(Chapter released early for you lovers)
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"Sometimes, love blooms. Sometimes, it bleeds."
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🌘 Prologue: Seeds of Pain
Days had passed since the mission at the Ashen Fortress.
Cael and Ezren had returned closer, quieter. The kiss still hadn't come — but it lingered in the space between every gesture, every touch that lasted longer than it should.
The tension was thick, spell-like.
But Cael was changing. He hid violent coughs. The blood he spat was dark as ink. He concealed stained clothing. The veins in his right arm blackened like roots, wrapped in bandages.
During a training session, Ezren saw it:
— "What's that on your arm?"
Cael looked away.
— "Nothing."
A lie.
At night, before the mirror, Cael saw:
A red flower slowly blooming in the reflection of his chest — as if growing from the heart.
🏛️ The Silent Guild
Suspicious, Ezren sought out archivist Myra Vehl — an elderly, eccentric mage, expert in rare emotional curses. After examining the leftover energy in the training grounds, her face went pale.
— "This is unnatural."
— "It's the Rosableed."
Ezren narrowed his eyes:
— "Rosa… what?"
Myra closed an ancient grimoire:
— "A forbidden magical flower. It feeds on unspoken feelings."
— "It grows where there is love… but fear of revealing it."
— "And it kills… when that love is denied by the one who inspired it."
Ezren felt his stomach sink.
— "So… he's dying because of me?"
Myra simply lowered her gaze.
— "The flower only blooms when the feeling is mutual. It was born… because you began to love him back."
🕯️ Investigation: An Enemy Within
Ezren sought Master Asgor, but was silenced — and watched.
He investigated alone, breaking into the Guild's Sealed Archive.
There, he uncovered altered documents, erased magical records… and a shattered vial.
On the old label:
"Rosableed: sealed for crime of passion. Do not break."
Next to the broken glass, an anonymous note:
"Sever the bond. Before the tragedy repeats."
Ezren realized:
Someone inside the guild wanted to destroy the bond between him and Cael.
And would do anything to make it happen.
💥 The Flower Awakens
Cael collapsed during training.
Coughing blood and black petals. The flower pulsed under his skin, as if his heart were turning into a stem.
Ezren ran to him, ignoring the stares, the whispers.
— "Stop, Cael! Stop hiding!"
Cael, weakly:
— "I... tried not to love you."
Ezren held his face firmly:
— "I tried too. But I... I can't anymore."
Cael cried. The flower vibrated. A silent scream.
Ezren leaned in — and kissed him. For the first time.
🌹 The kiss was painful, real, magical.
And in that kiss... the flower bled.
Then withered.
🩸 After the Kiss: The Price of Confession
Cael was unconscious, but alive.
With Ezren, Myra performed the Ritual of the Sincere Soul. The flower was removed, but left behind a magical scar — a visible bond now burned across both their chests, like living tattoos.
Ezren watched him sleep. And felt it:
Someone had marked them.
But their bond… had never been stronger.
🌑 Closing: The First Direct Threat
At dawn, while Cael still rested, a message appeared on the bedroom wall — written in blood:
"Your love will destroy everything."
"The next flower won't bloom in the heart."
Ezren read it. Felt the air turn cold.
Cael stirred, still weak, and read with him.
Ezren:
— "The war has begun, Cael."
— "And it's against what we feel."
Cael held his hand:
— "Then let them find us like this. Hand in hand."