Veer had just laid Kaya carefully on the bed, brushing stray strands of damp hair from her pale face before leaving her to rest. The healer’s dicine should have kept her under until morning. Certain of it, Veer finally stepped away to bathe, trying to wash the night’s chaos off his skin.
The sound of running water filled the room, and for a mont, it cald him. But then—footsteps.
Slow. Steady. Wrong.
Veer froze. His heartbeat quickened as his mind replayed the healer’s words: She won’t wake until dawn.
Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it hastily around his waist and stepped into the corridor. The air outside felt colder, heavier. He pushed Kaya’s door open, his voice softer than he intended.
"Kaya? Do you need sothing—?"
The words died on his tongue.
She was standing.
Not swaying, not stumbling—standing. Her posture unnervingly perfect, shoulders squared, her neck straight. Her head turned toward him in a slow, chanical motion, like a doll shifting its gaze.
And then—her eyes.
They weren’t the familiar sapphire blue he knew; they were blazing, burning brighter than he had ever seen, an unnatural luminescence that pierced straight through him. It was like staring into a storm trapped in crystal.
"Kaya..." his voice cracked. But it wasn’t her face that made him tremble—it was the expression. Or rather, the absence of one. Her face was completely still. Blank. Empty.
She walked toward him. Each step deliberate, asured.
When she finally stopped in front of him, her lips moved. Words—shapes—whispers he couldn’t catch.
"Kaya?" He leaned forward, straining. "What are you—?"
And then it hit him.
A searing pain exploded in his skull, forcing him to his knees. His towel slipped loose, but he didn’t care—his hands clutched at his head, his breath coming ragged, his amber eyes wide with agony.
He could see her lips moving, but all he heard was distorted mumbling, fragnts of sound that scraped against his mind. The harder he tried to understand, the sharper the pain beca.
"Kaya... stop—!" His voice broke into a sob. His chest heaved as his body shuddered. The pain didn’t ebb. It only worsened, like invisible claws tearing through his skull.
Above him, Kaya’s doll-like face remained unchanged, sapphire eyes gleaming, unblinking.
Veer collapsed fully to the floor, his body trembling, hands clawing at his head as if he could tear the pain out. His breath ca in harsh, ragged gasps. And then—sothing wet struck the back of his hand.
A tear.
Forcing his blurry eyes upward, he saw Kaya standing over him. But this ti her unblinking sapphire gaze flickered—shimring with tears ready to spill. The sight stabbed deeper than the pain in his skull.
"Ugghhhh.." ,With a growl torn from sowhere raw, Veer clenched his fist and tried to rise. His muscles scread, his head felt like it was splitting open, but he wouldn’t stay down. He reached, grabbed Kaya’s wrist, and with one desperate pull dragged her down into his arms.
He crushed her against his chest, holding her so tightly it was as though he could anchor her back into reality. But the mont her body touched his, the agony exploded. His vision swam red, veins burning as though they would burst.
Still, he didn’t let go.
His amber eyes flared crimson, wet with both pain and fury, but his voice—his voice softened. Shaking, trembling, yet steady in its resolve. He lowered his head against her shoulder, murmuring, almost pleading, "Don’t be scared. Don’t cry. It’s okay... I’m here."
The pain raged like fire in his veins, but he clung to her as if she was the only thing keeping him alive.
And this ti, he heard her voice again—clearer, trembling with pain.
"Please... save . I don’t want to die."
Those words shattered him. His body flinched so tightly it was as if every nerve in him twisted to pull her closer, to fuse her into his very being. His arms crushed her against him, desperate, frantic.
"Don’t worry, sweetheart," he whispered hoarsely, voice breaking. "I’m here. Nothing will happen to you."
And then—just like that—the pain vanished. His head, his body, the unbearable tornt... gone. He blinked, stunned, and found Kaya looking at him.
She smiled.
Not the half-hearted curve of her lips he had seen before, not her cold smirks or fleeting expressions. This smile... was genuine. Bright. So achingly pure it was almost unbearable to look at. Beautiful, fragile, impossibly human. For the first ti, she seed untouched by the shadows that haunted her.
Then, in an instant, she collapsed in his arms.
Veer’s heart lurched, terror clawing at him. But as he held her trembling body, a strange magic coursed through him—the agony he thought would kill him had vanished, as though her fall had pulled it out of him. Trembling, he hugged her tightly, burying his face into her hair, pressing a fierce kiss to her head. His hands shook. He had co close to death. If not for his stubborn, wild instinct to hold onto Kaya, he would have been lost.
With no strength left, Veer sank to the ground, pulling Kaya onto his chest. His legs had completely given up, but he didn’t care. His palm brushed gently against her head, soothing, protective.
And then the thoughts ca, heavy and unstoppable.
Kaya... what is she?
He never cared what kind of beastman she might be. To him, she was Kaya—his Kaya. Even when she was angry, even when cornered, she had never transford. Not once. Today, though... today proved sothing. She wasn’t what she seed. She couldn’t be.
His gaze fell to her closed eyes. Slowly, with trembling fingers, he brushed his thumb across her eyelids.
Not black anymore.
Sapphire blue.
A color that didn’t belong to the chimpanzee tribe. A color that was too rare, too striking, too other.
It was beautiful, breathtaking even. But Veer’s chest tightened with unease. Because with that beauty ca change—and change always ant danger.
Veer looked at kaya calm breathing .
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