Page 33 of Haunted Crowns
She didn’t answer at once. She could feel Kareon watching her, waiting, but the words were too heavy. When she nodded, it was not anger. It was resignation.
“They will say I am uncontrollable. Reckless. Dangerous.” Her voice was quiet, wrapped in something heavier than sorrow, softer than defiance. “They will say it is for my own good. That it is the only way to keep me, and everyone else, safe.”
She was a wild thing in a world of silks and secrets, unpredictable, unfit for the throne’s delicate image. So they hid her, not to punish, but to protect the crown from scandal, and her from a world that would never understand her.
“My whole life, they have tried to shield me.” A faint, brittle laugh escaped her. “Even from myself. Even from things that were never a threat.” She exhaled, arms tightening around herself. “And now? Now they’ll think they were right all along.”
Kareon exhaled through his nose, shaking his head slightly, lips pressing into something that was not quite a sneer and not quite a frown. He had always known they treated her differently. But in hearing it from her lips, how they had caged her out of fear, something in him seethed. They didn’t see what she was. Only what she might ruin. A girl too wild, too untamed. Too much. Just as they had once seen him.
The vampires had looked at his people and seen only beasts. Had tried to tame them, erase them. And now, they were doing the same to her.
His grip tightened on the hilt of his blade. The weight grounded him, kept the rage from spilling over. It was not just fury. It was helplessness.
“This is how it starts,” he muttered, mostly to himself. His voice was low, edged with something raw. “This is exactly how it started with Seraphina.”
Eris’s stomach twisted. “No. It’s not the same,” she said quickly, almost desperately. “My father…he loves me. He would never—”
Kareon exhaled slowly, but it held no relief. Only something tight. Restrained. A breath like a laugh, but without humor. “You think love is enough to stop them?” His voice was quiet, but it burned. “Love doesn’t stop kings from cutting down what threatens them. It never has.” He let the words settle. Then, softer, though no less sharp: “And Stephan? Will love stop him?”
Silence stretched. A flicker of hesitation crossed her face.
He saw it. She felt it.
Eris straightened, locking onto his gaze. She forced certainty into her voice. “Stephan would never hurt me.”
Kareon didn’t look away. “Are you certain of that?”
She wanted to be. Needed to be. “I am.”
Kareon’s jaw clenched. The muscles in his arms coiled, his breath heavy and controlled. Seraphina had trusted the wrong people too, and they had torn her heart from her chest. He would not let it happen again.
“Then I need to talk to him,” Kareon said, his fingers twitching at his sides, barely restraining the urge to act.
She snapped her head up. “No!”
His brow furrowed. “Eris—”
“Don’t.” She stepped forward, then stopped, her hands curling into fists. “Please. Just…don’t.”
Kareon looked down at her, eyes narrowing. The desperation in her voice, the way her shoulders tensed, as if she were holding herself back, not reaching for him, but wanting to…
Something was wrong.
Slowly, his hands lifted, not to touch her, only to hover, waiting. His voice dropped. “Tell me why.”
Eris exhaled sharply and pulled back. Her arms crossed over her chest. A shiver ran through her, though it had nothing to do with the cooling air. Then the truth slipped out.
“If you speak to him…” She hesitated. Then, barely above a whisper, “He might challenge you.”
Silence settled between them. Kareon didn’t blink, but his features sharpened.
“And that bothers you?”
She closed her eyes. “The thought of you two fighting,” she said, her voice cracking, “it destroys me.” Because how could she stand on either side without betraying the other? How could she bear watching them tear each other apart—over her?
The words struck him, not only for what they said, but for what they meant. She was not afraid of the fight. She was afraid of what it would reveal.
That she mattered. That he mattered.
