Page 32

Raidon/Kael

D arkness presses in like a living thing. The room is silent except for the quiet clanking of chains, the scrap of metal against the cold floor as Kael shifts against his restraint.

His wrists are free, but his ankles bear heavy shackles, the iron biting into his skin—a symbol, a mockery. A reminder that Raidon thinks he has control.

Kael laughs, the sound slow and mirthless as it drifts across the room like smoke, a whisper from the abyss. “So you went ahead and did it?” he muses, his voice dripping with something raw and venomous. “Went to some fucking shrink, isn’t it?”

Raidon stands tall in the dim light filtering through the small window, his face unreadable, but Kael knows him. He knows him like the inside of his own mind—because that’s exactly where they are. A cage of Raidon’s own making.

Kael tilts his head, his grin a slow creeping thing. “You were always weak, you know.” His fingers twitch, curling against his knee. “This is a fucking treason.”

Raidon exhales through his nose. “You touched her. And she wasn’t yours, never will be. I did what I did for her.”

The words hit Kael like a lash—sharp and deliberate. But he doesn’t flinch. Though his smile fades, his eyes narrow into a slit. Her. Always her. That fragile, delicate thing that has twisted Raidon’s mind, made him desperate, made him weak.

Kael leans forward, chain rattling against the floor. “And you thought I wouldn’t find out?” His voice is quieter now, but not less dangerous. “You thought you could erase me?” He chuckles darkly. “You really don’t understand, do you?”

Raidon stays silent, jaw clenched.

Kael’s fingers tighten against his knees, nails pressing into his skin. “You’ve crossed the line, Raidon. Now you don’t get to fucking walk back.”

His gaze lifts, gleaming like a predator in the dark. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” A slow smirk stretches across his lips. “Afraid that I’ll take control. That I’ll take her.”

Raidon’s breath stutters, but he doesn’t say anything.

“And now that you have tried to get rid of me.” is voice dips into something low, velvety, edged with cruelty. “I’m going to fucking do it.”

The air between them thickens. Shadows pressing in.

“I’m going to take everything from you.” Kael shifts again, dragging chains against the floor with a deliberate slowness, savoring the way Raidon’s fingers twitch at his side.

“Wait and watch.” His lips curl into a wicked grin. “I’m gonna rip you out of the driver’s seat. Lock you away the same way you have been doing to me.” Each word is laced with a promise, his golden eyes burning in the dark. “I will make you a passenger in your own mind, Raidon. You’ll be forced to watch from the peephole while I take her.”

A flicker of emotions stretch across Raidon’s face. Fear, rage, helplessness. Because deep down, he knows what Kael is capable of.

“I’ll break her.” His voice is a whisper now, more dangerous than a scream. “I will corrupt her. Piece by piece, I will tear her apart, put her back together. No, not as she once was, the way you adore her, but as something else. Something soiled, something ruined. She’ll crave darkness and blood.” His grin turns sharp, feral. “Just like she has always been meant to be.”

Raidon breathing is uneven, his fist clenched, nails digging into his palms.

Kael tilts his head, letting out a low, satisfied laugh. “And do you wanna know the best part?” he asks. “You won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

Silence stretches across them, thick and suffocating.

Then, Kael tugs against the chains, and they rattle like the prelude to war.