Chapter 2: The Whisper in the Dark

KAEL'S POV

Darkness. Endless, suffocating darkness.

Kael had known only of this for centuries--cold iron biting into skin, runes of fire etched into his chain. Each link was a memory of betrayal, a prison forged to hold a prince of demons who had defied both mortal and infernal realms. He had slept, waited, raged. And then.... a pulse.

A spark.

Fire tore through the void, a jagged streak of light that seared his senses. His eyes snapped open--molten gold and red, cutting through the darkness like twin suns.

A human. A witch. Alive. Trembling, yet radiating power. Her presence was immediate, undeniable, and it reached deep into him like a blade of fire.

The brand.

He felt it before he saw it; a sigil etched into her wrist, pulsing with her life, her fear, her raw potential. The connection slammed into him like a hammer striking stone, tearing through centuries of silence, hunger, and solitude.

The bond claimed him instantly. Possessive. Primal. Irresistible. She was his-- fated, meant, tethered in ways neither of them could yet understand. And he had no choice but to feel iit, every nerve in his body on fire with the pull.

Curiosity surged alongside desire. Her magic, her heartbeat, the way she trembled in moonlight--he wanted to know it all. Every thought, every flicker of emotion, every hidden tremor of power. the bonds amplified it, a song that only he could hear, each note a story of life and strength that had been denied him for centuries.

And yet, beneath the hunger and fascination, protective instinct flared. Every threat she could not see, every danger lurking unseen, stabbed at him through the bond. He wanted to shield her, to teach her, to guide her--but carefully. One wrong move, ahe would run away, perhaps never to return.

The chains rattled as he flexed, the ancient iron biting into him, but th pull of her magic was stronger than any prison. Flames flickered beneath his skin, tiny sparks running along veins, whispering of freedomyet unclaimed. The void vibrated with her life--her breaths, her pulse. even the way she shifted slightly in the grove above, trembling as the world seemed to shiver around her.

Her scent reached him, faint but intoxicating--a mixure of fear, sweat, earth, and the subtle sweetness of magic yet untamed. He inhaled, and hunger twisted sharper in his chest. Possession, protection, fascination, temptation--every impluse collied in a frirestorm of senstation he hadn't felt in centuries.

She had not uttered a word to him. Had not seen him. Had no idea he existed. It did not matter. The bond was patient, relentless, inevitable.

She had awakened me. And I will awaken her.

He tilted his head, studying the ebb and flow of her aura through the connection. Every pulse of the sigil was a drumbeat calling to him. He could sense her confusion, the tremor of fear that pulsed with her curiosity. The human girl--so young, so alive, so unaware of the danger she had just invited--was tethered to him by fate. By magic. By something older and stronger than either of them.

A slow grin curved his lips, dangerous and sharp. She was unaware, innocent in her terror, yet irrevocably bound by him. The thought sent a shiver of exhilaration through his body.

The whisper of the bond thrummed in his mind, soft and dangerous, carrying a promise: come to me, Aria.

Kael closed his eyes and let the darkness cradle him again, feeling the pull of fate, the ache of centuries, the surge of energy that would not be ignored. She was his mate, and the bond demanded acknowledgement. The hunger to reach across worlds, to claim, to shield, to taste and know her--it was unbearable. And yet, he would wait.

For now.

Even chained, even bound, he could feel the possibilities streching before them. The pull would not stop; the fire would not be contained. The moment she descended into curiosity and power, he would be ready. And when that time came, he would claim what was fated--what had been denied to him for centuries.

She is mine.

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