Chapter 18: His Future Bride

I ought to have known better than to walk the palace halls alone.

Especially tonight.

Especially last night.

My skin still stung with the recollection of Kael's touch, his punishment branded into my skin like a searing memory that would never fade. I had not slept well, bound in sheets full of him, smoke and wine and cold steel.

Now, I was ghost-walking too, couldn't sit, fidgety in a way that hurt in my bones.

I had turned a corner, planning to slide into the gardens once more — needed air, needed room — when the low murmur of voices halted me.

Voices. and laughter.

Her laughter.

High. Light. Delicate in a way that hurt in my ears.

I moved cautiously forward, keeping myself between the walls and the edges of the light that the torches could not reach.

And I saw them then.

Kael was in the center of the marble corridor, his black hair shining with light from the chandeliers, not in dark clothes, which was his custom, but dressier-looked—edges of silver lace on the ends of his jacket, shining like moon-thrown spin made.

He did look like a prince.

Standing beside him was a woman.

No — floated.

She was skeletal and tall, her hair snow-white, braided in a delicate knot to which rubies were attached. Her dress hugged her form like a second skin, catching each of her breaths with its glint.

She set a bony hand on Kael's arm, smiling up at him with the familiarity that wound my belly into cruel knots.

And the horribleness of it?

He let her.

He did not push her away, did not snarl, and did not show his teeth like he did with everyone else who was stupid enough to touch him.

No.

He just stood.

Quiet.

Open.

I could not breathe.

I did not need someone to inform me what she was.

The court was whispering in hushed tones for the whole kingdom to hear — whispers of the royal houses pushing Kael into forging a future, into marriage, into selecting a queen.

And if the whispers were true, Lady Seraphina of House Veylen was the most secure choice.

His bride.

I stepped back shuddering, heart shattering so loudly within my chest that I knew they could hear it.

But they didn't turn around.

They didn't notice me.

I was invisible. As always.

A blood slave. A possession.

Nothing more.

The pain sliced so cuttingly, so brutally, that I held on to the stone wall to remain standing.

I couldn't remain here.

I couldn't bear this.

I whirled around shaking legs and fled, Seraphina's laughter echoing after me like a curse.

I don't recall how I reached my rooms.

The door slammed behind me, and I pushed myself against it, sliding down the wall until I was a tight, hard knot on the floor.

I hated that I could be so easily broken by Kael.

How even through it all — the punishment, the rejection, the fleeting shreds of ownership that hovered on the brink of seizing on something else — I still needed him.

Still hurt for him.

I was a scorn, a parched, crackling sound.

Hope was a merciless being in such an institution.

I ducked forward, bracing my face on my knees, scrunching my eyes tightly shut, trying to keep the image of them together.

I was so far in my grief that I didn't even notice the door creak open again.

Not until a shadow fell over me.

"Scarlett."

His voice was a gravel growl.

I stiffened, not standing up to him.

A heartbeat.

And another one.

And then Kael sat down next to me, his smell wrapping around me like smoke.

"You were taking a peek," he said, his tone flat.

"No," I breathed. "I was lost."

Not exactly a lie.

He inhaled hard, a frustrated breath.

I finally met his gaze, looking up.

Mistake.

No rage in his eyes tonight.

Only something worse.

Pity.

It hurt more than any mean thing he might have said.

"You didn't belong there," he breathed, nearly softly.

I winced as if he'd struck me.

"I know," I gasped.

I knew precisely where I belonged.

Chains.

Silence.

At his feet.

Never by his side.

Kael paused, his hand outstretched as if to graze my cheek, before withdrawing it.

As if he was afraid to touch me in case it made all of it somehow worse.

Or maybe. Make them too real.

"Lady Seraphina is—"

"I don't want to know," I interrupted, trembling.

He gazed at me, something sinister playing on his lips.

Regret?

Doubt?

I didn't care.

I didn't need his apologies.

I didn't need his pity.

I wanted. I wanted things I could never obtain.

I rose to my feet, disregarding the trembling of my legs.

Kael rose to his, looming over me.

"You are mine, Scarlett," he whispered, hotly. "Nothing changes that."

I let out a fractured laugh. "Until you get tired of me. Until you marry."

He bristled.

I pressed the leverage, loathing myself even as words spilled out. "Are you going to show her around these halls too? Give her a taste of the small humanity you existed on?"

His eyes flashed with rage.

Good.

I wanted him angry.

I wanted him to feel.

Something.

Anything.

"You forget your place," he snarled, stepping forward.

I thrust out my chin at him in defiance, though a blur of tears obscured my vision.

"Perhaps I do not want to have a home here," I panted, breaking.

"Perhaps I do not want to be a. a pet, a possession!"

He wrapped his fingers around my chin, pinning my face against his.

His touch was harsh. Masterful.

But his eyes.

His eyes were raw pain.

"You're better than that," he growled.

A single tear fell and burned a searing path down my cheek.

He caught it on his thumb, his expression contorting.

"You will never be only a pet," he told me, his voice gruff. "Not with me."

Then why?

Why was he taking someone else?

Why was he shattering me into little pieces and calling it protection?

I moved away from him, heart shattered.

Kael didn't intervene this time.

He remained there while I turned and ran once more, back to the deserted hallways of the palace.

He allowed me to escape this time.

To be continued….