The Healer and Her God

Chapter 7 The Unfinished Breath

The silence between them thrummed like a taut string ready to break. Kaelen’s thumb still brushed against Eria’s pulse, his eyes burning into hers as though he might devour her without moving an inch.

Her tails flicked, restless, betraying every unspoken thought. She leaned closer, unable to stop herself, the faintest part of her lips brushing against his breath. The chamber seemed to collapse around them, leaving only this—his hand on her wrist, her heart clawing its way out of her chest, the promise of something inevitable—

The door creaked.

“Your Majesty?” A guard’s voice cut the air like a blade, tentative yet echoing in the chamber.

Kaelen tore his gaze away first, releasing her hand so quickly it felt like a wound. His voice snapped back into command, rougher than usual. “What is it?”

The guard shifted awkwardly in the doorway, eyes darting between them as though he had stepped into fire and wasn’t sure whether to retreat. “The council… they request your presence in the lower court. A matter of grain shortages.”

Eria’s ears flattened in irritation, though she schooled her face to stillness. Her heart still thundered from the almost-touch, her lips tingling with the kiss that never happened.

Kaelen rose slowly from the step, towering now, cloak falling back over his shoulders as if he had never let his guard drop. Yet his jaw was too tight, his nostrils flaring with what he refused to say. “Tell them I’ll be there shortly.”

The guard bowed hastily and shut the door, though not without one last glance at Eria that made her bristle.

Silence returned, but it was no longer gentle—it was sharp, electric.

Eria turned away first, gathering her satchel with hands that shook despite her control. “You should go. The kingdom waits.” Her voice was steady, but her tails swayed with agitation.

Kaelen did not move toward the door. Instead, he stepped close enough that his shadow swallowed her, his breath brushing her ear. “We are not finished.”

Her spine tingled. She dared a glance back, and his eyes locked with hers, raw and unmasked for only a heartbeat before he turned, sweeping out of the chamber with the weight of a king once more.

The door closed, leaving Eria standing alone, every nerve in her body alight, her lips parted with the ghost of what should have been.

And in that unfinished breath, obsession only dug deeper.