Scarlet Ink

d something that felt dangerously close to anticipation. Why had she taken it? Why hadn't she torn it up right there and walked away? The next morning, she stared at herself in the mirror longer th

hat's what unsettled her most. "Who owns this place?" she asked. Kael didn't answer right away. He led her to a stone bench beneath an old oak tree, and only when they sat did he say, "My mother did. Before she died." Aria blinked. That wasn't what she expected. "She used to bring me here when I was little," he continued, his tone more serious than she'd ever heard it. "It was the only place I felt normal." Something shifted between them. She'd come here expecting a confrontation, maybe a flirtatious power-play. Not this-raw honesty. Real pain. "What happened to her?" Aria asked softly. Kael's jaw tightened. "My father happened." Silence stretched between them. Aria wasn't sure what to say, but she felt the air around them change. Kael wasn't just a pretty face with a dangerous name. He was someone molded by pain, someone who had seen too much, felt too much, and somehow survived. "You're not what I expected," she admitted. He turned to her, his eyes softer now. "Neither are you