CHAPTER 4: Part 04

She moved with a kind of practiced quiet — not rushed, not hesitant. Like she'd done this before. Too many times.

Each stroke of the cloth removed another layer of evidence, but I could feel new bruises forming beneath my skin. Tomorrow there would be fresh marks to clean.

When she was done, she dipped the cloth again and reached for my arm, dabbing at the faint bruise just above the elbow where Kael's fingers had pressed too hard.

"He likes to break people slowly," she said under her breath.

The words were barely audible, but they hit me like a shout.

My chest tightened.

"I'm fine," I said.

It was a lie, and we both knew it.

She gave me a long, quiet look.

"No. You're not."

I blinked, startled by the directness. No one had spoken to me with such plain honesty since I'd arrived. Everyone else dealt in lies and pretense and careful omissions.

She stood and brought over the fresh robe. This one was thicker, darker — still sheer in the wrong places, but warmer. She helped me into it without a word, her fingers brushing mine as she fastened the ties.

The fabric was softer than what I'd been wearing, and I realized with a start that this was kindness. Small and carefully hidden, but real.

Then she leaned close and whispered, "Don't let him break your mind. That's what he wants most."

Her breath was warm against my ear, and for a moment I felt less alone than I had since arriving in this nightmare.

I swallowed hard.

My throat burned.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

Mira's eyes met mine, calm and direct. In them I saw something I recognized — the look of someone who had survived things that should have destroyed her.

"Because one day," she said, "you might remember how it felt. And you'll do the same for someone else."

Before I could speak, the door slammed open.

Kael stood in the frame.

And Mira went still.

The temperature in the room dropped instantly. All the warmth, all the brief comfort of human connection, vanished like smoke.

---

The door slammed open with the kind of quiet force only one man in this cursed place carried.

Kael.

His presence filled the room before his voice did, sucking the air out of the space like a black hole. Even standing still, he radiated the kind of power that made everything else seem small and fragile.

Mira froze, her fingers still halfway through tying the sash of my robe. She stepped back immediately, head lowered in automatic submission.

I turned slowly to face him, my heart already racing.

Kael stood in the doorway, still dressed in dark layers from the council hall — silver buttons gleaming, coat unbuttoned just enough to reveal the scar across his collarbone. His jaw was sharp. Clean-shaven. Controlled.

He looked like he'd stepped out of a portrait of death itself.

His eyes landed on Mira.

Then on the sash around my waist.

Then back to Mira.

The silence stretched like a blade between us.

"Kneel," he said.

The word was soft, almost conversational, but it carried the weight of absolute authority.

Mira obeyed instantly.

She dropped to the floor beside me, palms flat against the stone, head bowed so low her braid fell forward to hide her face.

My stomach twisted.

"Don't," I said quickly. "She didn't do anything wrong."

Kael raised an eyebrow. His gaze snapped to mine with the force of a physical blow.

"You're speaking for her now?"

There was amusement in his voice, but not the good kind. The kind that meant someone was about to pay a price they couldn't afford.

I stepped in front of Mira without thinking.

"She was just helping. That's all."

Kael walked toward us slowly.

No rush.

No raised voice.

Just that same, terrifying calm that somehow made everything worse.

His footsteps echoed off the stone walls, each one measured and deliberate. He had all the time in the world, and he knew it.

He stopped right in front of me.

Close enough that I could smell the wine on his breath, the leather of his coat, the lingering scent of smoke.

"She touched what's mine."

His hand came up—two fingers under my chin, lifting it. My breath hitched as he tilted my head to the side, eyes roaming over my face like he was studying a blueprint.

The touch was almost gentle, which made it infinitely more terrifying than violence would have been.

"She cleaned you," he murmured.

"Yes—"

"She saw what I do to you."

His fingers brushed the collar at my neck, the silver flaring warm against my skin again. The metal seemed to respond to his touch, growing heavier, more present.

"She touched my favorite bruise."

Mira stayed still behind me, but I could feel her tension, the heat of her fear soaking the floor like blood.

Kael's other hand slid around my waist, fingers finding the sash Mira had just fastened. He began to untie it with slow, deliberate movements.

"Then let her see more."

I stiffened.

"Kael—"

He pushed the robe from my shoulders.

It hit the floor like a soft exhale.

I stood naked between him and Mira, the silver collar gleaming under torchlight, breath quickening with the sudden chill and the weight of being exposed.

The air felt like ice against my skin, but I could feel heat radiating from Kael's body as he stood behind me.

Kael leaned in and whispered at my ear.

"You wanted to protect her, didn't you?"

His breath was warm against my neck, making me shiver.

I nodded, jaw tight.

"Then show her how helpless you are."