Rayne POV.
The air was suffocating. My heart raced as Kael's golden eyes bore into mine, brimming with something dark and unreadable. I couldn't reconcile the warmth he once offered with the malice in his smile now.
"Kael," I whispered, taking a step back. "What's going on? What are you doing here... with him?"
His smile widened, his head tilting slightly. "Oh, Rayne, always asking the wrong questions."
"The wrong—" My voice faltered as his words sank in. "You lied to me. Everything you said, everything you did—it was all a lie?"
Kael's expression hardened, the mockery slipping away. "Not everything. There were moments, fleeting as they were, where I almost believed the façade myself."
"That's enough," the crimson-eyed man interjected, his voice calm but laced with authority. "Kael, stop playing with her."
I turned to him, anger flaring in my chest. "You're the one doing this! Whatever you did to him—"
