Kael Thorne sat in the suffocating shadows of his chamber, eyes squeezed shut as if darkness could drown out the roaring storm in his mind. His body ached from the recent battle, muscles pulled tight and ribs bruised, but it wasn’t the physical pain that tormented him. No, the agony gnawing at him came from deeper wounds—the insult to his pride, the blow to his ego. And at the center of it all, Ellie.

Her rejection, as swift and casual as a flicked hand, had cut deeper than any blade. She hadn’t just refused his offer of alliance—she had dismissed it as beneath her notice, as though he were little more than a nuisance to be swept aside. Rage should have followed, hot and consuming. But what rose within him wasn’t anger. It was something darker, something more unnerving.

It was fascination.

He couldn’t shake her from his thoughts. The raw, untamed power she wielded lingered like a specter, haunting him long after their duel had ended. And more than that—the way she had looked at him. Not with disdain. No, that would have been simple. Instead, her eyes had flickered with something worse.

Curiosity.

He stood suddenly, pacing the length of the dimly lit room, boots scraping against the cold stone floor. His voice came out in a rasp, almost to himself. “She wasn’t just fighting me,” he muttered, fingers twitching as though they still held his sword. “She was... studying me.”

The thought gnawed at him like a thorn lodged deep in his flesh. Ellie hadn’t viewed him as an equal—that much was certain. But she hadn’t dismissed him entirely as a threat either. Every movement she made had been precise, calculated. Too controlled, too deliberate. It wasn’t just a skirmish. It was something more.

A test.

“She’s manipulating everything,” Kael whispered, his eyes narrowing. “But to what end?”

Behind him, the chamber door creaked open. A shadowy figure slipped inside, a hooded figure that had been waiting in the hall. One of his many nameless minions—faceless, but loyal, if only because of their fear. The minion hesitated in the doorway, clearly sensing the weight of Kael’s mood.

"My lord," the minion began, voice quiet but steady, "you called for me?"

Kael didn’t turn. His eyes remained fixed on the darkened window, his breath shallow, mind turning over and over the puzzle of Ellie’s true intentions. “Tell me something,” he said, his tone sharper than he intended. “What do you think of her?”

The minion blinked, taken aback by the question. “Her, my lord?”

"Ellie Liddell." He practically spat her name, though the venom in his voice was not directed at her. “What do you see when you look at her?”

There was a brief silence, the minion’s eyes darting nervously beneath the hood. “I see... power, my lord. Dangerous power.”

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Kael turned slowly, fixing the minion with a cold stare. “Dangerous?” His lips curled into a faint, humorless smile. “You’re afraid of her.”

The minion swallowed but didn’t deny it. “She commands forces unlike any I’ve seen before. Even among the dark sorcerers, there are few like her.”

“Few?” Kael’s voice lowered, almost a growl. “No. There’s no one like her.”

The minion shifted uncomfortably, sensing the change in Kael’s mood but unable to decipher it. “She’s... formidable, yes. But she rejected your offer, my lord. Perhaps she underestimates you.”

Kael’s eyes gleamed, a dangerous light flickering in their depths. "Underestimates me? Or is she waiting for something more?"

The minion looked puzzled, daring to take a step closer. "My lord?"

Kael’s smile deepened, twisting into something darker. He began to pace again, the fire in his mind igniting with each step. “She didn’t reject me,” he said slowly, as though explaining a revelation that had just come to him. “She was testing me. Measuring me. Every move she made, every blow—it wasn’t about defeating me. It was about seeing if I was worthy.”

The minion blinked, struggling to keep up. “Worthy... of what, my lord?”

Kael stopped, his gaze snapping back to the window. “Of standing beside her,” he muttered, almost to himself. Then louder: “She’s not my enemy. She’s... pushing me. She wants to see if I can rise to her level. To become something more.”

“My lord, she refused the alliance,” the minion ventured cautiously, sensing Kael’s shifting mood and the growing obsession in his voice. “She clearly doesn’t want—”

“She doesn’t realize it yet!” Kael snapped, spinning on his heel to face the minion, eyes blazing with conviction. “It wasn’t a refusal—it was a challenge! Don’t you see? She’s pushing me to become stronger, to prove I’m not just some pawn.”

The minion flinched under the intensity of Kael’s gaze, but dared not look away. “But, my lord... if she continues to refuse, what then?”

Kael’s expression darkened, his lips curling into a twisted smirk. “Then I’ll make her understand. One way or another, she’ll see the truth.”

The minion hesitated, sensing something dangerous in the air, as if a thin veil of sanity had been torn away from Kael’s thoughts. “And if she continues to resist?”

A long silence followed. Kael turned back to the window, his reflection barely visible in the glass, the cold stars twinkling like distant eyes. His voice, when it came, was quiet but filled with dangerous certainty. “Then she’ll have no choice but to recognize my power. If she won’t join me willingly, I’ll make her. She has to see.”

The minion nodded, though doubt flickered behind the hooded eyes. “As you command, my lord.”

Kael turned once more to face the window, his fists clenching at his sides. The rejection no longer felt like a defeat, but a puzzle he was determined to solve. Ellie wasn’t an obstacle to be removed. She was the key to something greater—if only she could be made to understand.

“Get out,” he muttered, his eyes never leaving the night sky.

The minion bowed, retreating from the room in silence, leaving Kael alone with his thoughts. The chamber grew colder, the darkness closing in. Yet Kael felt none of it. All that remained was the singular, burning idea that consumed him: Ellie had tested him, and he would prove himself. He had to. And once he did, once she saw what he was capable of, she would stand with him.

Or she would fall.

“Soon,” Kael whispered, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “She’ll see. I’ll make sure of it.”

The stars outside gleamed, indifferent as ever. But to Kael, they felt closer now, as though they were watching. And when the time came, even the heavens wouldn’t be able to stop what was coming.