After the confrontation at the dinner table, I was slightly worried about the outcome as I looked across the room. The moonlight spilled across the stone floor like cold milk, illuminating the very bruises I had just displayed so proudly at the table. My body ached... every step up those marble stairs had felt like a mountain climb, but the fire in my chest hadn't died out yet. I was tired, bruised, and broken, but for the first time in this golden cage, I felt like the one holding the keys.
That's when I heard a sudden thud. I leapt out of bed, getting ready to spring into action if needed. That's when the person spoke.
Calm your pants down; it's just me, Lukas.
I climbed out of bed and walked over to him to ask, "Couldn't you knock or throw a twig at my window or something?"
Gosh, you vampires are the same...
I sputtered, and honestly, I wasn't expecting him to casually jump down from a roof like that. and you know, the more i look at him He looked different in the dark—less like a soldier and more like a ghost haunted by his own thoughts as usual. He never moved once I approached him; instead, he flopped down on my table as if he owned the place.
"I just wanted to talk since our sessions of getting to know each other are becoming a little too frequent. I hope you don't mind me keeping you up a little longer."
Lukas is the sorta soft, outgoing type, but every now and then I get another hidden vibe from him... That's when I caught the slight shift in his shoulders.
"You should be resting," he said, his voice a low vibration that barely cut through the midnight air.
I leaned against the cool stone on the balcony, letting out a long, jagged breath I didn't know I was holding. "Rest is for people who aren't winning, Lukas... and I'm just getting started."
He finally turned his head, his gaze dropping to the dark marks on my arms. In the daylight, he was a wall of iron and duty, but here, under the pale moon, the professional mask seemed to crack. "They didn't expect you to bite back. The prince—he isn't used to seeing someone turn their scars into a weapon; he more prefers when they scream and beg.
I traced the rough edge of the balcony with my fingertips, feeling the grit of the stone. "Then he should start paying attention... because I'm not just a problem to be solved anymore. I'm the one choosing my own fate. Luka, this is off-topic, but he captured me at first and threatened to off me for being something I wasn't, and now he wants to train me and use me. What's next?"
Lukas let out a short, dry laugh, a sound that felt surprisingly warm against the chill. "You really are a Wildcat, aren't you? Most people in your position would be hiding in their rooms, crying over the insults they took at dinner from the lord, or cower in fear at his presence, but not you, Hina...
You insulted him; that's the funniest shit I've ever seen in all my hundred years of livng you nearly cracked me up the moment I saw Dracarus walk in with a tomato face. He was practically steaming. His rants were even funnier when he glared at you to stop, but you continued. And let's not forget how you walked out of there like you owned the room after leaving the two of them in shock. The audacity!"
"I did own it," I whispered, looking out over the sleeping city.
"And it's Dracarus's fault for forcing me to attend an uncomfortable dinner, knowing damn well I was recovering."
Thousands of eyes were on me now, even if they couldn't see me standing here. It felt as if the world were watching a wild cat write her own path. But even after all that, I carry scars that never seem to fade.
Lukas shifted closer, his presence a steady heat beside me. Then why do you force yourself to the brink of no going back? You could have played the part of the victim because you don't have to be so headstrong all the time its okay to be the victim and let someone take control when your body can't hold on anymore. It would have been easier. Besides, the prince would have protected you out of pity.
I turned to look at him, my eyes narrowing. "Pity is a slow poison, Lukas. I don't want protection that comes from being weak. I want them to look at me and see a threat... someone they can't break no matter how hard they try."
"Someone they fear when they look in my eye."
"i want all of it because I'm tired of being walked all over and being unheard."
He stayed silent for a long moment, staring out at the horizon where the stars were starting to fade. "I wasn't always a guard," he said suddenly, his voice dropping even lower. "I know what it's like to have the world watch you fall to your knees and cry over again. T
"to have people wait for you to stumble so they can say they knew you weren't enough and take what you hold precious for themselves."
"To have someone use you for their own gain and boost... and backstabbed with a knife to the heart."
This was it. The crack in the armor. I moved a half-step closer, our shoulders almost touching. "Is that why you stay here? Serving a man who treats everyone like a chess piece?"
Lukas gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white. "Sometimes, the only way to survive is to become part of the machine—until you find a reason to break it."
"And have you found it?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.
He looked down at me, and for the first time, there was no guard duty in his expression. There was only a raw, dangerous understanding. "I think I'm looking at her."
The air between us felt heavy, charged with a tension that had nothing to do with the palace politics. We were both survivors, both carrying marks that the world tried to use against us. He reached out, his hand hovering near my bruised forearm before he pulled back, as if afraid he might break the spell.
"Don't get too comfortable," he warned, though his voice lacked its usual bite. "The higher you climb... the harder they'll try to pull you back down. The prince doesn't like losing control, and right now, you're the only thing in this palace he can't predict. By then, I won't be able to save you, Hina."
I looked back at the moon, feeling the weight of the thousands of eyes I knew were watching my new chapter begin.
"Let them try; whoever has ill intentions against me," I boasted while huffing my chest out. I've already learned how to fall and get back up... and next time, I won't be falling alone."
"No," Lukas murmured, his gaze lingering on mine. "I don't think you will this time."
We stood there in that shared silence, two broken things finding a weird kind of strength in each other. The bruises still throbbed, and the morning would bring more snakes and more dinner tables, but for tonight, the Wildcat had a shadow that wasn't going to leave her side.
I climbed the final few stairs to my room after we parted, the moonlight guiding my way until my body landed on the fluff softnes of the mattress blankets. I rolled over on my back and started to think, What kind of chaos will my new life unfold next and who is that man dracarus forced me to see?
No, I shouldn't think about it. The less you get involved, the better