"Yorick left the dungeon last night, Your Highness."
Darius quickened his pace to keep up with Killian.
"You let him be alone with Josselyn in the cell?" Killian asked coldly, without looking back.
"T-there were two guards outside the cell. I thought Josselyn needed space for her treatment," Darius replied, uneasy.
Killian turned at the final corner, passed two broad-shouldered guards, and descended the steep stairs into the pitch-dark chamber below.
Darius grabbed a torch from the wall and raised it higher to light the suffocating corridor.
"But, Your Highness… the guards heard something strange when Yorick came," Darius reported.
Killian stopped abruptly and turned slightly toward him.
"Speak."
"About the wound… and…" Darius tried to recall. "Closing completely."
Killian frowned. "Be clear."
He continued forward, walking through the long, cold passage. The flickering firelight cast shifting shadows along the stone walls, deepening the oppressive atmosphere.
He had walked this corridor many times before. Usually when his patience with court officials or defiant nobles ran thin.
He never allowed those around him to become weapons that could one day turn against him. That was why he always chose to eliminate them before they could raise a blade at him.
And Josselyn?
Killian had long imagined locking that girl away from the moment she first set foot in the palace. But the King and Queen had always stopped him, insisting they needed the alchemist girl.
"She may have helped Mother's condition. But she betrayed me," he thought.
"The guards also said they heard strange sounds from inside the cell last night," Darius paused. "Like… moaning."
Killian glanced at him, as if weighing the truth of his words.
"You're going to see her anyway. You can confirm it yourself," Darius said, bowing slightly with one hand over his chest.
They had reached Josselyn's cell. The guards unlocked the heavy iron door at Darius's signal.
The door opened.
At first glance, Killian saw no one inside the cramped room. He stepped in, and with a slight nod, the door shut behind him.
The sound came again. Soft, but echoing against the stone walls.
Killian narrowed his eyes, searching for Josselyn in the dim light of the lone torch.
"Hngh…"
There it was again.
He moved toward the darker corner of the cell, and there she was. Josselyn, slumped against the wall.
Killian immediately knew something had changed, even before he saw her clearly.
It was in the way she sat, her uneven breathing, the tension in her shoulders, the disarray of her appearance.
One side of her shoulder was bare.
"…You look different," Killian said flatly.
Josselyn tilted her head up, her gaze meeting his. "Your Highness…"
He crouched in front of her, reaching out as if to cover her exposed shoulder. But with her hands still bound, she stopped him.
And what startled him was when she pulled his hand and guided it beneath her clothes.
Her skin was warm. Soft.
A low sound escaped her lips.
"Killian… it's so hot in here," she whispered near his ear.
"You feel it, don't you? Here," she pressed his hand deeper.
Killian froze.
The first thought that crossed his mind was déjà vu.
"This reminds me of that night… when she collapsed in my room," he thought. "The way she spoke so casually, calling my name… and those unfocused eyes. She's not conscious."
He tried to pull his hand away, but Josselyn held on.
"Please… help me. I couldn't sleep all night. My body feels…" She exhaled, tilting her chin back to move her hair away from her neck.
Killian watched without blinking.
Her body was indeed warm. Her neck damp with sweat, fully exposed before him.
"Damn it. Is she provoking me?" he thought, jaw tightening. His hand, still beneath her clothing, clenched unintentionally.
"Ah, Killian… you're squeezing too hard," she breathed.
That sound ignited something dangerous in him.
With his other hand, he grabbed her bound wrists and pinned them against the wall above her head.
"What exactly are you trying to do?" His voice was low, cold, but heavy with something darker.
Josselyn did not answer.
His gaze stayed fixed on her. With her arms raised, her clothes slipped further, exposing more of her shoulder.
Killian held his breath, trying to steady the heat building inside him.
"It's so hot… like something is crawling under my skin," she murmured, her breath uneven.
Worse, she shifted beneath him, testing the limits of his restraint.
"You have to take responsibility, Killian."
"For what?"
"You kissed me that night in your room," she said, swallowing. "But this time, I need more than that."
Killian drew a sharp breath.
"Did you drink something again, Josselyn? Who gave you that potion?"
His tone tried to stay firm. But the mention of that kiss unsettled him, dragging his mind between two choices. Follow the pull in his body, or listen to reason.
Josselyn shook her head slightly. "Wasn't it you who gave me the potion? I remember my first night in this palace. You welcomed me so… intensely."
"You remember your first night here?"
She rose slightly on her toes, leaning toward his ear.
"Of course. I remember it very well. How could I forget?" she whispered, then laughed softly.
"So she remembers everything? Even the kiss before she passed out?" Killian paused.
"Then why does she act like she doesn't?"
He struggled to stay grounded, even as the friction building inside him clouded his thoughts.
"You know… I miss having you inside me," she whispered again.
Her lips brushed along his jaw, trailing down slowly to the corner of his mouth.
His jaw tightened, a vein pulsing at his temple.
This was wrong. He knew it.
This was not Josselyn as she normally was.
But his body did not care.
"Damn it."
He grabbed the back of her neck and crashed his lips against hers, hungry, desperate. The wet sound of the kiss echoed in the cell.
"I don't care why you're acting like this…"
He pulled a dagger from his pocket and, in one swift motion, cut the ropes binding her wrists.
Without hesitation, he tore away the remaining fabric clinging to her body and threw it to the floor.
"…but you've crossed my line."
Killian pulled her hips closer. His lips found her neck, kissing, then biting lightly.
Her response only emboldened him.
He did not stop.
His kisses trailed downward, reaching the soft curve of her chest. His lips closed around one while his hand gripped the other, squeezing with no gentleness at all.
"Killian, that hurts…" Josselyn whimpered.
He didn't stop. Still drawing from her skin, he pinched, tugged, making her back arch involuntarily.
Killian smirked.
"You say it hurts. But look at your body… it likes it."
Josselyn gasped, fingers tangling in his dark hair.
"I don't know… everything's been so sensitive lately," she breathed. "This isn't what I want."
Killian sharpened his focus. He released her and turned her roughly.
"Face the wall. Bend over," he ordered.
She obeyed, placing her palms against the cold stone, lowering herself slowly.
"Not what you want?" Killian grabbed her from behind, then struck her hard. "You're the one throwing yourself at me. Then pretending to forget."
Her voice broke, not from pain, but something else. Something that made her fingers loosen helplessly.
He grabbed her hair, pulling her head back as he leaned close to her ear.
"This time," he whispered low,
"I'll make sure you remember everything."