Page 52 of Blood Marked

The fire cracked.

“I’m not her,” Selene added. “I’m not a shadow of your past. I’m not something you have to protect until it breaks in your arms.”

Kael’s voice came rough. “I can’t lose you. Not like I lost her.”

“Then stop trying to let me go.” She stepped closer. “I’m stronger than you think,” she whispered.

The tension in the room was thick, taut like a string about to snap. But he didn’t move away this time. Didn’t run.

And when she reached for his hand, he took it. Held it like he didn’t trust himself to let go.

“I keep seeing it,” Kael admitted. “Your death. Over and over. The Mark sends flashes. Nightmares. I wake up choking on the blood that isn’t real yet.”

She was quiet for a long time.

“What if it’s not a warning of whatwillhappen… but whatcould?”

He blinked.

“You’ve let it rule you. Let it decide for you. But you said it yourself—you’re falling for me. That wasn’t the Mark. That wasyou.”

Selene saw a change in his eyes.

Trust.

Not fully formed, not steady. But growing. And he trusted what she was saying.

They talked for hours after that.

About the council. The attack. Varyn.

Kael showed her the letter with the Duskthorn seal, and Selene traced the wax like it might slice her fingers open with secrets.

“They want to take me,” she said.

“They want to use you,” he corrected. “For your blood. Your birthright. Not as a person. As a tool.”

“And we’re going to stop them.”

He looked at her then.

“You sure you’re in this?” he asked. “Because once we dig deeper… there’s no turning back.”

Selene smiled. “I was never halfway, Kael. Not with you. Not with this. But if we know it’s him though, why can’t we just expose him with this letter or–”

“Because,” Kael interrupted. “We need more evidence. He’s already at this court after what his uncle had done, and myfather will need more than a letter and a seal. We need to know the plan, expose him and find out what he’s up to for good. Exile in the worst form.”

Serene couldn’t help but slightly smile at the building passion she was feeling from Kael’s plan.

“So, vengeance?”

He smiled back at her, his blue eyes dancing in the firelight. “Vengeance.”

TWENTY-TWO

KAEL

The Great Summit hadn’t been held in six years.

---