Chapter Fifteen - Doomed Love
LIORA
The room was dimly lit by the morning sun spilling through the curtains. My heart pounded, the remnants of the nightmare clinging to me like a second skin.
I was surprised to see myself on the bed.
I turned, and my breath caught when I saw Kieran coming out from the bathroom, drying his hair with his towel.
He sat near the foot of the bed, watching me.
His golden eyes were sharp and calculating, but there was something else there. Something unreadable. But I keep looking at his eyes.
"Good... Good morning." I faltered, "You had a nightmare." His voice was quiet, but there was an edge to it. I swallowed, my throat dry. I shifted, the pain still lingering in my shoulder.
"Was it real?" I murmured, "Sorry?"
My voice was hoarse when I finally spoke. “What happened last night”
Kieran tilted his head slightly. "I... I mean, I was sleeping on the couch. How come I'm here?"
"Oh, you enjoy sleeping on the couch."
My grip on the blanket tightened as I watched him move toward the wardrobe, already pulling out fresh clothes for the day. The air between us was thick with everything left unsaid.
I swallowed, forcing my voice to be steady. "The marriage rite... It's not yet complete."
Kieran paused, his back still to me. For a moment, I thought he might ignore me, but then he exhaled, rolling his shoulders before turning slightly. His golden eyes settled on me, unreadable.
"You mean the wedding night. Do you want it to be?"
I stiffened at his words. The weight of what he was asking settled on my stomach.
Kieran took a slow step toward me, his gaze never leaving mine.
“If that's what you want. You know what that means.” His voice dropped slightly, something dangerous curling beneath it. "What?" My voice is hoarse again, not knowing why.
"It means removing the chain from your waist..." His eyes moved round my body. "…and also your clothes," he leaned closer to me.
"Say the word, Liora. Say it, and I will claim you properly," he whispered in his deep, cold voice.
My breath hitched. Calms. The word sent a shiver through me, laced with something both terrifying and unknown.
I forced myself to hold his gaze, but my hands trembled slightly as I touched the cold chain bound around my waist. The chain that marked me as his yet kept me from being truly his.
I hesitated.
Kieran watched me for a long moment, then scoffed softly. “Not so brave now, are you?”
Heat flared in my chest. “This isn't about bravery”
His expression darkened. “Then what is it about? You're speaking of marriage rite as if it means anything to you, yet you hesitate at one thing that would complete it.”
I clenched my jaw. Unable to respond. He was right; I was scared.
His eyes flashed with something unreadable.
I exhaled.
“You act as if I have a choice in any of these. I never asked for this marriage, Kieran. I never asked to be bound to you” I said.
Silence.
Then, Kieran turned away, pulling on his shirt. “Neither was I. And yet, here we are.”
The cold finality in his tone stung.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Where are you going?”
Kieran adjusted the leather straps across his chest, already focused elsewhere. “I have other business to attend to.”
I frowned. “And I?”
Kieran glanced at me briefly. “You’ll stay here or do as you wish”
My fingers curled around the blanket. “You won't even tell me where you're going.” He reached for the door. "It doesn't matter. The marriage rite is not complete, after all.”
And with that, he left, leaving me alone.
The palace corridors were quieter this morning, save for the distant murmur of servants moving about their duties. I walked with careful steps, following the faintest echo of pages turning.
I found Cassius in a sunlit alcove of the palace library, seated comfortably on a cushioned bench beneath an arched window. A thick book lay open in his lap, his fingers idly tracing the worn edges of its pages. I tilted my head. "Never knew you loved hiding in a place like this."
Cassius smirked without looking up. "And yet, you manage to find me." He turned a page with deliberate ease. "You enjoyed yourself yesterday, didn't you?"
I folded my arms, leaning slightly against the nearest bookshelf. "Are you asking if I regret it?"
Cassius finally lifted his gaze, a flicker of amusement in his golden eyes. "Do you? But I was thinking maybe Kieran would have a problem with that."
I hesitated, then shook my head. "No, he didn't. And that was... nice. Fun"
Cassius chuckled. "That's rare for you, isn't it? Allowing yourself to have fun," I sighed, brushing my fingers along the spines of the books beside me. "I suppose I forgot what it felt like."
Cassius leaned back against the stone wall, studying me. “Then perhaps you should let yourself forget more often," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "Is that your philosophy, to forget?"
He tapped the open book in his lap. "Not at all. I was reading quite the opposite.
I stepped closer, peering at the aged text. The inked words were delicate, each line carrying the weight of time. "What is it?"
Cassius ran a slow finger under a passage. "A tragedy, written by Vale Morgan, a poet. He fell in love with a witch... and lost everything for it." I caught my breath slightly.
"He loved her enough to deny his people, to stand against the laws that condemned her kind. But the witch knew the world would never allow them to have peace, and at the end, both destroyed each other." His lips curled slightly, though there was a humor in it.
"He spent the rest of his life writing poetry about her, immortalizing a love that never had a chance to bloom."
"Did she ever return?" Cassius closed the book; "No” silence stretched between us. "Are these stories real?" I asked, "Of course, Liora. Vale lived a lonely life till he died."
I exhaled slowly. "Then what's the point? If love is doomed from the start, why write about it?" He gave a slow smile, but there was sadness beneath it: "Because even doomed love deserves to be remembered." I felt something heavy settling between us, a silent understanding of tragedies yet to come.