Chapter 158: I Really Won’t Hurt Her, Brother

He sat down slowly on the edge of her bed.

The mattress shifted slightly beneath his weight, but she did not wake. She simply curled more tightly into her blanket, unconsciously drawing deeper into sleep now that she had someone....something, nearby.

Time seemed to stop.

Kaelen sat in the darkness, watching her sleep. His mind was working through everything Thorne had told him. His understanding of what claiming her meant. His fear that despite all his intentions, despite all his promises, he might hurt her. His desperate need to do this right, to prove that he was capable of being more than his reputation suggested.

His dragon was slowly calming.

The immediate surge of GLACIUS was fading, replaced by something slower, something deeper. Something that felt almost like recognition. His pale eyes watched the rise and fall of her breathing, the peaceful expression on her face, the way she slept as if the world around her held no danger.

How could she be so trusting?

How could she sleep so peacefully in a palace full of dragons and kings and ancient magic that she did not understand? How could she be so vulnerable and yet so important?

The questions had no answers.

Only the understanding that she was his, that she had to be his, that everything in his blood and his magic and his ancient dragon nature screamed that this girl....this small, fragile, impossible girl, was the answer to everything they had been searching for.

But she deserved better than him coming to her in the night like a thief.

She deserved better than him losing control and frightening her.

She deserved to understand what she was, what he was, what they all were, before they claimed her.

Kaelen stood.

He looked down at her one last time.

Her face in the moonlight was perfect, peaceful, untouched by the weight of what was coming. He wanted to touch her again. He wanted to stay. He wanted to slide into the bed beside her and hold her through the night and let her warmth chase away the ice that had lived in his blood for so long.

But he turned away instead.

His movement was slow, deliberate, careful not to disturb her. He walked to the door, his pale eyes burning with the effort of control. He reached for the handle and pulled the door open just enough to slip through.

The corridor beyond was empty.

Or it was supposed to be empty.

***

Kaelen stepped out and found Thorne waiting.

His middle brother was leaning against the wall opposite Morgana’s door, his dark eyes fixed on the entrance with the patience of someone who had been there for quite some time. There was no surprise on Thorne’s face, no judgment.....just observation and understanding.

Kaelen’s pale eyes flashed with something between irritation and dark amusement.

"Well," he said, his voice carrying a bitter edge, "I guess you really don’t trust me to be near her and not hurt her, do you, brother?"

Thorne’s dark gaze moved from the door to Kaelen’s face, studying him with the precision of someone reading a book written in a language only he understood.

"You can’t blame me for not trusting you with her, brother."

Thorne’s voice was steady, factual, carrying no malice....just truth.

"Your reputation precedes you."

The words hung in the corridor between them.

It was fair. It was honest. It was also a wound that had been inflicted on Kaelen countless times over the centuries, the understanding that his past had created a distance that his present could not overcome. That no matter what he did now, there would always be those who remembered what he had done before.

Kaelen’s smile became more bitter.

But then his voice took on a different tone. Serious. Raw.

"I really won’t hurt her, brother."

His pale eyes met Thorne’s dark gaze directly, and in that gaze was absolute sincerity.

"I just want to get to know her."

He paused, letting that statement settle.

"If she is our mate, if she really is, then I need to do this right. I won’t hurt her."

Thorne studied him for a long moment.

His dark eyes moved across Kaelen’s face, assessing, reading, understanding. And then, slowly, he shook his head in acknowledgment. The gesture was small but carried weight.

"I guess she is sleeping now," Thorne said.

It was not a question.

"She is," Kaelen confirmed.

Thorne pushed off from the wall, his movement smooth and controlled. He stepped closer to Kaelen, close enough that only his brothers would ever stand, close enough to show trust.

"Then let’s wait till tomorrow before we start the quest of claiming our little witch."

The decision was made.

They would approach her together. All three of them. Not separately, not in pieces, but as the unified force that they had always been when it mattered most.

Kaelen’s expression shifted.

A slight smile played at the corners of his mouth....not bitter anymore, but something more genuine.

"Why are you so sure that she is going to be okay with three of us coming at her like hungry animals?"

The question carried both humor and genuine curiosity.

Thorne’s smile was slow in coming, but when it arrived, it transformed his face. It showed the man beneath the Shadow King, the brother beneath the strategist.

"Then we need to make ourselves irresistible to her," Thorne said. "And trust me, brother, we are."

Kaelen’s pale eyes lit up with amusement.

"Arrogant," he said, the word carrying no real bite.

"Tell that to the noble daughters who still come to my library to hunt me later," Thorne replied, his voice carrying the weight of truth mixed with self-awareness.

Both brothers laughed.

It was a sound that belonged to them alone, the laughter of beings who had survived centuries together, who had fought together, who understood each other in ways that no one else could. The laughter of brothers who were bound not just by blood but by choice, by loyalty, by the understanding that whatever came next, they would face it together.