Page 35 of Blood Marked

Kael stood near the balcony’s edge, speaking to a grim-faced envoy with storm-grey robes. His posture rigid. His expression unreadable. That same damn armor he wore like a second skin—unshakable, untouchable.

Until he saw her.

Their eyes met and the airchanged.His voice faltered.

The envoy noticed. Said something. Kael didn’t reply.

Selene didn’t wait for him to come to her. She stormed straight across the floor.

He met her halfway, tension bristling in every inch of him.

“You’ve healed,” he said quietly.

“And you’ve vanished,” she shot back.

“Selene—”

“No.” She stabbed a finger toward his chest. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to kiss me like you meant it and then disappear like I was some fucking mistake.”

His jaw flexed.

“You think I haven’t been angry too?” she hissed. “You think I haven’t been pacing that damn room, wondering why I still feel you under my skin?”

He grabbed her wrist, not hard, not cruel. Justfirm.

“Don’t do this here,” he said low. “Not where they can see.”

“Then where, Kael?” she snapped. “Because the moment I let you close, you push me back like you regreteverything.”

Something wild flickered in his eyes.

“I don’t regret it,” he said.

“You left,” she said, voice raw.

“Because I wanted more,” he growled. “And I shouldn’t.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs. “Then like I said before, stop pretending you don’t.”

He moved.

One second they were standing in the hall. The next, he was dragging her through the side corridor—empty, cold, tucked behind thick stone walls where no guards lingered. He shoved open a heavy oak door and pulled her inside.

The storage chamber. Half-forgotten. Shadowed and lined with carved shelves.

The door slammed shut.

Then silence.

Breath. Fire. Need.

Kael looked at her like she was breaking him.

Then he crossed the distance—andkissed her.

This time it wasn’t desperate. It was devastating.

His hands fisted in her cloak, ripping it loose. Her fingers tangled in his shirt, pulling him down. Their mouths crashed again and again—tongue, teeth, heat. No restraint. No fear.

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