Chapter 11
?──── Serenya ? ────?
“Are you even trying?” I ask Koen, twisting my wrist to disarm him. He barely manages to hold on.
“I was under the impression this was training,” he shoots back. “Not a public execution.”
“Poor impression, then.”
I lunge again, and he deflects, but his footing falters. I sweep his leg in a clean arc, and he hits the ground with a thud, releasing a sharp exhale.
“Gods,” he groans. “Do you flirt like this, too? Or is this a special kind of torment just for me?”
“I don’t flirt,” I say, looming over him. “Especially not with arrogant men who think they can win my crown.”
“Win it? No,” he says, breathless but grinning. “Just figured I’d borrow it for a while. See how it fits.”
I roll my eyes, stepping forward to pin him with my knee at his chest, sword angled at his throat. Not pressing, but close enough.
Something shifts in me as I look down at him. His chest rising beneath my knee. That maddening smile gone , replaced by a look that is…unfamiliar. Focused.
Like he sees me. Really sees me.
All of a sudden, it isn’t Koen beneath me.
It’s Kallan. His blond hair damp with sweat, heat in his eyes, his lips parted in a breathless grin after I’d knocked him down. The rush in my chest, the pounding in my ears—it’s the same. That memory is like a shard of glass in my lungs.
Koen is still staring up at me. Quiet now. Brows furrowed, like he feels something, too.
“…Have we actually met before?” he asks, barely a whisper.
I blink, snapping out of it. My face hardens.
“No,” I say quickly, pulling away and standing.
Koen sits up slowly, confused, brushing dirt off his tunic. “Right. Of course not.”
“Wow,” a familiar voice says from behind us.
We both turn.
Torin is standing at the edge of the training ring, arms folded, Alira perched beside him on the bench, grinning widely with a pastry in her hand.
“I give it three more sparring sessions before they’re making out in the armory,” Alira says, smirking around a bite of pastry.
I narrow my eyes. “Careful, Alira.”
Torin holds up his hands. “Hey, we’re not judging. Just never seen anyone get pinned that fast since the first time I challenged Serenya.”
Alira snorts. “You cried .”
“I got dust in my eyes.”
Koen gets to his feet. “Glad to know I’m not the only victim.”
I shoot him a glare, but my lips are threatening to betray me with the faintest curl.
I turn to Torin. “Shouldn’t you be doing guard things?”
“Consider this guarding,” Torin says. “You’re both like very sharp objects with unresolved tension. Someone should supervise.”
I shake my head and start walking towards the weapons rack to return the sword I was using. “We’re done here.”
“But we were just starting to get along,” Koen calls after me.
I don’t respond.
When I pass by Alira, my cousin whispers, “You like him.”
“I’ll throw you in the lake.”
She beams. “You’d have to catch me first.”
────────────? ? ? ? ?────────────
Koen
My gaze follows Serenya as she returns her sword and storms away toward the palace.
Torin chuckles. “You lasted longer against her than I thought you would. That’s usually a good sign.”
“Except when it ends with a sword at your throat,” I mutter, rubbing my neck.
“You didn’t hate it,” Alira sing-songs.
“I didn’t love it,” I say flatly.
She gives me a knowing look, her blue eyes gleaming. “Sure you didn’t.”
“Well, she didn’t kill you. That’s the nicest thing she’s done so far.” Torin grins. “That’s practically affection.”
I shake my head, but I can’t help the small smile that tugs at my lips. I turn my eyes back toward Serenya’s disappearing figure.
“ Think she likes me?” I ask dryly.
Alira gasps. “Oh, Koen , you sweet delusional thing.”
“She’d feed you to a hellhound if it would improve her day,” Torin adds.
I let out a slow exhale. Even as they laugh, my mind replays that earlier moment. Her eyes softening , her breath catching. Like she’d seen something in me she didn’t expect. Like, for one moment…she hadn’t seen me at all.
The worst part? For that same moment, I hadn’t felt like myself either.
Later, dinner in the great hall is uneventful. The queen, high lords, and nobles don’t join us tonight. But Serenya does.
When I step into the room and see her at the head of the table, relief floods me in a way I don’t understand. I shouldn’t feel this drawn to her, but I do. My eyes keep straying to her, no matter how many times I force them down to my food.
She’s laughing at something Lioran said, the sound soft and bright, striking something deep inside my chest. When I first arrived at the palace, I told myself not to like Serenya.
A princess who seemed to have given up on her people?
I wanted nothing to do with her. Yet, from the moment we met, something in me has been calling to her.
I fight it; I swear I do. But when her face lights up like that, when her laugh spills from her lips like music, my magic stirs restlessly, like it longs to go to her.
I tear my gaze away and focus on the food on my plate.
My thoughts keep straying to the other night.
The way her eyes had dimmed with sadness when she spoke of her father.
The way she rolled her eyes at Torin’s teasing, yet a smile was always tugging at her mouth.
Their love for each other had been obvious.
It was like siblings squabbling, but underneath it all, the unshakable truth that they’d die for one another.
That glimpse of who she is beneath the mask startled me.
It was impossible to look away. Then, seeing her after healing us…
how weak she’d looked, how hard even just walking had been for her.
Guilt lodged sharp in my chest. I had the urge to scoop her up and carry her to her bed, but she wouldn’t have wanted that.
She didn’t want me there at all. Didn’t want me to see her vulnerable.
I hadn’t pushed. She had every reason to dislike me.
I was rude when we met, and since then, I’ve done nothing but get under her skin. Of course she didn’t like me.
It’s for the best. Truly. I don’t plan on staying, even if I make it through all trials . I just want to return to the Hollow and leave all of this behind.
One by one, people begin leaving the table.
The scrape of chairs, the low murmur of parting goodnights, pull me from my thoughts.
I glance up just in time to see Serenya walking out beside Osric, looking slightly uncomfortable.
My jaw clenches. Something about him has been off since the first day, though I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Before I can think better of it, I push back from the table and follow.
The corridor beyond the hall is quiet, torches crackling faintly on the walls.
They’re gone, no trace of them. My gut twists.
I don’t even know why, but my feet carry me toward the gardens.
Some instinct tugs me that way, strong and insistent.
I push through the doors and into the night air. The gardens stretch wide, fragrant and shadowed, and for a moment I don’t know where to go. My gaze settles on the path toward the fountain, and something in me just knows . My heart hammers, already sensing danger.
I weave between hedges and overflowing blooms, the air thick with their perfume until it nearly chokes me. I slow when I hear voices, ducking behind a hedge where I can see without being seen.
She’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Her body is tense, her arms crossed tightly in front of her. He steps closer. She steps back. Again. And again. Until her legs meet the stone edge of the fountain.
Rage slams into me, hot and unrelenting. My fists clench and unclench as I take a step forward.
Why is she letting him back her into the fountain? If she wanted to, she could stop him in an instant. So why isn’t she?
My blood runs cold as he slips a dagger from his sleeve, the blade catching the faint moonlight.
My body moves before my mind catches up. I break into a run.
She doesn’t seem to notice, doesn’t see the danger. She turns, trying to step past him, and that’s when he raises the blade. I dive between them. Pain erupts like fire as the dagger pierces my side.
I hit the ground with a groan, breath hissing out of me.
Serenya gasps. “Koen! What—?”
I don’t let her finish. I shove myself up, ignoring the fire in my ribs.
Osric’s shock vanishes, replaced with fury, although it’s nothing compared to the fury in me . The thought of what might have happened if I hadn’t been here makes me see red. I step toward him, and whatever he sees in my face makes him falter.
I swing, my fist connecting with his jaw in a sickening crunch. He stumbles back but recovers instantly, launching a vicious hook. Our blows ring through the garden—the wet smack of flesh meeting flesh, the scrape of feet on stone, our ragged breaths.
A loud crack echoes as my fist smashes into his ribs. He growls, spitting blood. My elbow catches his jaw, sending him staggering. Gravel sprays with every kick and step.
“I’m going to kill you,” he hisses close to my ear. “And when I do, I’ll have more than just her blood. Maybe I’ll have some fun first.”
White-hot fury explodes inside me. My magic answers, wild and unrestrained. The jagged gold lines scrawled across my skin ignite, crackling like lightning. Heat sears through my arm and into his throat as my hand clamps around his neck.
“ You will never touch her , ” I snarl.
His eyes widen , panic flashing. Limbs thrash, but my magic pours into him.
He gags, claws at my arm, then goes slack.
Still, the burning light doesn’t stop. Flesh sizzles, bone cracks faintly.
Within moments, he shudders violently, convulsing, until all that remains of him falls away into ash that drifts onto the fountain stones, scattering in the night breeze.
I lower my hands, chest heaving, muscles trembling. The magic retreats, satisfied that Serenya is safe.
I slowly turn, meeting Serenya’s stare, worried about what she must think after seeing what I’d just done. Shock is etched across her features, quickly hardening into irritation.
“What the hells , Koen?”
It takes me a moment to even process. That’s her response? Not fear. Not relief. Irritation.
When I don’t answer, she snaps again. “You have a dagger in your side.” She gestures like I might’ve forgotten. “You jumped in front of a dagger!”
“ I know ,” I grit out . “Can you maybe…I don’t know… help me with it? ”
She glares, stepping forward to shove me down onto the fountain’s edge. Her touch is rough and impatient.
“I’ll numb the area, but it’s still going to sting,” she mutters, pressing one hand over the wound while the other yanks the dagger free. I hiss as pain sears through me.
“You’re an idiot,” she says flatly.
“I save you, and you call me an idiot?” I shoot back, incredulous.
“I didn’t need saving,” she snaps.
“He was going to kill you.” The growl in my voice surprises even me.
“He wouldn’t have succeeded,” she shoots back. Then her tone softens, almost too quiet to hear. “The gods aren’t gracious enough to allow that.”
I go still, caught off guard. I don’t know how to respond to that.
She stiffens, wide eyes flicking up to mine like she just realized something. “Have you—have you ever…killed before?”
I hesitate. “…No. I’m just a tavern boy. Not much call for killing.”
“Koen…your first shouldn’t have been for me,” she says, her voice still soft, almost vulnerable.
“It’s not a big deal,” I say quickly, uncomfortable with how close this feels to something intimate.
Her sharpness returns, the shift almost jarring. “You’re too reckless. First a drunken brawl, now this? I’ve had to heal you three times in one week. One week .”
She finishes the healing, then stands, dusting off her hands like she’s brushing me off with them.
“Try not to get injured again. Despite what you seem to think, I’m not your personal healer.”
She begins to walk away, then pauses, turning her head just enough that I can see the curve of her cheek but not her eyes.
“Thank you,” she says softly.
The words sound dragged out of her, reluctant.
Before I can respond, she keeps walking.
I sit there, breath uneven, mind spiraling. How had I known to follow them? How did I know where to go? Why had I thrown myself in front of a dagger for her—killed for her?
The questions spin in my mind, tangled, but the fear I’d felt when I saw the blade and the fury that consumed me when Osric whispered his threat are burned into me.
I run a shaky hand down my face. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go. I was going to keep to myself and leave once this was all over.
Now, I don’t even know what I’m doing.
One thing I do know without a doubt is that I don’t regret saving her. If putting myself in harm's way meant keeping her safe, I’d do it again without a second thought.