I scoffed and sat heavily on the shattered remains of the dresser.
That stupid, invisible thread that tethered me to her… a mate bond that only I felt.
To her, I was just the man who happened to be there at the right time. And maybe she thought I pitied her, or maybe she just thought I was being noble.
But it wasn’t pity.
It was love. Real, maddening, soul-consuming love.
And now I was the fool nursing a bottle, talking to broken furniture like it would answer back.
She didn’t ask for it, but that didn’t make it any less real for me. I stared blankly at the wall. A jagged crack had formed from where I’d slammed the chair. Fitting.
I took another long swig, wincing as the vodka clawed its way through my insides.
I let out a bitter laugh as I stared at the shattered mess I’d made of the guest room.
“She’s probably happy now,” I whispered, almost to myself. “Happy to be rid of me and free.”
Where would she go, though?
She had no money, friends, or family. From what I gathered. And it’s dangerous out there.
The border towns had reported fresh vampire sightings last week. Two villages in the west had gone completely silent. And the witches… well, no one ever really knew what the witches were doing until it was already too late.
She wouldn’t stand a chance in that chaos.
And yet here I was, letting her walk straight into it.
“Fuck,” I muttered, stumbling backward until I hit the wall again.
I slid down, sitting on the cold floor. I understood her. God help me, even through the pain, I understood her.
And maybe that was the part that cut the deepest.
Because she had every reason to see the world the way she did. Trust didn’t come easy to someone who had been dragged through hell and left with nothing but her broken pieces. She’d learned to survive by expecting the worst.
She had been through more than most hardened warriors ever would. The criminals in our kingdom, even those sentenced to life in the dungeons, were given beds. Toilets and hot meals. But not Narine.
She’d suffered worse.
And now I was expecting her to smile at kindness like it was a gift, not a trigger. I thought I could be the exception. I thought if I just kept showing up, if I made her comfortable, if I gave her space, she’d come around. That she’d see me. That she’d want to stay.
So I tried to bring color into her dark world. Tried to be the sunshine in the storm, the rainbow after the years of thunder. I tried to be soft, patient, and kind. I wanted to show her that the world had more to offer than pain. That I had more to offer.
But in the end… I was just suffocating her.
When all she wanted was to breathe without me and to be as far away from me as possible.
I stared at the vodka bottle in my hand, it was empty now, and the burn dulled into nothing. It never worked anyway.
Narine’s POV
I waited for him all through the night.
Not a single blink of sleep touched my eyes. I sat in the middle of the bed, hugging my knees to my chest, staring at the door, willing it to open and for him to step in.
But he never came.
And now… the day had begun again.
Light crept into the room slowly, like it was tiptoeing around, filling the space with warmth I didn’t feel.
My heart ached in a way I couldn’t explain.
This was the first time he had stayed away from the room for this long, and also the first time since I got here that he didn’t sleep in here.
I wrapped my arms tighter around myself.
Where was he?
He didn’t deserve what I said.
Especially when I hadn’t meant it. I just… I didn’t know how to not lash out when I felt scared. I didn’t know how to let good things in without suspecting the worst.
I reached for the tablet resting on the bedside table, my fingers trembled slightly as I swiped it open. I remembered him showing me how to contact him through it once, just in case. I smiled faintly. God, he had always thought about me even when I wasn’t thinking about myself.
I opened the message app. My fingers hovered above the keys as I thought of what I could say.
What could I say to him?
“I’m sorry. Please come back.”
That’s what every piece of me was screaming. But… didn’t that make me selfish? After everything I said? I dropped the tablet gently on the bed and buried my face in my hands.
I didn’t know how to fix this.
And a part of me wondered if I even deserved to.
Wouldn’t it be better… if I just left?
I’d always said I wanted freedom. That I wanted to face my past, reclaim my life on my terms. Wasn’t that what he was giving me now?
Then why did the thought of walking away feel like someone was digging a hole in my chest?
A knock suddenly sounded on the door.
My heart leapt, then crashed when I heard the voice.
“It’s me, Narine.”
Lupercus.
I blinked, startled. Of all the people I expected, he was the very last.
I slid off the bed and padded to the door. I hesitated on the knob for a second before I opened it slowly.
Our eyes connected, and he had one hand raised like he’d been about to knock again.
He cleared his throat awkwardly and lowered it.
“Narine,” he said gently. “Can I come in?”
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