In the Shadow of the Crown

The scent of candle wax and steel thickened the air in the war room, mingling with the faint trace of blood still clinging to Raen’s hands. He had barely left Eliza’s side before stepping into this chamber - his mind still scorched with the heat of her, the way her body had trembled in the bath, the way her lips had parted in something between defiance and surrender.

But war did not wait for lust.

Raen exhaled slowly, pressing his thumb against his lower lip, as if still tasting her there. He sat at the head of the table, his fingers drumming a slow, deliberate rhythm against the polished wood.

Across from him, Elrik and Vaughn stood in tense silence, their gazes flickering toward him, then toward the map spread wide before them. Cities marked for destruction. Territories waiting to fall. The kingdom itself, like a ripe fruit on the verge of being plucked.

Vaughn was the first to speak. “The king has grown suspicious. He’s tightening security around the palace.”

Raen smirked. “Let him.”

Elrik exhaled, shaking his head. “You’re too calm.”

“I’ve already won,” Raen murmured, tracing a gloved finger along the royal crest. “The only question is how much blood it will take.”

Elrik leaned against the table, watching him carefully. “And the girl?”

Raen’s smirk deepened.

Eliza.

His beautiful, caged bird.

She was fire and thorns, a creature who had fought him at every turn - yet still, she was his. Bound in silver, locked in his grasp. She could scream, she could curse, she could deny it all she wanted, but the truth coiled between them like an unbreakable chain.

She felt him.

She burned for him.

And soon, she would accept it.

Raen leaned back in his chair, rolling his shoulders as though bored with the conversation. “Eliza will learn her place.”

Elrik’s jaw tightened. “You speak as if she’s a trained hound.”

Raen’s gaze flicked toward him, sharp as a blade. “She is mine.”

Vaughn chuckled darkly. “And yet, she still tries to run.”

Raen’s expression did not change. “For now.”

A slow, knowing silence stretched between them.

Finally, Elrik shook his head. “Love makes men weak.”

Raen’s smirk returned, though it was colder this time. “Only fools love without control.”

And he had control.

He would make sure of it.

He had already laid the groundwork - binding her with chains, with magic, with the inescapable weight of his presence. But it was not enough.

He would carve himself into her mind until she needed him as much as she needed air.

Until she feared life without him.

Until the thought of escape was more unbearable than surrender.

A slow, satisfied breath left him.

Eliza would break.

And when she did… she would beg to stay by his side.

***

The chains clinked softly as Eliza shifted, the weight of the enchanted silver still foreign against her skin. The collar remained locked around her throat, the cuffs cool against her wrists. Even the delicate choker - deceptively beautiful, yet pulsing with unseen magic - felt heavier than before.

But it was not the chains that unsettled her.

It was him.

Raen sat beside her on the massive bed, his expression unreadable, though the heat in his gaze had not faded since he had left her trembling in the bath.

She hated him.

She loathed him.

And yet, her body still burned with the lingering effects of his touch, the warmth of his hands on her skin, the way he had claimed her in the water like a man starved.

She clenched her fists. “Are you done playing with your food?”

Raen smirked, reaching for a small silver tray beside the bed. “You’re mistaken, my love.” He lifted a ripe berry between his fingers, the deep crimson of it almost sinful. “You are my food.”

Her stomach twisted.

Slowly, deliberately, Raen pressed the berry to her lips.

She turned her head away.

His smirk did not waver. “You’re still stubborn.”

The choker pulsed.

A sharp gasp left her lips as warmth coiled in her veins, making her limbs feel heavy, making her pulse quicken.

Raen’s voice was a dark whisper against her ear. “Eat.”

The command slithered through her, leaving no room for disobedience.

Her lips parted - traitorous, unwilling and he slid the berry between them, his fingers brushing against her mouth, lingering just long enough to make her breath hitch. The sweet, tart taste burst on her tongue, and Raen’s smirk deepened.

“Good girl.”

Eliza swallowed, her throat tight with fury.

Raen took another berry, this time biting into it himself before pressing the remnants against her lips, forcing her to taste it from his hand. His eyes gleamed, watching every movement, every unwilling reaction.

“You belong to me,” he murmured.

Eliza glared up at him, defiance sparking in her gaze. “Then kill me.”

Raen chuckled. “Oh, my love.” His thumb traced over her lower lip, possessive. “Why would I destroy my greatest treasure?”

Her breath caught as he leaned in, his mouth brushing against the mark he had left on her throat - a deep, bruising reminder that she was his.

And then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he kissed it.

Heat flared through her, molten and treacherous.

[Damn him.]

[Damn him to hell.]

***

Elrik and Vaughn waited outside the chamber doors, their expressions unreadable as they heard the faint clink of chains, the muffled sound of Raen’s voice - low, dark, hungry.

Vaughn exhaled. “She’s still fighting him.”

Elrik scoffed. “She’ll fight until the end.”

Vaughn smirked. “Then perhaps the end is near.”

Elrik didn’t respond.@@novelbin@@

But in the depths of his mind, a single thought whispered.

If Eliza was Raen’s greatest weakness…

Perhaps she was also his greatest undoing.

And in a war where love was the deadliest weapon, it was only a matter of time before someone used it to strike.