Kael sat on the sofa as if he were about to be executed.
Straight posture.
Gaze fixed ahead.
An expression too neutral to be natural.
To his right, Alia embraced his arm as if claiming territory. Her body pressed against his, her fingers intertwined with possessive firmness on his forearm.
To his left, Irelia did sothing very similar—with a little more force.
Much more.
If she squeezed any harder, she might dislocate his shoulder.
"You’re exaggerating..." Kael murmured, keeping his tone calm.
The problem wasn’t physical.
He could easily handle it.
The problem was the aura.
Jealousy.
Dense.
Almost palpable.
Alia buried her face in his shoulder.
"She bit you."
Irelia tightened her grip on his left arm.
"And you let her."
Kael took a deep breath.
"I offered."
Silence.
A heavy silence.
Wrong.
He felt the mistake the mont he finished the sentence.
Irelia slowly raised her face to look at him.
"You... offered?"
Alia raised her head as well.
"Voluntarily?"
He closed his eyes for a second.
Damage control.
Damage control.
"She needed to heal."
"And I don’t?" Irelia retorted.
He blinked.
"Need what?"
"Attention."
Alia nodded imdiately.
"Exactly."
Kael looked from one to the other.
The newly healed vampire was upstairs, probably trying to get her bearings in the new reality.
And down here...
He faced a far more chaotic threat.
Emotional.
"You’re acting like I did sothing wrong."
Irelia leaned her face close to his.
"You let another woman drink your blood."
Alia added:
"A vampire. Beautiful. Mysterious. With a sad look."
"She was covered in bruises," Kael retorted.
"That doesn’t help!" they both replied at the sa ti.
He sighed.
"I saved her life."
"We know," Alia murmured.
"We know," Irelia repeated, but her voice had a cutting tone.
Kael rested his elbows on his knees, still with both arms restrained.
"So what’s the problem?"
Alia was silent for a few seconds.
Then she spoke more softly:
"The problem isn’t that she needs help." Irelia finished:
"You were just too kind."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Kind?"
"You let her bite you."
"That’s intimacy," Alia murmured.
Kael almost laughed.
Almost.
But he held it back.
"For you, maybe."
Irelia narrowed her eyes.
"For anyone with blood running through their veins."
Alia nodded sharply.
"Do you know what that ans for vampires?"
"Healing," he replied.
"Bond," Irelia corrected.
Kael was silent for a mont.
He knew that, culturally, the exchange of blood between vampires could an sothing deeper.
But this hadn’t been ritual.
It hadn’t been symbolic.
It had been pragmatic.
She was hurt.
He had blood.
Simple. "—There was no connection," he said firmly.
Alia stared at him.
"How do you know?"
He turned his face to her.
"Because I would feel it."
Irelia loosened her grip just enough to look at him better.
"Feel what?"
"Change."
Silence.
Alia analyzed every microexpression of his.
Irelia did too.
Kael didn’t look away.
He wasn’t lying.
That was what they both hated most.
He was genuinely calm.
Which ant that, for him, it had no emotional weight.
But for them...
It did.
"You called her strong," Alia murmured.
He blinked.
"Because she is."
"You rarely complint soone like that," Irelia added.
He looked at the ceiling as if searching for patience in the beams.
"I also praise you."
"Not when you’re covered in soone else’s blood," Irelia retorted.
"That’s different!"
"It doesn’t help!" Alia retorted again.
Kael ran a hand over his face, finally letting out a small, tired sigh.
"You two are jealous."
"We’re not," Alia replied too quickly.
"We are," Irelia said at the sa ti.
The two exchanged glances.
Alia frowned.
"Irelia!"
"What? We really are!"
Kael watched the scene like soone watching an internal storm brewing.
"I didn’t do anything more than necessary."
Alia loosened her embrace just a little.
"You carried her in your arms."
"She couldn’t walk."
"Was she unconscious?"
"No."
Irelia slowly raised her head.
"Then she could walk."
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Reopened it.
"She was weak."
"You said she looked almost human, she was so weak" Alia comnted.
"Exactly."
"And yet... beautiful" Irelia murmured.
He was silent for two seconds.
Two seconds too many.
Irelia’s eyes widened.
"You think she’s beautiful?!"
He took a deep breath.
"Did I say that?"
Alia squeezed her right arm again.
"You didn’t deny it."
Damage control failing.
Kael leaned back on the sofa.
"I recognize beauty. That doesn’t an interest."
The two remained quiet.
But the atmosphere was still tense.
"She’s a victim," he continued, now more serious. "She’s being hunted by her own people. She lost soone important. She’s alone."
Alia bit her lower lip slightly.
Irelia looked away.
He noticed the subtle change.
Empathy beginning to seep into the jealousy.
"Do you really think I would bring soone into this house if there was a risk?" he asked.
Silence.
"No," Alia murmured.
"No," Irelia repeated.
Kael leaned slightly forward.
"I trust your judgnt. So trust mine."
The words were simple.
But firm.
Alia slowly rested her forehead on his shoulder.
"Still... I didn’t like it."
Irelia snorted.
"Neither did I."
He allowed a small smile.
"I already noticed that."
Alia looked up.
"If she bites you again..."
"She won’t," he interrupted calmly.
Irelia narrowed her eyes.
"And if she wants to?"
"I won’t allow it."
They both stared at him.
Looking for hesitation.
They found none.
The grip finally loosened.
Not completely.
But enough for him to regain circulation in his arms.
"You’re almost breaking my bones," he comnted.
Irelia released her left arm with a small crack of the joints.
"It was an accident."
It wasn’t.
Alia loosened her grip as well.
But remained clinging.
"I’m still keeping an eye on her."
Kael nodded.
"Great."
Irelia crossed her arms.
"If she tries anything..."
"She won’t."
"You trust too much."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I know how to recognize soone who’s lost everything."
The atmosphere grew quieter.
Less inflad.
But still heavy.
Alia sighed.
"I just... don’t like the idea of another woman needing you."
Kael looked at her.
Then at Irelia.
"Many people need ."
Irelia replied dryly:
"But not all of them drink your blood."
He almost laughed again.
But this ti, he let out a small sound.
"You two are impossible."
Alia raised her chin.
"And yet you’re here."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I am."
Silence.
The storm subsided.
It didn’t disappear.
But it subsided.
Irelia finally sat up straight, though still too close.
"Just don’t make it a habit."
"I don’t intend to."
Alia murmured:
"And next ti..."
He looked at her.
"Warn beforehand."
Kael blinked.
"Warn that I’m going to offer blood?"
Irelia replied naturally:
"Yes."
He ran a hand through his hair.
"That’s absurd."
They both spoke together:
"It isn’t."
He looked at the ceiling once more.
Perhaps facing vampires by tearing off limbs would be simpler.
But here, trapped between two won dominated by jealousy and pride...
It was another battle.
Kael waited until he felt that both his arms were truly free.
Alia was still leaning against him.
Irelia remained too close.
But the atmosphere was no longer explosive—just tense.
He ran a hand over his face, took a deep breath, and said in a firr tone:
"Enough. Calm down."
The authority in his voice wasn’t loud.
But it was enough.
The two remained silent.
"You’re reacting before you understand what really happened," he continued. "So I’ll explain from the beginning."
Alia crossed her legs on the sofa, still close, but now listening.
Irelia rested her elbow on the backrest, her eyes attentive.
Kael stared blankly for a mont, organizing the facts.
"I found her almost dead."
The two didn’t interrupt.
"She was covered in bruises. Drag marks. Bones almost dislocated. The sll of blood was too faint... as if she had been drained and discarded."
Irelia’s jaw clenched.
"Vampires?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"I still don’t know."
He continued:
"She was trying to stay conscious. She didn’t ask for help. She didn’t beg. She just... kept trying to stand."
Alia looked away.
That bothered her.
"I brought her here because leaving her there would be the sa as handing her over to death," Kael said.
Irelia nodded slightly.
"And the blood?" Alia asked, calr now.
"She was collapsing. Her body was rejecting its own regeneration. I offered my wrist. She asked permission before biting."
They both fell silent.
That detail wasn’t small.
Asking permission.
"She stopped on her own," he added. "Even though she could have drunk more."
Irelia narrowed her eyes.
"Control?"
"A lot."
Alia took a deep breath.
"So she wasn’t trying... anything."
"No."
Silence.
Kael continued:
"And now she’s here because, at this mont, we’re the only place where she won’t be hunted."
Irelia tilted her head.
"Hunted by whom?"
He looked at the two of them.
"By the vampire court itself."
The air grew heavier.
"What?" Alia murmured.
"She’s connected to sothing big. I don’t know exactly what. But I know it’s political."
Irelia let out a small, humorless laugh.
"Of course it’s political. It always is."
Kael nodded.
"And if soone finds out she’s under our protection... that could beco a problem."
Alia was thoughtful for a few seconds.
Then she said:
"We should tell Hella."
The na hung in the air like a warning.
Kael reacted imdiately.
"No."
The answer was so quick that even Irelia blinked.
Alia frowned.
"Kael—"
"No."
The tone was now colder.
Harder.
"I don’t trust her."
Alia breathed slowly.
"She’s my aunt."
"I know exactly who she is."
The atmosphere beca tense again, but in a different way.
More serious.
Less emotional.
Irelia watched attentively.
"Hella can help us" Alia insisted. "She knows vampire politics better than anyone."
Kael let out a low laugh, but there was no humor in it.
"She knows. And she manipulates even better."
Alia narrowed her eyes.
"Are you still resentful about that?"
He turned his face slowly to look at her.
"Resentful? The word ca out almost like a dangerous echo."
"She used my na to justify the execution of an imperial heir."
Silence.
The weight of the mory fell like a blade.
"I didn’t know she would do that," Alia murmured.
"But she did."
Irelia crossed her arms.
"She claid you had been threatened."
"She claid I was being protected from a non-existent conspiracy," Kael corrected. "And used that to legitimize the death of one of the Emperor’s sons."
Alia looked away.
Kael continued, his voice lower now:
"And the other heir..."
Irelia finished:
"You almost killed him."
The silence beca absolute.
Kael didn’t deny it.
"He ca after ," Kael said. "Driven by revenge. And I was ready to finish what Hella started."
Alia closed her eyes for a mont.
She rembered.
Everyone rembered.
The diplomatic tension.
The threat of war.
His na whispered in the corridors as a catalyst for chaos.
"If it weren’t for you," Alia told Irelia, "he would have run through that hall with blood all the way to the ceiling."
Irelia didn’t deny it.
She had been the one who had held Kael’s arm that night.
Who had pulled him back.
"Hella never takes direct responsibility," Kael continued. "She moves pieces. And lets others bear the consequences."
Alia looked up again.
"She’s strategic."
"She’s dangerous."
The difference between the two words echoed in the space.
"Do you think she would hand over Elizabeth?" Irelia asked.
Kael didn’t hesitate.
"If it guaranteed political advantage? Yes."
Alia seed hurt.
"She’s not a monster." "—No." He stared at her firmly. "But it’s not reliable either."
Silence.
Alia ran a hand through her hair.
She was torn.
Between family loyalty.
And the concrete evidence before her.
"So what do you suggest?" Irelia asked.
Kael leaned back on the sofa.
"For now, nothing."
"Nothing?" Alia repeated.
"We observe. We find out who’s after her. And we keep it within this house."
Irelia nodded slowly.
"Without informing the court."
"Without informing Hella," he reinforced.
Alia was quiet for a few seconds.
Then she asked:
"And if they find out on their own?"
Kael tilted his head slightly.
"Then we deal with it when it happens."
Irelia gave a small smile.
"You like living dangerously."
He shrugged.
"I like not being manipulated."
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