Kaedan didn’t move at first.
He simply stared.
The sight of Ariaxa—helpless, wrists bound above her head, silk torn, breathing fast and terrified—hit him with the force of a blow. His jaw locked. His shoulders rose on a single inhale that pulled the air from the room.
The six assassins turned toward him, fear slowly dawning in their eyes.
“Emperor—”
They never finished the sentence.
Kaedan disappeared.
One heartbeat he stood in the doorway.
The next, he was in front of them.
A single movement, too fast for the eye to follow.
The first assassin dropped without even screaming, her body collapsing lifelessly to the floor.
The others stumbled back, tripping over each other in panic.
“He’s gone feral—!”
“Run—RUN!”
One sprinted toward the door.
Kaedan blocked her path before she took a second step. She gasped, staring up at him, but whatever she saw in his eyes stole the breath from her lungs. He seized her by the hair, lifting her bodily from the ground, and slammed her into the wall with a force that cracked the stone.
She didn’t get up.
The remaining assassins broke.
Two lunged for the windows.
Another dove behind the curtains.
One scrambled across the floor on hands and knees, sobbing.
Kaedan didn’t stop.
He moved with terrifying precision, each step deliberate, each breath vibrating with fury so sharp it felt like the air itself recoiled. His power lashed out like invisible chains, dragging one of the fleeing women backward across the floor. She clawed at the stone, screaming.
“Please, please—”
Kaedan didn’t hear her.
He was no longer a man.
He was fear made flesh.
Rage given shape.
A creature carved from the instinct to protect what he claimed.
Ariaxa’s voice rose, shaking.
“Kaedan—stop! STOP!”
He didn’t even flinch.
Another assassin tried to fight, swinging a hidden blade toward his throat. Kaedan caught her wrist mid-strike, twisting it until the weapon fell from her trembling fingers. Her knees buckled. She sagged in his grip, gasping.
Kaedan’s voice was not a voice at all.
“You touched what’s mine.”
The woman sobbed.
“I—I didn’t—please—!”
Ariaxa thrashed against her restraints, the metal biting into her skin.
“KAEDAN! Listen to me! STOP!”
He didn’t.
He shoved the pleading assassin backward, power slamming into her like a storm. She slid across the floor, coughing, eyes wide with terror.
Only one attacker remained—
the scarred leader.
She knelt, trembling so violently she could barely keep her hands steady.
“Emperor,” she whispered. “Mercy— I was trying to protect—”
Kaedan vanished from where he stood and reappeared in front of her, gripping her jaw so tightly she cried out.
“Protect?” he echoed, voice hollow. “From who?”
His eyes—deep crimson, glowing like fresh-forged steel—shifted to Ariaxa for a single, violent moment. The sight of her bound, bruised, helpless…
His fury doubled.
The leader choked on her breath. “Please…”
Kaedan lifted his hand, fingers curling like claws, power crackling around his arm. The shadows around him twisted, drawn to the killing blow he prepared to deliver.
Ariaxa felt her heart seize.
She sucked in a breath.
And screamed his name so loudly her throat tore—
“KAEDAN!”
The world stopped.
His arm froze mid-strike.
His entire body stiffened, trembling violently.
The glow in his eyes flickered, then flared brighter.
His breath came ragged, like a cornered beast fighting its instincts.
He turned—slowly, painfully—toward Ariaxa.
The chains binding her rattled from how hard she was shaking.
Kaedan stared at her, chest heaving, red eyes dripping with emotion so raw it burned.
Her name fell from his lips like a broken prayer.
“Ariaxa…”
But his hand remained raised—
his body rigid—
his fangs still bared—
blood staining the corner of his mouth.
He was a breath away from losing himself completely.