Elowen did not speak when Kael dismissed her.
She walked back to her chamber with her shoulders tight and her spine straight, every step measured. The corridor felt longer than before, the silence heavier. The band on her wrist had gone cold again—dormant, watchful.
She hated that it had responded so easily.
She hated more that he had noticed.
The door sealed behind her with a muted thud. Alone at last, Elowen exhaled shakily and pressed her back to the stone. Her legs trembled now that she no longer had to stand.
She slid down until she was sitting on the floor.
Her body still remembered his proximity—the way the heat had surged not wildly, but toward him. As if something inside her recognized him as an anchor, a threat, a command.
It made her feel exposed.
Angry.
Ashamed.
She curled her fingers into the fabric of her dress and squeezed until her knuckles ached. She would not cry. Crying felt like surrender, and she refused to give him that.
Sleep came late and uneasy.
When it did, it dragged her under hard.
The dream was fire.
Not burning—pressing. Heat rolled through her chest in heavy waves, each one stronger than the last. She tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go. The walls blurred, the bed vanished, and the warmth inside her surged upward, frantic and hungry.
Her breath hitched.
The band flared—too late.
The ward lines along the chamber walls lit abruptly, reacting to the spike. Elowen gasped in her sleep, twisting as the heat clawed for release.
The door opened.
She did not hear it.
She only felt the shift.
Weight.
Pressure.
Her eyes flew open.
Kael was above her.
One moment she was alone; the next, his body pinned her to the mattress, his knees braced on either side of her hips, his hands gripping her wrists and forcing them above her head.
"Do not move," he said quietly.
The command snapped through her haze like a whip.
Elowen froze.
Her heart slammed against her ribs, fear and heat tangling violently. The band burned cold as Kael's grip anchored her, his presence crashing down on the surge like a lid slammed over flame.
She sucked in a breath.
"Get off me," she whispered.
"No."
The refusal was immediate. Absolute.
He leaned closer, not touching her anywhere else, but close enough that she felt the heat of him, the steady strength holding her down. His grip was unyielding—not painful, but inescapable.
"You were losing control," he said near her ear. "Again."
"I was asleep," she hissed.
"That makes it more dangerous."
The warmth inside her twisted, reacting sharply to his proximity. She trembled despite herself.
Kael felt it.
His hold tightened by a fraction.
"Still," he warned.
Her jaw clenched. She turned her face away, refusing to look at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.
"You don't get to do this," she said, voice shaking. "You don't get to pin me down like I'm—"
"Like you're mine?" he interrupted softly.
Her breath stuttered.
"You are," Kael continued, calm and merciless. "Mine to contain. Mine to protect."
The words sent a violent pulse through her chest.
The band flared, heat surging hard against restraint. Elowen cried out despite herself, her back arching instinctively into the mattress as the power strained.
Kael leaned down further, his weight pressing her flat.
"Do not fight it," he said, voice low and dangerous. "And do not fight me."
Tears burned behind her eyes—not from pain, but from the humiliating awareness of her body reacting, tightening, betraying her fear with heat and tremor.
"I hate you," she whispered.
Kael paused.
Then, deliberately, he shifted his grip—one hand sliding lower, pinning both her wrists in one firm hold while the other pressed flat against her sternum.
Not intimate.
Anchoring.
The heat collapsed inward immediately, smothered under the steady pressure of his palm.
"There," he murmured. "You feel that?"
Her breathing shuddered. "Stop."
"This is what keeps you alive," he said. "Remember it."
He held her there until the trembling eased, until the warmth retreated and the band cooled, until she lay still beneath him, exhausted and furious and very much aware of every place they touched.
Only then did he release her.
He rose smoothly, already pulling away, already distant.
"You will not sleep without wards again," he said. "And you will not pretend you are safe from yourself."
Elowen pushed herself upright, hugging her arms around her body. "You didn't have to pin me down."
Kael looked at her, eyes dark.
"Yes," he said. "I did."
He turned and left without another word.
The door sealed.
Elowen sat there long after, heart still racing, the imprint of his grip lingering on her wrists like a brand.
She hated him.
And somewhere deep beneath the seal, the Black Flame pulsed—quiet, contained, and listening.