Chapter Five: When the Door Closed Behind Them
1411 Words
The door creaked wider.
Lena’s breath stopped.
Her fingers tightened around Kael’s hand without thinking. The warmth between them flared instantly—too fast, too strong. Her chest hummed like a tight string pulled too far.
Kael stepped in front of her.
“Stay behind me,” he said quietly.
“I’m tired of hiding,” she whispered back.
“I’m not,” he replied. “Not when it comes to you.”
A shadow moved across the floor.
Then a figure stepped into the dim light.
Not a guard.
Not the crimson prince.
A woman.
She was tall, dressed in dark green, her long hair braided tightly down her back. Her face was sharp but calm, her eyes watchful, not cruel.
She raised both hands slowly.
“Easy,” she said. “If I wanted you dead, you’d already be screaming.”
Lena swallowed. “That’s not comforting.”
The woman’s gaze flicked to her. “You’re the human.”
“I have a name,” Lena said, tired of repeating it.
The woman nodded. “Good. Names matter. I’m Nyra.”
Kael didn’t lower his guard. “You serve my brother.”
Nyra smiled faintly. “I serve myself.”
“That makes two of us,” Lena muttered.
Nyra’s eyes softened for just a moment.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said to Lena. “This realm eats soft things.”
Lena lifted her chin, though her knees trembled. “Then it’s going to choke.”
Kael glanced back at her. “You don’t need to provoke everyone.”
“Yes, I do,” she whispered. “I’m scared.”
Nyra studied them both.
“The horn sounded,” she said. “The hunt has begun.”
Lena’s heart dropped. “Hunt?”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “My brother’s favorite game.”
Nyra nodded. “He released trackers into the forest. Creatures that follow magic bonds.”
Lena’s chest burned faintly again.
“Oh,” she said weakly. “That explains the burning.”
Kael cursed under his breath.
Nyra crossed her arms. “You can’t stay here.”
“Where else do we go?” Kael demanded.
“There’s an old passage beyond the eastern trees,” Nyra said. “It leads to the borderlands. Unstable, dangerous—”
“Perfect,” Lena said. “Everything else has tried to kill me already.”
Nyra almost smiled.
“But,” Nyra continued, “you won’t make it unless the bond is… managed.”
Lena stiffened.
“Managed how?” she asked carefully.
Nyra looked between them.
“Closer,” she said. “The bond feeds on proximity. Touch. Emotion.”
Kael’s voice was sharp. “That’s not an option.”
Nyra raised a brow. “Then you’ll die.”
Silence pressed in.
Lena looked at Kael.
He was rigid, like a man holding himself back from the edge of something terrifying.
“Kael,” she said softly. “Look at me.”
He didn’t.
She stepped around him.
“Kael.”
He met her eyes.
“I won’t force you,” she said. “But I don’t want to disappear. And I don’t want you to break because of me.”
His voice was low. “You don’t understand what happens if I let go.”
“Then tell me.”
He stepped closer, his presence heavy.
“I lose control,” he said. “Of the curse. Of myself.”
“And what happens then?”
His jaw clenched.
“I destroy things.”
Nyra interrupted gently. “You already are. Just slower.”
The forest outside growled.
Not wind.
Something alive.
Lena flinched.
“Okay,” she said quickly. “Decision time.”
She reached for Kael again.
He didn’t stop her.
The moment their skin touched, the bond surged—stronger than before. Lena gasped, the warmth flooding her chest, her arms, her throat. It wasn’t pain this time.
It was need.
Kael sucked in a sharp breath.
“Lena,” he warned.
“I know,” she whispered. “I feel it too.”
Nyra turned away politely. “I’ll give you a moment. Be quick.”
The door closed softly behind her.
Silence fell again.
But it was thick now. Charged.
Kael’s hand tightened around Lena’s.
“You shouldn’t look at me like that,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m the only solid thing in this world.”
She swallowed. “Right now, you are.”
His control slipped—just a little.
She felt it.
The air warmed. Shadows pulled closer to the walls.
Kael leaned down until their foreheads touched.
“If we cross this line,” he said, voice rough, “there’s no pretending anymore.”
“I’m done pretending,” she replied.
His breath brushed her lips.
The bond flared bright and hungry.
He kissed her.
Not gentle.
Not soft.
Like someone drowning who finally found air.
Lena gasped against his mouth, her hands fisting in his clothes. Heat rushed through her, intense but grounding, like the world finally made sense.
The pain vanished completely.
Kael groaned softly and pulled back, breathing hard, like it took everything he had to stop.
“That’s enough,” he said hoarsely. “If I go further—”
“You’ll lose control,” she finished.
“Yes.”
She nodded, shaky but steady. “Then don’t lose it. Just… stay.”
He rested his forehead against hers again, trembling.
“I’ve wanted to be touched without fear for so long,” he admitted quietly.
Her heart twisted.
Outside, a scream echoed sharp, inhuman.
Nyra burst back into the room.
“They’re here.”
The ground shook.
A low growl rolled through the walls.
Lena stepped forward before she could think.
“I can feel them,” she said. “Three. No four.”
Kael stared at her. “You sense them?”
“I don’t know how,” she said. “I just… do.”
Nyra’s eyes widened. “The bond is accelerating.”
“That sounds bad,” Lena said.
“It is,” Nyra replied. “And impressive.”
The window shattered inward.
A creature lunged through black-skinned, too many limbs, eyes glowing red.
Lena screamed.
Kael moved instantly, shoving her aside as dark magic flared from his hands. The creature slammed into the wall, shrieking.
Another followed.
Then another.
Nyra drew twin blades and leapt forward.
“Move!” she shouted.
Lena stumbled back, her heart racing.
One creature broke through Kael’s defense and flew toward her.
She raised her hands without thinking.
“No!”
Light exploded outward.
The creature hit an invisible wall and disintegrated into ash.
Lena stared at her hands, shaking.
“I I did that.”
Kael looked back at her, awe and fear mixing in his eyes.
“You defended yourself,” he said.
Her knees buckled.
Kael caught her again.
But the cost hit instantly.
Pain tore through her chest, sharper than before.
She cried out.
Kael screamed too, dropping to his knees with her.
Nyra shouted, “The bond too much distance!”
Kael pulled Lena against him desperately.
“Stay with me,” he begged. “Please.”
“I’m here,” she gasped. “I’m here.”
Their foreheads touched again.
The pain eased slowly, reluctantly.
The last creature fled, screeching into the night.
Silence fell.
Nyra stood still, breathing hard.
“You can’t keep fighting like this,” she said. “Every time she uses power, it pulls on the bond. And every time the bond tightens”
“It shortens the time,” Kael finished.
“Time until what?” Lena whispered.
Nyra looked at her sadly.
“Until the bond fully claims you both.”
Lena’s stomach sank.
“And what happens then?”
Nyra hesitated.
“Either you become part of this realm,” she said, “or it destroys you.”
Kael held Lena closer.
“I won’t let that happen,” he said fiercely.
Nyra met his gaze. “Then you’ll have to face your brother.”
A cold voice echoed from the hallway.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
The crimson prince stepped into the ruined doorway, smiling as the walls bled light.
Lena’s heart thundered.
Kael rose slowly, shielding her with his body.
“This ends tonight,” Kael said.
His brother’s eyes gleamed.
“Yes,” he agreed. “It does.”
- Writer
