Page 32 of Her Fated Alpha Prince
Just the echo of a struggle, and the scent of burned magic in the air.
CHAPTER 12
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KAEL
Darkness pressed in from every side.
Kael blinked, but the blackness remained. There was no light. No sound, save for the shallow rasp of his own breathing. His wrists burned, metal biting into skin—cuffs etched with sigils that pulsed cold against his veins.
Magic-suppressing. Vyrathi military issue. That meant this wasn’t a rogue operation.
This was sanctioned.
His head pounded, memory sluggish. He’d been in his quarters—reviewing border reports, late—when the candlelight had shivered and a voice, soft and accented, had said,“Apologies, Captain.”Then heat, sharp as lightning, at the base of his skull.
Now he was here.
He shifted, groaning. Ankles chained. Neck collar tight. Even breathing felt like asking permission.
A hum vibrated through the floor. Power. Deep and old. They’d brought him to one of the low chambers. Beneath the Citadel, if he had to guess. The interrogation rooms built duringthe old wars, when traitors were peeled open until truth bled free.
He clenched his jaw. He wasn’t a traitor. He wasn’t.
But they thought he was.
Or close enough to question it.
A hiss of air. A door? He tensed. The darkness didn’t lift, but footsteps echoed—measured, crisp. Then a voice, distorted through a veil charm.
“Kael Vorenthi, son of Commander Elian Vorenthi. Third Regiment. Formerly assigned to the Inner Guard. Currently appointed to noble escort under direct command of the Crown.”
He said nothing. The voice was familiar—but masked. Smart. He would’ve known it otherwise.
“You were seen with the girl in the east garden. Night of the Bloom.”
Still, silence.
“Three hours after that, flowers not native to this region burst into bloom. The soil changed composition. A vine species previously dormant is now actively moving toward heat.”
Kael exhaled slowly. Controlled. Deliberate. He didn’t need to reply. They weren’t here for answers. Not yet. This was pressure. Foundation-breaking.
The voice continued, unflinching. “You’ve been too close. We warned you, Captain. She’s not what she seems.”
That part was true. Gods help him, it was true.
“I don’t know what you think I saw,” he said finally, voice hoarse. “But she’s not dangerous.”
Liar.
He knew she was. He’d felt it in the garden, felt it before, when she’d passed by him in the corridor and the air had cracked with something ancient and forgotten.
“She is elemental,” the voice said. “Untrained. Potentially uncontainable. And you—you’ve been infected.”
Kael’s head snapped up, breath catching. “She’s not a disease.”
“She’s a threat.”
