Chased By The Dark

KAELITH

The war chamber was empty but it still echoed with their judgment. Their silence had said more than their words ever could. And yet none of it compared to the weight of one name.

Aurelia.

The girl I should've ignored. The girl I couldn't let go.

I stood alone beneath the high vaulted ceilings, shadows clawing across obsidian stone like restless ghosts. The prophecy was in the air now unwanted, uninvited but alive. Like a second pulse.

When I finally stepped out, Cassian was there, leaning against the cold archway like he'd been waiting hours. He didn't look at me right away. Just walked with me in silence, our boots heavy against the stone floor.

"You're making them nervous," he muttered, eyes on the distant mountains. "They think you've forgotten what's at stake."

I didn't stop walking. "I haven't forgotten a damn thing."

"They say you've gone soft. That you're letting a human girl distract you from your place."

My jaw clenched. "I never asked for any of this."

"And yeT you're the one with the bloodline. The one who can't run from it."

We reached the outer balcony, wind slicing past us like the blades they all wanted to drive into my back. I stared into the gray distance, where the mountains sat like sleeping beasts.

"I don't need their permission to choose who stands at my side," I said finally.

"No, you don't," Cassian said, quiet now. "But you do need their swords. And if they start to believe you've chosen her over the crown…"

His words trailed off as a raven landed on the stone ledge beside us, feathers slick with frost. Cassian untied the scroll and scanned it, his expression tightening.

"They've breached the outer ridge. Draven Vale is compromised."

I turned from the wind. "Rally the sentinels. I'll speak with the warlocks myself."

Cassian didn't move. "You should leave her."

I froze.

"Kaelith," he said, using my name like a warning. "They will use her. You know they will. She's not safe here."

I faced him fully, my voice quiet but cold. "She's not safe anywhere else."

His jaw flexed. "And if keeping her is the thing that breaks you?"

I didn't answer.

Because maybe it already had.