Page 49 of Discordant Cultivation

Maybe toxic is the only way to make it pure…”

The smile that accompanied those words looked defeated but somehow defiant. Like he was simultaneously surrendering to and challenging everything Vale had taught him.

You understand. God help you, you actually understand.

The final chorus was just as devastating. Kieran’s voice cracked and soared in equal measure, using every flaw as a feature. His unconventional style—part rap, part keen, part broken melody—shouldn’t have worked. It would have been corrected out of existence by any traditional producer.

But it was perfect. Perfectly broken. Perfectly honest.

“In the silence between heartbeats,

In the space between the fear,

I’m learning how to breathe poison,

And make it disappear.”

The last word hung in the air as Kieran’s hands stilled on the guitar. His foot stopped its relentless rhythm. For three seconds, he held Vale’s gaze through the camera with that defeated smilestill playing at his lips, the gauze around his throat shifting with his labored breathing.

Then he collapsed.

He curled in on himself, sobbing with the kind of abandon that only complete emotional exhaustion could bring. Every wall, every protection, every careful barrier had been stripped away for the performance, leaving him raw and defenseless. His gauze-wrapped hands covered his face as he shook apart.

Vale rushed to Kieran’s side. He gathered the shaking boy into his arms, and Kieran didn’t resist. Instead, he clung to Vale’s shirt like a drowning man finding driftwood, his face buried against his chest as sobs wracked his too-thin frame.

“Shh.” Vale stroked his sweat-damp hair. “That was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Do you understand what you just created?”

Kieran’s response was unintelligible and muffled by fabric, but he pressed closer, seeking comfort from the very person who’d orchestrated his breaking. His fingers twisted in Vale’s shirt.

My beautiful, broken instrument. You played yourself like I knew you could.

“No more bag.” Vale pressed his lips against Kieran’s hair. “Five days of rest. You earned everything I promised and more, sweetheart.”

Kieran looked up at that, eyes red-rimmed and swimming with tears, his face blotchy and destroyed and absolutely beautiful. His lips parted like he wanted to speak, but no words came. One gauze-wrapped hand went to his throat, touching the fabric there like he wanted to tear it off, but didn’t have the strength.

Vale couldn’t help himself.

He’d touched with purpose, with calculation, with specific goals designed to break down barriers and rebuild dependencies. But watching Kieran transform trauma into transcendent art, feeling him shake apart in his arms, seeing those lips part with unspoken need—

This is crossing a line. You know it is. Touching is one thing. Kissing is another.

Vale pulled off his glasses and kissed him anyway.

It was not gentle. Not kind. It was possessive and hungry and consuming, swallowing the instrument turned a stuttering voice into liquid gold when it sang. He kissed Kieran like claiming a prize, like sealing a deal, like drinking poison that would make them both well.

For a moment, Kieran went absolutely still in his arms.

Then, impossibly, he kissed back.

The world tilted. Brilliant arpeggios and shimmering harmonics vibrated under his skin between one heartbeat and the next.

When Vale finally pulled away, Kieran’s eyes were closed, fresh tears sliding down his cheeks. But he didn’t pull away and didn’t retreat. He just stayed curled against Vale’s chest, breathing ragged, looking exactly like someone who’d just performed their soul raw and didn’t have enough left to pretend otherwise.

“We’re going to make such beautiful things together.” Vale whispered against his temple. “Now that you understand what you’re capable of.”

Kieran’s only response was to press his face back against Vale’s chest, hiding from truths they both knew he could no longer deny.

Poison and cure, salvation and damnation, all wrapped up in one perfect performance. You’re mine now, Kieran, and I’m yours. Even the music says so.