her voice broke. “I don’t even know who you are. You’re just… a voice, a dream.”

“And yet I feel more real to you than anyone else, don’t I?”

She let out a soft sob. “Yes. God, yes.”

He stayed silent for a moment, listening to her breathe. Then, gently, he said,

“Lie down. Close your eyes. I’ll stay with you until you sleep.”

Her tears slowed. She lay back on the couch, curling into herself, her pillow hugged tightly as though he were there.

“Tell me something,” she murmured sleepily. “Anything to help me forget.”

He closed his eyes too, resting a hand over his heart. “Once, in a realm beyond this world, there was a garden that bloomed only when two souls were connected by longing. They met there each night, walking among starlit flowers, never speaking of the pain that bound them. Just… being.”

Aria smiled faintly. “Sounds like our dream garden.

He smiled, even as his heart ached. “Yes. It’s real.

Her breathing slowed. “El?”

“Yes?”

“If this is all a dream… I don’t want to wake up.”

And with that, she drifted to sleep, her lips parted in a silent whisper of his name.

Elion had always known anger. On battlefields, it was a tool—clean, sharp, controlled. But this… this was different. As Alex’s voice rose, rough and full of venom, Elion’s hands trembled where they rested on the edge of his obsidian desk. His ear was pressed tightly to the speaking crystal—his only tether to her voice, her world—and every word Alex spewed felt like a dagger carving into Elion’s chest.

“You think you get to walk away from me now?”

Elion’s breath hitched. The rage in that man’s tone wasn’t just power-hungry—it was sickeningly possessive. Each word Alex shouted at Aria dragged Elion deeper into helplessness. He could hear her trembling. The way she tried to speak but faltered. The way her breath caught before her voice vanished into silence.

The air in Elion’s chamber turned colder, heavier.

“I paid for your family’s debt! You owe me your life!”

Elion’s jaw clenched so tight it ached. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the sides of his chair, fingernails digging into the carved runes. There were no blades to draw, no monsters to strike down. And yet his soul cried for war—for action—for anything that could shatter the walls between them and get to her.

She was crying.

He heard it.

She was trying to breathe through it.

And he was helpless.

“I’ll find you and deal with you,” Alex snarled through the line.

Those words didn’t just echo in Elion’s ears. They branded themselves into him. The man wasn’t speaking in metaphors. He was threatening her safety. Declaring war.

But Elion wasn’t in her world.

He couldn’t walk through the veil right now.

He couldn’t stop Alex’s hand if it reached for her.

That truth broke him more than anything ever had.

His ocean-blue eyes burned, wide and full of silent fury and sorrow. His heart thundered inside his chest like a beast locked in a cage. No battlefield, no duel, no war had ever made him feel so powerless. And it terrified him.

He pressed his forehead against the cold stone wall beside him, whispering her name like a prayer. “Aria…”

She was still there, barely. Her voice soft. Choked.

“El…”

Her voice wavered like a candle in the wind.

“I’m here,” he whispered back. His own voice broke. “I heard everything.”

He could barely hold himself together. His voice cracked even as he tried to comfort her. But the truth was—he was shattered. Not just because she was being threatened, not just because she cried—but because she didn’t even fight back. Not really. She believed she was powerless.

And that belief… broke him.

He saw himself in her—his younger self, back before he was forged in fire, back when loss still frightened him instead of fueling him. He wanted to storm into her world, to strike down Alex with a single blow, to kneel before her and say, “You are not his. You are yours.”

But he couldn’t.

Not yet.

And it was killing him.

His chest ached with the weight of it. His immortal strength meant nothing right now. He could command legions of warriors, yet couldn’t cross this invisible line to shield the only soul who made him feel human again.

Tears blurred his vision.

Not from fear.

Not from weakness.

But from love.

From knowing the woman he adored had to fall asleep holding a pillow to feel less alone—when all he wanted was to be her arms, her safety, her truth.

And so he stayed there, forehead against the wall, voice cracking, whispering stories and promises she wouldn’t remember.

But still he whispered.

Because it was the only way he could hold her—until her dream began.