That night fell like the lid of a tomb—silent, heavy, and far too dense to breathe.
Salverin Manor stood mute, its walls reflecting a cold that crept straight into the bone.
A week had passed since I—Liora—had been hidden away in that secluded room, slowly recovering. My body had regained its strength, but my soul hadn't. There was a crack inside me that kept growing; a crack that reminded me every day that I carried something that should not exist—magic.
Even though I was no longer forced to work like before, their treatment of me never changed.
Cold stares. Disgusted whispers. Deliberate distance.
They allowed me to walk the halls, but every step felt like walking between shadows ready to pounce.
A passing servant even avoided me as if I carried some cursed plague.
Maybe they were right.
That night, I couldn't sleep. There was a strange pressure in my chest, like the world itself was standing on tiptoes, waiting for something to shatter. The wind slipping through the cracks of the window carried a faint scent of iron… or blood… I wasn't sure.
I sat near the door, hugging my knees, trying to steady my heartbeat.
Ever since the bird incident, I'd felt watched by something… or someone. Not human. Not any ordinary creature. But that gaze was never caught by the eye. Only felt.
Like a soft tapping on the window of the soul.
Then—
A scream.
A raw, agonizing scream so real my heart stopped mid-beat.
I knew that voice.
Kael.
Kael Salverin—my stepbrother, my greatest tormentor, the one who always called me "low blood."
His scream shook the entire manor. Servants shrieked in panic, footsteps scattered everywhere. The sound of metal clashing, wood falling, choked breaths.
I stood without realizing it, cracking open my door. Cold air greeted me like grave fog. No one saw me; everyone was running toward the sound.
And I…
I just stood there.
Frozen.
My own echo whispered, "Don't interfere. You're just a stain."
But the scream rose again.
Softer this time.
More desperate.
Something inside me—something I didn't want to acknowledge—pushed my feet forward.
"I… I have to see…"
I ran.
The long corridor stretched like the jaws of a dark beast. The lamps weren't lit. I followed the voice down a small staircase to Kael's training room.
Blood.
The metallic scent grew stronger.
My breath caught as I reached the half-open door. The room was dim, lit only by pale moonlight spilling from the tall window. In the center—
Kael collapsed.
His hand pressed to his face, blood seeping through his fingers. His sword was thrown far aside. His body trembled with pain refusing to subside.
"Argh—ka…kah—my… my eye…"
I froze.
It wasn't just blood. There was a wound—a deep, horrifying wound in his left eye. Torn flesh, peeled skin, the eyeball darkened at the edges.
I nearly gagged.
The intruder was nowhere in sight. Only a smear of shadow at the edge of the room—there one moment, gone the next—as if it belonged to the night itself.
I stepped inside without thinking.
Kael heard my steps and turned—
Or tried to.
He saw me.
With his remaining eye, Kael Salverin looked at me.
Broken.
Vulnerable.
Almost not Kael.
"L…Liora…?" His voice cracked.
I should have run.
Should have called for help.
Should have done anything but enter.
But my feet carried me to his side, defying logic and survival instinct.
I knelt beside him.
His blood spread across the stone floor. His shaking hand gripped my arm with startling force.
"Don't… don't go…" he whispered.
I closed my eyes, trying to breathe.
"Someone will come. I… I—"
"No time…" Kael grit his teeth, "My eye… I can't…"
That voice…
Kael was not the kind to beg.
Not the kind to show weakness.
This was the first time I'd heard such a tone.
His fear stabbed deeper than all his cruelty ever had.
I reached out, guiding the moonlight so I could see the wound more clearly—
And I regretted it instantly.
No healer could fix this.
No poultice, no salve, no stitching would bring back that eye.
But then…
My hand warmed.
The heat surged suddenly, like embers glowing in my palm.
I froze.
No—
Not again.
Not now.
My magic pulsed, clawing upward, calling to me as if begging.
"N-no… please… I don't want—"
Kael grabbed my hand, pulling it closer to his face.
"Liora… please… I… I can't see…"
His voice broke.
I stared at the faint light blooming in my hand.
Soft pink mixed with pale white, like ripples of light that had been caged for years and finally found a way out.
No.
I couldn't.
If anyone learned I had magic…
I was dead.
But Kael would lose his eye.
And…
For the first time—Kael wasn't looking at me like a stain.
He looked at me… like hope.
I didn't know how to handle that.
My hand rose slow, trembling.
The light swelled, illuminating his face.
He gasped—not from pain, but pure shock.
"Liora… what are you—"
I pressed my palm to his ruined eye.
Light burst.
Not like fire.
Not like battle magic.
It was gentle. Warm. Like a mother's embrace I never knew.
Kael choked.
His body stiffened.
My own breath stopped.
The light pulled something from me—strength, fear, memories, hurt.
As if something inside me opened and poured out like a river breaking through a dam.
Tears stung my eyes.
It almost felt like… I was healing myself through his wound.
Kael trembled, but didn't resist.
He held my hand like it was the only anchor keeping him alive.
After minutes that felt like hours, the light faded.
I pulled back.
Kael went still.
The wound… was gone.
The tearing, the blood, the mangled flesh—vanished as if they'd never been.
His left eye was shut, damp, but whole.
Slowly, Kael opened it.
His left eye revealed itself…
and he saw me.
"Liora…" His voice was barely a breath, "You… saved me."
I bowed my head, shaking.
"S-sorry… I didn't mean to… I didn't want to… I was scared…"
I didn't know what I was saying.
Kael lifted his hand, touching my face.
For the first time, he touched me without hatred.
"Don't be afraid."
I went rigid.
"Ka—Kael… I… I did something forbidden… they'll kill me if they find out I—"
"I won't let anyone touch you."
His tone was flat, but something was there.
Something I'd never heard from him.
Honesty.
"Kael… you hate me…"
"I thought I hated you."
He shook his head.
"But that was before you saved my life."
I bit my lip, trembling harder.
He didn't understand.
This wasn't about gratitude.
This was about life and death.
"Kael… please… don't tell anyone… please…"
He stared at me, long and deep.
Grey eyes wavering.
"I won't."
His voice steady.
"But you must tell me something."
He leaned closer, brow furrowed.
"What are you really, Liora?"
My chest crumbled.
I had no answer.
Nothing I said would make sense.
Nothing would calm the storm inside me.
I could only whisper:
"I… I don't know either."
Kael wanted to ask more. I saw it.
But before he could speak—
Footsteps echoed from afar.
Servants.
Guards.
Stepmother.
They were coming.
Our time was over.
Kael turned quickly and looked at me.
"Go," he hissed, "now."
"But—"
"I said go."
The sharp tone returned, but it wasn't anger.
It was the tone of someone trying to protect—
without knowing how.
I backed away.
Kael turned himself, grabbing his sword, pretending to have fallen again.
I slipped into the darkness, away from the light that had just spilled out of my own skin.
Before I reached the door, Kael called softly:
"Liora."
I looked back.
"…Thank you."
The word weighed heavier than his scream earlier.
I nodded—unable to speak.
Then I ran.
Through the dark corridor.
Into the cold night.
Into a fear suddenly far greater than before.
Not because I used magic.
But because someone had finally seen me.
And I didn't know—
whether that was salvation…
or the beginning of my ruin.