CHAPTER 5: Midnight summons

 

I read the letter five times before I finally accepted that the words weren't going to rearrange themselves into something less troubling.

I know what you did today. Meet me at midnight. Come alone.

— Kael Blackwood

The parchment crackled softly between my fingers. At first, I thought my hands were shaking because of Kael. That would have been simple enough to understand.

The truth was worse.

I wasn't frightened of the man standing in the present. I was frightened of what his interest meant.

In my first life, Kael Blackwood barely noticed me. I had spent years collecting scraps of attention from him like a starving person gathering crumbs from a table. A glance across a ballroom. A polite greeting at a ceremony. A rare conversation that I replayed in my head for weeks afterward.

I had built entire dreams around those moments.

Yet he had never sought me out. Never sent a private message. Never requested a meeting.

Now, only hours after the assassination attempt, I stood in my family's foyer holding a letter sealed with his personal crest.

The future was shifting.

And it was changing much faster than I had anticipated.

"Seraphina?"

My mother's voice snapped me from my thoughts.

I looked up to find her watching me from across the room. Concern softened her features.

"What does it say?"

Without thinking, I folded the letter and slipped it behind my back.

"Nothing important."

The lie came too quickly.

Her eyebrows rose.

"You've never been good at hiding things from me."

A dull ache settled in my chest.

She deserved honesty.

More than anyone, she deserved the truth.

But how was I supposed to explain that I had already lived through her death? That I had watched soldiers drag her away while I stood helplessly by? How could I tell her that I remembered my own execution with terrifying clarity?

The smell of burning flesh.

The roar of the crowd.

The mate bond snapping apart as fire consumed me.

No.

Not yet.

I forced a smile that felt brittle around the edges.

"I'm just tired."

The excuse sounded weak even to my own ears.

Thankfully, she didn't press further. She merely sighed and stepped forward, resting a warm hand on my shoulder.

"Then get some sleep."

If only sleep were the problem.

The house gradually settled into silence as the evening wore on. Servants retired to their quarters. Doors closed. Candles were extinguished one by one until darkness claimed the estate.

I waited.

And waited.

By the time midnight approached, I was standing beside my bedroom window dressed in dark clothing, staring toward the distant lights of the capital.

The sensible choice was obvious.

Ignore the invitation.

Stay home.

Avoid Kael entirely.

Unfortunately, Kael Blackwood was not a man who reacted well to being ignored.

If I refused to meet him, he would simply come looking for answers himself. Given his position and stubborn nature, that possibility worried me far more than the invitation.

With a quiet sigh, I climbed out the window.

Cool night air brushed against my face. The scent of damp earth drifted from the gardens below. Above me, a crescent moon hung low in the sky, casting silver light across rooftops and stone pathways.

Everything looked peaceful.

Normal.

It was almost enough to make me forget that, five years from now, this same kingdom would gather to watch me burn.

Almost.

The meeting place turned out to be the Moon Garden hidden behind the royal palace.

I recognized it immediately.

Few people were allowed inside. Ancient ivy climbed the surrounding walls, and pale flowers bloomed between marble pathways. Their sweet fragrance lingered in the air, mixing with the cool scent of water from the central fountain.

It was the sort of place people chose when they didn't want to be overheard.

That realization did nothing to calm my nerves.

I stepped through the stone archway and immediately spotted him.

Kael stood beside the fountain with his back to me.

Dark clothing replaced the ceremonial armor he'd worn earlier. Without royal banners behind him or a crown on his head, he looked younger than I remembered. Less like the future king who had sentenced me to death.

More like the man I had once loved.

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

As if sensing my arrival, he turned.

Golden eyes met mine instantly.

My pulse stumbled.

Five years hadn't erased the effect he had on me.

I hated that.

"You're late."

His voice was calm and controlled, carrying easily across the quiet garden.

The same voice that had pronounced my sentence before an entire kingdom.

I forced myself to hold his gaze.

"You invited me, Your Highness. You didn't command me."

Something flickered across his expression. Amusement, perhaps. Maybe surprise.

"I don't remember you speaking to me this way."

Because I never would have dared in my first life.

Back then, I had spent too much time worrying about what he thought of me.

"People change."

The words escaped before I could stop them.

Immediately, his attention sharpened.

For a brief moment, unease tightened my stomach. Had I said too much?

Fortunately, he let it pass.

Instead, he studied me in silence. Not casually. Not politely. He looked at me as though he were trying to fit together pieces of a puzzle that refused to make sense.

The quiet stretched between us.

Finally, he spoke.

"How did you know?"

I didn't need him to explain.

"The assassin?"

His gaze never wavered.

"You moved before he attacked. How did you know where he was going to strike?"

My heartbeat quickened.

Careful.

One wrong answer could destroy everything.

"I didn't know."

The lie sounded unconvincing even to me.

Kael's expression suggested he agreed.

"You reacted before the attack happened."

"I got lucky."

A corner of his mouth twitched.

"I don't believe in luck."

Of course he didn't.

Kael believed in preparation. Discipline. Strength. Every victory, every success, every failure had a reason behind it.

Luck had no place in his world.

I folded my arms across my chest.

"Then I suppose you'll have to stay confused."

The fountain trickled quietly behind him.

Somewhere beyond the garden walls, a night bird called into the darkness.

Then Kael took a step toward me.

And another.

Every muscle in my body tightened.

Without warning, memories crashed into me.

Iron chains cutting into my wrists.

The smell of smoke.

The unbearable heat of dragon fire.

Kael standing above the execution square while my world burned.

I stepped backward before I could stop myself.

The movement was small.

Barely noticeable.

But Kael saw it.

His entire posture changed.

Confusion crossed his face.

Not anger.

Not offense.

Genuine confusion.

As if my fear made no sense to him.

Of course it didn't.

In this timeline, he had never harmed me.

Only I remembered the future.

Only I knew what he would eventually become.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked quietly.

The question caught me off guard.

For a moment, I nearly laughed.

What wasn't I afraid of?

The Crimson Dragon.

The future.

Vivienne.

The power awakening inside me.

Him.

Especially him.

But none of those answers could leave my mouth.

So I settled on something close to the truth.

"I'm cautious."

A muscle tightened along his jaw.

"Of me?"

The silence that followed was answer enough.

Kael noticed.

His eyes darkened slightly.

Before I could interpret the expression on his face, he closed the distance between us.

One moment he stood several feet away.

The next he was close enough for me to feel the heat of his body.

My breath caught.

The mate bond reacted instantly.

Warmth surged through my chest and spread outward. My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, drawn toward him despite every reason she should have hated him.

The reaction felt stronger than I remembered.

Stronger than it should have been.

Kael seemed to sense it too. His nostrils flared slightly, and his gaze dropped to my face.

For a few seconds, neither of us moved.

The garden faded into the background.

The fountain.

The flowers.

The distant sounds of the city.

All of it disappeared beneath the weight of the connection pulling between us.

Then Kael reached for my wrist.

The moment his fingers closed around it, heat exploded beneath my skin.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

A crimson glow flickered beneath the surface of my wrist.

Once.

Twice.

Ancient symbols flashed briefly beneath the skin before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared.

The entire thing lasted less than a second.

Long enough for both of us to see it.

Long enough for Kael's grip to tighten.

The curiosity vanished from his face.

So did the suspicion.

What remained looked alarmingly close to concern.

"What was that?"

My stomach dropped.

Because I genuinely didn't know.

And judging by the expression in Kael's eyes, neither did he.