His weakness.
The Dragon Emperor's weakness.
A man more beast than human, surpassed in power only by the rumors of himself.
Young, handsome, fierce and cunning, the person whose foot rested above the entire continent.
That person's weakness.
When had Calix had the time to become so desperately dependent on Kel's affection as to award her that title?
When had his eyes become set so intensely toward her?
And when did her heart start to beat so erratically at his touch?
When did her own feelings become something akin to affection toward the world's most feared tyrant?
The two of them, when did they fall in love?
Perhaps, Calix had always felt that way--from the moment he first heard of the extraordinary girl until the moment he had her in his possession.
And for Kel, maybe it was under the Emperor's fervent gaze as she slowly untangled each of his secrets, all the while unable to guard her own from him.
She wanted him. And he, her.
It should have been simple enough to stay by each other's side and live happily together.
But for a fearsome ruler, leading a vast war, and a girl with curious abilities as hot as her temper, nothing could ever be simple.
Calix had to do what he must, as the politics of war dictated.
And Kel had to do what she must, as her heart asserted.
After declaring Kel his weakness, Calix had immediately pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips against hers.
Kel, both unwilling and unable to break away, leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as they kissed.
Before long, they found themselves together on Calix's bed, their lips far too busy with each other's skin to continue arguing.
Calix's mouth tightened again and again over Kel's chest and stomach, leaving tiny bruises in his wake. Eventually his lips found their way down to her thighs and then to her toes, covering her in his red markings, claiming every inch of her as his.
His kisses were desperate--full of longing and passion.
It seemed swallowing her whole wouldn't be enough to satisfy his desires.
Kel's body burned, recalling the night they shared in the Emperor's tent as they began to repeat the same events.
Soft moans escaped her lips while her fingertips dug into Calix's bare shoulders as they shared their fiery longing for each other.
For a while, her mind, filled with carnal pleasure, forgot.
Forgot where they were.
Forgot what had happened just days earlier.
Forgot that her old family, Dash, Adriell and the old king, would soon meet their demise.
Nothing except bright white heat consumed her thoughts.
Due to his yet unhealed injuries, Calix couldn't ravage her as thoroughly as he did before, and he fell asleep long before she did.
Leaving her mind to remember, once again.
When she had redressed, burying all of Calix's marks beneath the uniform of a soldier in his army, she turned once more to the man's sleeping figure.
He must have been in pain, even in his dreams, from the way his eyebrows knitted and teeth clenched.
Once again, she marveled at how innocent and unguarded the Dragon Emperor looked when he was asleep. The image was a stark contrast to his stone-like invulnerable appearance.
"Perhaps, I have too many weaknesses," Kel whispered, leaning toward Calix's closed eyes.
She left a kiss on his forehead, not heated and impassioned, but delicate and kind.
Without making a sound, she then moved to the room's only window, the bushes below left momentarily unguarded as the patrol moved past into night's deep shadows.
Feeling that she was doing the right thing but also the very wrong thing, Kel looked back one last time at Calix.
"You probably can't understand."
The soldiers keeping watch over their newly conquered castle were meticulous, but their efforts couldn't measure up to one who had grown up learning every cranny of Mevani's vast palace.
Kel moved swiftly through the grounds, racking her brain to figure out where her three old friends were being held
Her initial thought was the dungeon, the same one where Leif had stashed Dash and the old king in the first place.
But considering two of the three were royalty (once-removed), they may have been allowed to wait out their final days in more comfort.
"Aah! Think, Kel!" she scolded herself, hesitating between two different paths.
There wasn't time to waste. The sun was only hours away from rising, bringing with it the Emperor's eyes.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom "The dungeon.. Or a room somewhere.. or.." Kel trailed off, her gaze landing on an annex across the yard.
Seeing it, she remembered a similar outlying building she had been kept in when she first was taken to Serin.
She had been held under the pretense of a royal hostage back then as well. So it was possible that her friends were..
"In the annex," she breathed.
I thought I'd changed so much since then, Kel smiled bitterly to herself as she set off to her new destination. Yet here I am, once again sneaking around behind the Dragon Emperor's back.
She let out a huff of frustration before narrowing her eyes and focusing again on her target.
"Perhaps, nothing changed, and it was all just my imagination."
Luckily, the location she guessed turned out to be correct.
She reached the annex safely and managed to sneak inside before the stars began to fade. In the wee hours of the morning, she discovered them, Adriell and her father and Dash, waiting defeatedly for their inescapable doom.
It was only after she'd entered the room, the three hostages sensibly, or rather dejectedly, silent in expressing their shock of her arrival, that she realized she wasn't sure what to do after finding them.
Fortunately, Adriell's spirit had been broken to the point of forgoing her usual antics. Instead of jumping toward Kel or shrieking her name, the woman sat slumped at her father's bedside, her blank eyes widening ever so slightly at the sudden intruder.
Dash appeared the most alert of the three but made no move to approach her or discover her intentions.
They'd given up, it seemed.
Given up on fighting back.
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