~ALARIC'S POV
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
Her soft voice drifted toward me in a familiar way, as I stood behind her, with sunlight pressing against my skin warmly.
I had not felt warmth like that in a long time. The air carried the faint scent of water and stone after rain.
"Alaric!" She called again with a huff.
She stood several steps ahead of me, with her back turned towards me.
The white fabric of her dress fell down her frame gracefully. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back, moving gently with the wind.
"Dove," I whispered.
She shifted slightly at the sound of the name, still keeping her back faced to me.
"That is not my name."
"It is mine for you."
A quiet exhale left her. Not laughter, but something softer.
"You say it like you own it."
"I do."
The word came easily.
The bright courtyard stretched around us endlessly. Somewhere nearby, water flowed in a steady rhythm that calmed and unsettled me at the same time.
"Do you ever wonder," she asked, "what happens if I walk away?"
My chest ached at the question.
"You won't." I replied.
"You sound certain."
"I am."
She tilted her head slightly, enough that a strand of hair slipped over her shoulder, but I still could not see her face.
"You always stand behind me," she murmured.
"So I can protect you."
"From what?"
"Everything."
Silence settled between us.
Then suddenly, her shoulders stiffened.
"Alaric," she whispered.
There was confusion in the way she had called my name.
I didn't understand what was happening, until I saw red. It had began to spread across the white of her dress.
"Dove."
I called, taking slow steps toward her, but the more steps I took, the farther she got from me.
A blade forced through her from behind, the tip emerging through her blood-soaked cloth. I had not seen it strike. I had not heard a step, I had not seen anyone approach, so how?
Her body jerked forward, blood spilling on the floor by her feet.
I struggled and finally managed to reach her as her knees buckled.
Warm blood spilled over my hands the moment I caught her. It soaked my palms, before sliding between my fingers.
Dove's blood.
"Stay with me," I said brokenly, my voice coming out different from what I was used to.
She trembled against me, her breath coming out in an unsteady rhythm.
"I t-told you not to s-stand behind me," she murmured.
Her voice had thinned, as though each word cost her something vital.
"I will not let you fall."
A faint sound escaped her, almost a breath of disbelief. "You already did."
Another force struck her, making her arch violently in my arms as more blood spilled forward, cascading over the white fabric and dripping onto the marble at our feet.
I tightened my hold and tried to turn her toward me, but she resisted.
"Don't," she whispered. "I don't want you to see me."
My hands stilled, as the warmth vanished from the air as if something had extinguished it.
The sky above fractured, the blue splintering into darkness that bled outward from every corner of my vision.
The courtyard began to dissolve around us, the marble fading beneath the spreading shadow.
Her weight suddenly felt insubstantial, as if she were slipping through my grasp not because I had loosened it, but because she was no longer entirely there.
"Dove."
She dissolved into shadow in my arms. I gasped and reached forward instinctively, but I saw nothing.
There was no warmth anymore, no blood, no body.
Only darkness.
My eyes fluttered open, with my chest heaving slowly, and it was in that moment, reality dawned upon me.
My sight had returned to its familiar void, and as my breathing steadied, the realization settled over me with quiet cruelty.
It had been a dream.
A dream with colors. I can't remember the last time my dreams were this vibrant. They came in grey, stripped of color. But this…this was different.
The dream remained stuck in my mind, and it made me remember what Lucian had told me about the vision he saw nights ago. It was about death.
Dove's death.
As I sat up, I ran my silver flames through my body, seeking out the lingering dark magic that had once coursed through me.
But I felt nothing, no echo, no resonance, no trace or residual. My core felt clean and restored.
I hummed approvingly, before the scent of floral cut through the room, wafting into my nose.
Dove.
Her scent was a reminder of my actions. The memories of that night rushed in like a tide, from the reckless abandon of our intimacy, to the vulnerability, the reckless crossing of boundaries that should never have existed.
My shoulders slumped slightly as I ran my hands over my temples, trying to soothe the ache of embarrassment, the tension, the shame, and the weight of my own mistakes.
With a sigh, I pushed myself up, tired of being bedridden. I had barely taken three steps before a soft growl echoed in my chamber.
Khaos.
The sound was faint, contented, almost like a playful whine. My lips twitched into a small smile. It had been so long since she sounded happy and unburdened.
I stalked to the north wall of my chamber, the scent of floral hitting me harder and stronger.
She was down there, in the dungeon, alone with Khaos, a war Dragon.
Immediately, I materialized to the dungeons, and stood still, searching for any sign of threat from Khaos toward Dove.
But there was none.
The only sounds were Dove's chuckles and Khaos' contented whines.
"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice sharper than I'd intended.
I felt her body tense, her heart rate picking up in an inhuman rhythm.
"H-hi..." she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"You're awake," she spoke, her voice a little stronger now, a little more confident, as I felt the tap of her feet against the stone floor, making her way to me.
Her soft palms settled gently at the sides of my face, and I felt the bond pull in my chest. The hitch in her breath told me she felt it too.
Her touch was soothing. It felt… different. And that made me not want to pull away, but I did.
I removed her palm, my fingers closing around her wrist in a firm grip, as a scowl made it to my face.
"Don't," I warned, staring into nothingness.
"I asked what you were doing here," I repeated demandingly. She took steps backward, the tension around her reeked with fear and uncertainty.
"I-I was here to see Khaos... I swear I didn't hurt him," she added in a stutter.
A human thinking she could touch a creature like Khaos, a fire-breathing creature whose strength dwarfed anything she had ever known, her naivety was almost laughable. Almost.
"Leave." The firmness of my tone made her step falter.
"We s-still need to talk about what happened between us..." she trailed off, her voice hesitant.
Sex.
That was what we had.
Not a soul-binding ritual that needed explanations.
"There's nothing to talk about, Lenora," I called her by her name, which felt strange on my tongue, an awkward sound that didn't feel right.
I had always called her Dove, a familiar nickname, but I didn't want to use it now, not in this situation, not when I wanted to keep her at arm's length.
"B-but, I still feel there's something—" she started, but I interjected her sentence with a warning growl.
The rumbling sound erupted from the back of my throat, making Khaos stir. Her tail moved and landed in the space between Dove and I, creating a physical barrier.
"Just leave," I tiredly spoke.
Everything between us had been a mistake, a lapse of judgment, an indulgence in weakness. I had crossed boundaries I should never have entertained in the first place.
"You shouldn't get ideas about us." I started, my voice cold and detached.
"Now, leave." Her body turned rigid at first, then I felt the vibration of her feet moving in hurried steps. She stalked towards me and pushed me with both her palms flat against my chest, but I didn't budge.
She scoffed angrily, "fuck you!" She spat, her footsteps shuffling hesitatingly, before she broke into a run.
I stood there long after the sound of her feet faded. A feeling in my chest tugged with something I refused to name.
If I had been harsh, it was necessary.
They already knew about her.
It would be bad if they knew she meant something to me. They could use her as a vulnerability against me, or worse, kill her.
I would not allow that.
A low voice echoed in my mind. "She isn't an enemy, is she?"
"No." I replied.
Khaos hummed, a sound of faint contemplation. "She seemed... nice."
"Hmm," I replied, letting my thoughts settle. I flexed my hands at my sides before stepping further into the dungeon, taking a seat beside her.
Khaos inhaled slowly, as if measuring the truth in my tone.
"Then why did you cut her with your voice earlier?"
That question irritated me more than it should have. "You question my decisions?"
"I dare not, Master," came the meek reply from her.
"You listen too much," I muttered.
"I am a Dragon, listening is survival." She replied. "The human is frightened," Khaos added softly.
"I noticed."
"She did not mean harm."
"I am aware."
The silence spread between us before I noticed the subtle pressure around her.
"Speak."
"Five days ago. When you were unconscious, she came down here," Khaos said. "Lenora. She sat with me. She touched me without fear."
"And then?" I asked.
"Something didn't feel right," Khaos said slowly. "There was a heavy presence with us. It was cold, and ancient with many voices layered as one."
My fingers balled into fists at my side, already knowing who those voices belonged to.
"What did it say?"
Khaos hesitated briefly. "It spoke to her," she said. "It said: 'You are the promised human.'"
The dungeon felt smaller after Khaos' words.
They had finally shown themselves again.
I swallowed the surge of fury rising in my chest. I was familiar with those voices. I had heard them countlessly, and I hated the fact that they still existed till this day.
I detested them.
For casting me into endless night. For stripping me of sight and calling it law. For stripping my back bare of my wings and calling it punishment for defiance.
For taking a part of me. For believing themselves righteous.
And now... they had noticed Dove.
They would not stay silent.
Khaos shifted closer, her massive head lowering slightly toward me.
"They watched, and they did not sound pleased." She said. "They expected her soul to have been taken the moment she crossed Hell's gate."
The frown on my face deepened. If I took her soul now. She would di—
I didn't let myself finish the thought.
I decide when her soul is taken, not the court, not the lords, and especially not them,
"The Demon Council," I said coldly.