"𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑽𝑼𝑺: 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑮"

“𝟏𝟎: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋”

The single gunshot that echoed off the damp walls of the warehouse felt as if it had pierced through the very center of my heart. When Corvus threw Slius aside, the ocean-blue in his eyes had been replaced by a pitch-black darkness. But the moment he turned to me, a mournful light leaked through that void. He didn’t shake me when he reached my side; instead, as his hands touched my shoulders, I felt his fingertips tremble. It might have been a proclamation of ownership, but it held a profound tenderness.

"I let him look at you,"

Corvus said. His voice was like a muffled roar from deep underground, but this time it shook more with regret than rage.

"I let him get close to you, let him touch you with those filthy hands for seconds... I will never forgive myself, Elara."

He was so careful as he pulled me toward him, acting as if I were made of porcelain and would shatter into a thousand pieces at a single rough movement. When he pressed my head against his chest, I heard his heart beating irregularly and hard, as if it were trying to break his ribs. Corvus’s jaw was tight, but his gaze traveled over my temple—where Slius had just held the gun—with great sorrow. In that moment, I realized Corvus’s real battle wasn't with Slius, but with his own conscience for failing to protect me.

"Corvus, I’m fine..."

I whispered, trying to rein in the tremble in my voice.

"You are not fine,"

he said. This time his voice didn't rise; instead, it turned into a whisper, but this whisper was heavier than his roar. He didn't let go; he wrapped his arms around me like a cocoon.

"For anyone but me to even look at a single strand of your hair is death, Elara. I told you that. Now, every place that man touched you is starting a fire in my soul."

He leaned down, bringing his face close to mine. His smoky cologne and the scent of rain mingled together. The ambitious jealousy in his blue eyes had given way to a deep possessiveness.

"You are mine,"

he said, engraving the words into my soul.

"I won't let anyone in this world steal you from me. If I must, I will hide you from the entire world. I will hide you in my own shadow, but I will never give you up."

I didn’t protest when he took me in his arms; his embrace surrounded me like a sanctuary. When we stepped outside, the rain had intensified as if trying to wash away Istanbul's filth. While the guards silently hauled Slius away, Corvus placed me into the back seat of the black car as gently as if I were the world’s most precious jewel.

When the car doors closed, the dim light inside deepened the silence between us. Corvus sat beside me but left no distance. He raised his hand, tracing his fingers over the slight redness on my throat where Slius had squeezed. His touch was as light as a feather, as if he wanted to transfer the pain there to his own skin.

"Why?"

I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"Why so much... Why me?"

Corvus ran his hand through my hair, cupping my face in his palms. The distance between our eyes was now only a breath away.

"Because you are the only thing that survived that fire in Lyon, Elara,"

he said, his voice as fragile as a shard of broken glass.

"And all my life, I have searched for treasure among ruins. You are the only true treasure I have ever found. And I do not share my treasures; I either carry them in my heart or hide them so deep that no one can reach them."

He pulled me closer and pressed his lips long and hard against my forehead, exactly where Slius had held the gun. This was more than a kiss; he wanted to cleanse that spot of all evil, to erase Slius's mark and replace it with his own compassionate seal. In that moment, I realized once more that I couldn't escape Corvus’s shadow. But that shadow no longer terrified me; instead, it enveloped me.

"We are going home now,"

Corvus said, the blue light in his eyes settling slightly as he pulled back.

"And there, we will settle our unfinished business. No more running, little girl. Tonight is the night to pay the price for everything."

As the car headed toward the mansion, Corvus’s hand didn't leave my knee for a single second. His possessiveness wasn't a prison; it was the world’s safest harbor. And like a ship waiting for the storm to pass in that harbor, I was surrendering to him a little more with every second.

"Why?"

I said suddenly, my voice snapping like a whip in the dimness of the car.

"Why did you push me to that table? Why did you try to spend my life like a gambling debt?"

Corvus chuckled softly without taking his eyes off the road; the sound was as eerie as the silence of a grave.

"I didn't spend you, Elara. I won you. Before you sat at that table, you were just a possibility, but the moment you threw those dice, you became my reality."

"I am not your property!"

I shouted, my rage no longer fitting inside my ribcage.

"You cannot make me an instrument of your dark world. That’s why I fled from Lyon; to stay away from men like you, from this filth!"

When Corvus brought the car to a screeching halt in front of the mansion, the seatbelt dug into my shoulders. He turned toward me with such intensity that the fire in his ocean-blue eyes filled the entire cabin.

"You didn't flee from Lyon, Elara, you ended in Lyon! I was the one who pulled you out of those ashes. Now, as you stand up to me, don't forget who you're indebted to. Everything has a price, and your time to pay is just beginning."

We stepped out of the car immediately. As the massive doors of the mansion closed behind us, the suffocating grandeur inside weighed down on me. As Corvus walked toward the hall, I continued to shout after him.

"You can’t keep me here! Even if you lock the doors, even if you station the guards, I won't be a piece of your collection!"

Corvus stopped abruptly and walked toward me with such majesty that I instinctively took a step back. But I didn't drop my shoulders; I kept my chin high. I looked into his eyes without blinking against his unshakable authority.

"Stubbornness..."

Corvus said, his voice as low as a whisper but just as jarring.

"That will be the trait of yours I love the most and break the fastest. Now, go upstairs! Go to your room and don't take a single step from behind that door until I come. Don't test my patience, little girl; because when my patience runs out, the only thing that will burn in this mansion is that tiny pride of yours."

"I’m not going!"

I defied. Corvus wrapped his fingers around my chin, fixing my face to his. His touch was as searing as a coal and as firm as a shackle. For a moment, I lost my breath against the devastating possessiveness in his gaze.

"You are going,"

he said, stamping every word into my soul like a seal.

"And there, you will wait for the moment you face me."

When he released me harshly, I turned toward the stairs in a rage. As I went up, I felt the gaze of the man I left behind like a bullet in my back. When I entered the room, I closed the door so fast the sound echoed throughout the mansion. When I heard the sound of the door being locked, my fierce desire for freedom overcame my fear.

I sat on the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. Corvus thought he had imprisoned me here; but he had forgotten that when a bird enters a cage, it will beat its wings until they bleed to escape. I paced the room for hours. When midnight came, the uncanny silence of the mansion enveloped everything. Corvus’s time for "settling the account" might have come, but I would settle that account by my own rules.

I pulled out the silver key I had snatched from the table when the courier arrived earlier that day. The coldness of the metal burned my palm. I closed my eyes and vowed that just as I had walked out of that fire in Lyon, I would walk out of this cage.