The moon hung high over Solaris, its pale glow bathing the gardens in ghostly silver. Jasmine and moon lilies flooded the air with their intoxicating perfume—a fragrance once comforting, now suffocating under the weight of betrayal.
Elyndra stood beneath the crystal willows, arms wrapped tightly around herself. But it wasn't the cold that made her shiver.
It was the memory of Auron's voice, still echoing in her mind.
"Then choose me."
Her fingers curled into her gown, gripping the fabric as if it could anchor her to a reality she had already forsaken. Auron—her protector, her promise, her once-beloved—had stood before her, stripped of pride and pleading for her heart.
And she had let him walk away.
Not a word. Not a step.
Because deep down, she already knew:
Her heart no longer beat for him.
A sudden shift in the air.
The shadows stretched unnaturally, the moonlight dimming as if the night itself bowed to something unseen.
Kael.
She didn't need to look. She felt him—like smoke wrapping around her thoughts, warmth blooming in places she didn't dare acknowledge.
"You're trembling, Elyndra."
His voice—dark velvet threaded with amusement—slid down her spine like silk and steel.
She swallowed. "I shouldn't be here."
"And yet…" His presence moved closer. "Here you are."
A truth wrapped in mockery.
Her breath faltered.
He knew. He always knew.
Because she had already chosen.
Kael stood behind her now, close enough that his heat teased her bare shoulder. When his fingertips grazed her skin, her body betrayed her with a shiver.
Not from fear.
From want.
"You let him go," he murmured. Not a question. A statement. A verdict.
"He was in pain," she whispered.
"And yet… you didn't follow him."
Each word dug deeper, severing the fragile remnants of loyalty she clung to. Guilt had teeth—but Kael's voice had claws.
She had come here.
To him.
Kael stepped forward, his breath brushing the curve of her neck. Her body tensed, caught in the storm of desire and shame.
"Say it, Elyndra."
She clenched her jaw. "Say what?"
"Say that you belong to me."
Her world narrowed to the feel of his hand at her throat, tilting her chin—not roughly, but like a sovereign handling something precious and claimed.
"Say it," he repeated. The whisper of a god demanding worship.
Tears threatened. Her past clung to her like ashes.
But her future?
It stood before her.
And it was Kael.
"I… I belong to you."
A satisfied smile curved his lips. He drew her into him, claiming her without hesitation, without doubt.
"I know."
And in that moment, Elyndra shattered—not into pieces, but into something new.
His. Entirely. Irrevocably.
Far below, in the forbidden depths of Solaris's royal archives, Auron Starfire sat hunched over a flickering candle.
His armor lay discarded, forgotten like the ideals he once held sacred. The glow illuminated the pages of a cursed tome—its ink black as sorrow, its knowledge soaked in ancient sin.
"To reclaim what has been lost, one must sever the will of fate. Let death be the key."
Auron's eyes—red-rimmed, hollow—stared at the text as though it spoke directly to his soul.
The pain in his chest had twisted into something colder.
Sharper.
"She chose him."
He closed the book with trembling fingers.
The gods had failed him.
The kingdom had abandoned him.
Love had betrayed him.
And so, with bloodied hands and a heart reduced to embers, the Hero of Solaris chose vengeance.
If he could not save her…
Then he would burn the world to bring her back.
To be continued…