جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

—ASARAIAH KAINE—The safe house is quiet in the way the eye of a storm is quiet: every nerve holds its breath, waiting for the world to startle again. Rain thunders on the roof like a thousand feet, and somewhere in the city something is still burning with the echo of the gala. My chest is hollow with it, Selene’s laugh, her wine, the slap—and even here, in a room meant to be plain and practical, the heat of it sits in my skin.Malrik stands where Drayan left him: a dark shape at the center of the room, rain clinging to his shoulders, suit plastered to him like ink on silk. He looks like a man who has just walked through a thunderstorm and brought pieces of the sky with him. His hair is darker, the gold of his eyes so bright it hurts to look straight on. For a moment I think: he is made of weather.He doesn’t move toward me. He doesn’t say the litany of apologies I convinced myself I would force from him. Instead he crosses the room slowly, the pattern of his steps deliberate enough

—ASARAIAH KAINE—Dinner felt like walking into a loaded gun.It was just the family, Malrik at the head, Gaya with her silver calm, Drayan unreadable, Kavin nursing his drink like he lived at the bottom of the bottle. Selene sat across from me in blood-red silk, smiling like she already owned the place.Why the hell is she even here?The maids lined the walls. My girls; Afsana, Liya, and Leina, were stiff, waiting, watching me like they knew something was coming.Nobody touched the food. Forks scraped plates for show. That was it.Kavin finally broke the silence. “This is dead,” he said, leaning back. “I’ve seen funerals with more fun.”Selene smirked, eyes cutting my way. “Well, fitting, isn’t it? Considering the bride nearly buried herself at the gala.”The fork in my hand stilled. I could feel Drayan watching me, like he knew the second half of that sentence was going to explode.I set the fork down. Looked her dead in the eye.“You talk a lot for someone who got thrown across a ta

—ASARAIAH KAINE— The sheets clung to my skin like they wanted to drag me back under. Heat, heavy and humid, pressed into me. My thighs ached, my lips stung, even the inside of my chest throbbed like I’d been cracked open and stitched back together with fire. Last night wasn’t a dream. Everywhere he touched me was proof. I sat up slow, dragging the blanket across my chest, heart pounding. His scent still lingered in the room—dark cedar and smoke, threaded with rain. My stomach twisted because part of me wanted to bury myself in it. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The moment my feet hit the rug, my knees gave out. The floor rushed toward me— Strong arms caught me. “Careful,” his voice rumbled low against my ear. I gasped, clutching instinctively at his shoulders, nails digging into solid muscle. Malrik. Shirtless. Barefoot. His hair damp like he’d just showered but couldn’t be bothered to towel off. Drops slid down his collarbone, trailing over ridges of muscle that

– ASARAIAH KAINE – The morning after felt worse. Not because I hadn’t slept, God knew I’d tossed and turned for hours, but because the house itself seemed restless. Like it had absorbed my questions and now breathed them back into me with every creak of its walls. The mansion was too clean, too polished, too still, as if it had been designed to make me feel small. I pulled my robe tighter, stepping down the staircase slowly, eyes darting to the shadows at the edges of the hall. The night replayed in my head, the sound of claws against stone, Malrik appearing behind me like smoke, those golden eyes flickering in the dark. I swore my reflection in the gilt-framed mirror at the landing shimmered. Just for a second. My hair glowed deeper, my eyes glinted unnaturally. I blinked. It was gone. “Madam?” I nearly jumped out of my skin. Leina stood a few steps down, holding up two hangers. One was a black silk blouse with trousers. The other, a pale sundress with lace sleeves. Her

-ASARAIAH KAINE-The house was still too quiet.After last night, I expected whispers. Doors slamming. Something. But the Kaine mansion only hummed in its own silence, polished and sharp like it had secrets buried under every tile.I sat cross-legged on the couch in the library, journal open across my lap, but my pen hovered uselessly. I couldn’t write it down. Not the sketches I saw in his study. Not the way the woman’s face on every canvas looked like mine. Not the way Malrik’s voice wrapped around me like smoke when he told me to stay out.Every time I closed my eyes, I swore I heard his scream again, that raw, guttural sound tearing through the walls.I didn’t know what was worse. That I wanted to run from it. Or that I wanted to run to it.Leina and liya pushed the new paint tubs I had ordered for my new work. “Asaraiah!”The library doors banged open so fast I nearly dropped the journal. Calla barreled in, her phone clutched in one hand, her curls bouncing wildly. Behind her, L