Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
KHATAK
I’m already dressed when the first hint of morning light filters through the window.
Pants fastened, shirt smoothed down—though I keep catching myself adjusting the collar, running my hands over fabric that doesn’t need straightening.
My tail won’t stop moving, tracing lazy figure-eights in the air behind me.
She was here. In this bed. With me.
I’m in her room!
Her bed sheets still smell like her—something warm and sweet that makes my chest feel too full. We should probably change them. Or never wash them again. Is that weird? That’s probably weird.
I’m being ridiculous.
And I don’t care.
I pace to the window, then back to the bed. To the small nightstand where my comm device sits. My reflection catches in the dark screen—red skin flushed burgundy, horns catching the light, a stupid grin I can’t seem to wipe off my face.
Last night happened. Actually happened.
She chose me.
The thought keeps circling back, bright and impossible.
Selene—beautiful, confident, completely out of my league Selene—chose me.
Not my family name. Not some imagined future accomplishment.
Just me. Khatak. The one who screamed in the haunted house and carved the wrong kind of pumpkin and can’t even get Sutek to remember my name.
She saw all of that. Every failure, every embarrassing moment, every way I don’t measure up.
And she still wanted me.
My tail does another happy swish, knocking into the desk chair.
I should probably stop grinning like an idiot. Any minute now, someone’s going to knock on this door and wonder why I’ve lost my mind.
Worth it.
I pick up the comm device, weighing it in my palm. The screen lights up at my touch, displaying my father’s contact information right at the top of my list. Where it’s sat for days, waiting. Accusing.
Because I missed the meeting with Rist. It had been scheduled for last night… and in the heat of the moment, I chose to pursue other matters. I chose to be with Selene instead.
And it was worth it, in every way imaginable. She was worth every sacrifice. “Record the message. Tell him you’re giving up the mission,” I tell myself, voice rough.
My thumb hovers over the record button.
A video message is better than a live call.
That way I don’t have to hear his immediate reaction—the disappointment, the anger, whatever cutting words he’ll have about his useless son throwing away the family’s last chance.
I can record it as many times as I need to get the words right, delete the attempts where my voice shakes or where I sound too defensive or not confident enough.
I can just... say what I need to say and send it before I lose my nerve.
This is insane. I’m about to throw away everything. I’m about to tell my father, the decorated general who’s never failed at anything in his life, that his son has chosen to abandon his duty. My father will disown me.
All because of a female I met three days ago.
And I don’t care.
The realization settles over me like sunlight—warm and certain and terrifying.
I don’t care about the mission anymore. Had I ever cared about it? No one ever stopped to ask my opinion on what we should do; they just gave me orders and commands. And I followed.
Because Selene makes me feel like maybe—just maybe—I’m enough exactly as I am. She makes me feel like I can stand up for myself and tell them no.
I tap the record button before I can talk myself out of it.
The device hums softly, the screen showing my own face staring back at me. I open my mouth to start—
The door to my room slams open.
I jump, nearly dropping the comm device. The recording screen is still active, the timer counting up—
Selene stands in the doorway.
But not the Selene from last night. Not the one who smiled up at me with gold-flecked eyes and made me feel like I could be something more.
This Selene has her arms crossed tight across her chest. Her eyes are red-rimmed. Her whole body radiates fury and hurt in equal measure.
“Selene?” My voice comes out wrong—too surprised, too uncertain. The comm device is still recording in my hand. I fumble to stop it, nearly dropping the device. “What’s—“
“Don’t.” The word cuts through the air like a blade. “Just... don’t.”
My tail goes still. Something cold settles in my stomach.
“I need you to be honest with me.” Her voice shakes slightly. She’s holding herself together through sheer force of will. “Right now. No games, no excuses. Just the truth.”
“Of course. Always.” The words come automatically. “Selene, what’s wrong?”
She laughs—short, bitter, nothing like her usual warmth. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”
She steps fully into the room, and I can see her hands are trembling. “Sutek just asked me where you were. Said he needed to discuss the alliance with Prince Rist.”
Oh.
Oh no.
“The alliance, Khatak.” Her voice cracks on my name. “The whole reason you’re here. The very thing you somehow forgot to mention...” She gestures vaguely between us, color rising in her cheeks. “While we were...”
“Selene, I can explain—”
“Can you?” She takes another step forward. “Because it’s pretty clear now. Every moment. Every conversation. Every time you looked at me like I was something special—it was all about getting close to Rist, wasn’t it?”
“No!” The word comes out too loud. I reach for her, but she jerks back. “No, that’s not—it wasn’t like that—“
“You HID this from me.” Her voice rises.
“I didn’t—“ My defense dies in my throat.
“I thought you were different.” Selene’s voice has gone quiet now, which somehow hurts worse than the anger. “Transparent. Honest.” She laughs again, harsh. “I’m such an idiot.”
“You’re not—“
“I let my guard down.” She’s talking more to herself now than to me. “I told myself I could trust you. That you were different from all the others with their hidden motives. But there’s always a hidden agenda, isn’t there? There’s always something.”
Because she’s right. She’s completely right.
The words hit like physical blows.
I did have hidden motives. And even if my feelings changed, even if everything I felt was real, I still hid this from her.
I never told her the full truth. I did come here for the mission.
That’s a fact. My family sent me to secure an alliance with Rist, and that was the only reason I got on the transport, the only reason I’m standing in this room.
I wasn’t here for Halloween celebrations or human traditions or meeting beautiful females who make me forget everything else exists.
I was here for political maneuvering. For family duty.
And yet she still chose me… Didn’t she?
“What did I offer you?” The question slips out before I can stop it. Quiet. Defeated.
She blinks at me. “What?”
“What did I actually give you?” I set the comm device down carefully on the desk. My hands are shaking. “I’m not a warrior. I’m not successful.”
“Khatak—”
“The mission was supposed to...” I trail off. Supposed to what? Make me matter? Prove I could accomplish something? Give me a reason to exist?
Make me someone deserving of her.
The thought hits me sideways.
That’s what I believed, isn’t it? That I needed to achieve something—anything—before I could be someone worth choosing.
But I failed the mission. I chose to give it up for her, and now I have nothing. No alliance. No family approval. No achievements to point to that might justify why someone like Selene would want someone like me.
If I’m offering nothing of value, then what was last night? What was any of it?
I’m not someone who deserves the kind of choice she made last night.
“So you admit it then.” Selene’s voice cuts through my spiraling thoughts. “I think you should leave.”
I look up. Her arms are still crossed, but her expression has shifted to something harder. More closed off. The warmth from last night is completely gone, replaced by the careful distance of someone who’s been hurt before and knows how to protect herself.
She’s already rebuilding her walls. Already shutting me out.
Good. She should.
“Selene—” I try one more time, though I’m not even sure what I want to say. Some part of me—the stupid, hopeful part that thought last night could be real—wants to fight for this. To explain that yes, I came here for a mission, but that changed. That she changed everything.
“Just leave, Khatak.” Her voice is flat now. Empty. “Go get your alliance. Isn’t that what you came here for?”
I nod slowly. Words seem impossible.
I pick up my comm device from the desk. Stare at it for a moment. The unsent recording to my father mocks me—proof that I was about to throw everything away. That I already chose her over the mission.
Not that it matters now.
I delete the recording. My finger hovers over the screen, then I pocket the device.
I move toward the door. She doesn’t stop me. Doesn’t say anything at all.
I pause when I reach the threshold, my hand on the door frame. Turn back.
She’s standing in the middle of my room, arms still wrapped tight around herself, looking smaller than I’ve ever seen her. Hurt. Closed off. Safe behind walls I helped her build right back up.
I want to say something. To tell her that she’s right to be angry, that I’m sorry, that everything between us was real even if it shouldn’t have been. That I was about to choose her over everything else, and I’d make that choice again in a heartbeat.
But I don’t deserve to say any of that.
She’s better off thinking I just used her. At least then she’s not wasting any more time on someone like me.
So I just nod once and step out into the hallway.
The door closes behind me with a soft click.