Nerina
I stared at the place where Kaelen had just walked away, my heart hammering in my chest like it wanted to leap from my ribs and chase after him.
He kissed me.
And then he walked away like it meant nothing.
Like I was nothing.
My hand was still tingling from where he had touched me, from where his mouth had pressed urgently against mine just moments ago. The memory of his lips—warm, demanding, desperate—made my pulse spike again.
But now? Cold. The space where he stood moments ago felt like winter had taken root.
"You don't just get to make my heart beat like that," I called after him, my voice trembling, "and walk away."
He stopped.
His back tensed. For a moment, I thought he'd turn. That he'd say something. Anything.
But when he did turn, his face was unreadable. Masked.
"I don't love you," Kaelen said, each word low and slicing. "Forget it ever happened. It was… an accident."
And then he left. Just like that.
The ache that bloomed in my chest didn't feel like magic or prophecy. It felt like betrayal.
How could a kiss that felt like the stars themselves had collided… be just an accident?
I didn't realize I was crying until the wind caught the tears and cooled my cheeks.
---
Kaelen
I lied.
It was the only thing I could do. The only way I could stop myself from shattering completely.
The way she looked at me after that kiss—like I was her whole sky. Like she finally saw me. And stars help me, I saw her too. Not as the girl I was sworn to protect by the prophecy.
But as the woman I wanted.
No.
Not wanted.
Needed.
My hands were still trembling as I paced my chamber, fury and regret battling inside me like a storm. I could still taste her on my lips, the softness of her mouth, the gasp she let out when I pulled her close. Everything about her consumed me. It terrified me.
"I don't love you." My own words echoed like poison in my ears.
That was a lie. A cruel one.
Because I did. I was already halfway drowned in her.
But I was bound to her. Tethered by prophecy. Chosen by fate, not choice. And that meant I had no right to feel what I was feeling.
Because love… love should never be something born from obligation. I had no idea if what we were building was real or just a result of the gods tying our threads together.
Still…
When Thorne looked at her like she was his to have, when he touched her during training, my blood roared in my veins. I lied to protect her. And to protect myself from the truth:
I was already hers.
Even if I never could be.
---