Chapter 78: Shadow’s story
All she could hear was her heartbeat. It started to become a more relentless, throbbing pulse that rippled through her, teasing her senses and sending aching waves of heat to her core. It wasn’t fair, feeling this intensely when she’d just learned the devastating truth, that her husband’s very own cruel father had placed such a terrible curse upon him.
But why? Why would he curse his own son?
Kai gently caressed her hair and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, pulling her closer until she sat, astride, on his lap. Ren swallowed thickly, her pulse quickening. His closeness was both comforting and dangerously intoxicating. Couples might embrace like this every day, yet for her, in this moment, it was exquisite torment. The warmth of his bare skin, the way her back brushed intimately against his hardened length made her nipples stand taut, stole her breath away, forcing her eyes shut as her teeth sank into her trembling lower lip. Gods, it was big, enticing her curiosity, and sensual desires, forcing her mind to imagine him inside her.
The flood of sensation, the aching burned deep within her, it was almost too much to bear.
"Why did he curse you?" Her voice was a fragile whisper.
Kai leaned back against the cool stone rim of the circular bathtub, his chin resting protectively atop her head, his strong arms securely wrapped around her waist. Slowly, he lowered his face, burying it in the delicate curve of her neck, breathing in her soothing, intoxicating scent as if seeking strength within her warmth.
A loose strand of her wet hair floated gently on the water’s surface; he captured it between his fingers, inhaling its sweet fragrance before tenderly placing it back upon her shoulder. Explaining the depth of his father’s betrayal, the cruel truth behind the cursed crest etched upon Shadow, felt impossibly difficult; yet he was determined to lay himself bare, trusting her completely with every dark corner of his soul.
"I was eighteen when he sent me on a mission into a war zone. He commanded me to let Shadow feast on all emotions, to drain every shred of humanity from those people until they were reduced to hollow, cruel shells, turning them to absolute walking dead so he could watch their loves die, and kill each other in the nastiest ways possible. He wanted to drown them in sin and corruption. And he succeeded. I helped him do it."
Kai paused, staring down at the water’s surface, noting her shocked reflection trembling across it. Instinctively, he tightened his hold around her waist, pulling her securely against his chest. Ren tilted her head back, lifting a gentle hand until her palm softly caressed his cheek. "Tell me more."
She should be jerking away and leaving, he was shocked at her response, and seeing her tolerate, he trailed off, "And I obeyed every single command," he whispered, his voice edged with bitterness, shame, and regret. "I did everything he demanded just to earn a fragment of his attention, to win a morsel of his affection. Deep down, I desperately believed that if I pleased him enough, he’d finally love me back, love me as fiercely as I loved him. So, I let Shadow devour their emotions, blind to the devastation I was causing, unaware that my actions would spark endless, bloody conflicts, ruining many children’s lives. And that very moment, I realized Shadow couldn’t devour children’s emotions until they come of age and become spoiled. They kept loving their dears." His throat tightened, each word catching like splintered glass. "I still see myself standing atop a burning rooftop, watching an entire city engulfed in flames. People screaming in agony, terrified children crying, desperately calling for parents they’d never find again; I remember every face, every single one. I made parents heartless, they ran away and left their own kids."
His breathing quickened, raw, and strained with pain. Ren felt the heaviness in his chest. It was a wound festering through centuries of guilt and shame. Time had not healed him; it had only deepened the scars he carried.