When the core burns |18+

Sharp and unsteady

My hand lifted on instinct, fingers grazing the scarf wrapped around my hair. "Why?"

"Because," he said, already walking, "you're not disappearing today." His door closed soft. The echo of his closeness didn't.

—

I pulled one of the new dresses from the bag. Soft brown, sleeves brushing my wrists, hem grazing above my knees. When I unwound the scarf, my curls fell into place.

Kael didn't comment. Not out loud.

But the shift in him was immediate when I stepped from my room. His gaze flicked once like a scan he pretended he wasn't running.

—

By the time the elevator at his building's tower opened again, the air between us felt wound too tight. He held the door for me without glancing over, eyes already sweeping the space like a Sentinel should. Halfway up, the elevator stopped. The doors slid open to a wall of black uniforms. Sentinels and Specialists. Six, maybe more.

They filled the elevator until bodies pressed shoulder to shoulder. The push forced me back without warning—

—straight into him.

A jostle shoved me forward again, but before I could stumble, a hand wrapped around my waist. His hand. Heat burned through the thin fabric, fingers splayed firm as he anchored me against the crowd's sway. For one dizzy second, I forgot to breathe. He didn't let go. My pulse ricocheted. A low flutter tightened and dropped lower. I hated that my body reacted like this. Hated that he was the one doing it. Behind me, his chest shifted, a slow inhale brushing the side of my head. His grip flexed once, like he knew exactly where we touched.

I glanced up, looking at his reflection. His jaw was set. Eyes closed. Chest expanding slow, controlled. His other hand curled into a fist at his side. He avoided contact with other humans. I'd seen the way he sidestepped it, precise and deliberate, like it wasn't worth his time. But me... he didn't pull away. Not last night. Not now. And that was what made the heat between us worse, because every second he held me said I wasn't just anyone. I could've sworn his hand tightened once more before he forced it open and let me go.

The chime sounded. The doors parted.

Dark uniforms spilled out, footfalls steady. I kept close behind Kael, more necessity than choice, my skin prickling with the ghost of his grip. The lobby outside his office was quiet. Lyra was already standing at her desk. Perfect posture. Eyes locked on Kael the instant he appeared. "Commander Veyric." She said, warm in a way that wasn't just professional. Her smile was too bright, aimed like a weapon that only recognized him.

Then she looked at me.

The smile thinned, sharpening. Her eyes moved slow. The curls, the new line of fabric at my waist, the way the color set off my skin. "Well," she said, sugar dusting the edge. "Someone's... upgraded."

Heat rose in my cheeks. I ducked my head, too late. Her smirk said she'd already seen. Kael didn't answer immediately. He stepped forward just enough that I felt the warmth off his arm, close enough that if I shifted an inch we'd touch. "Is there something wrong with that?" He asked. Calm. Almost bored. The weight under it made Lyra's smile flicker. She recovered fast, riffling an already straight stack of papers. "Of course not."

He moved past her without another word. I followed, Lyra's stare burning between my shoulder blades all the way to his door. As soon as the door hissed shut his demeanor went from cold to relaxed.

"I need to call Cassian and Elara—"

The door opened.

Not a black uniform. A sleek pale-blue suit. A Core courier. Hair twisted sharp, eyes a vivid, clinical green. She took in the room with two quick passes and lifted a sealed flat packet. Dark metal edges. A faint pulse of blue crawling its surface.