Morning arrived quietly at Lucien's city estate, golden light spilling through tall glass windows. The warmth of it wrapped around Kai and Lucien where they lay tangled together beneath fine linen sheets, skin bare, breaths deep and slow. For a while, there was only silence. The world outside their room held no meaning. It was just them, suspended in the kind of peace that feels rare and stolen.
But Kai stirred first.
He blinked up at the intricate carvings on the ceiling above the bed, heart thudding softly in his chest. Something felt different. Not wrong — not exactly. But his skin tingled, as though magic hummed beneath it, barely held in check. Lucien shifted beside him, brushing Kai's bare arm. "You're buzzing," he murmured sleepily.
Kai turned his head. "You feel it too?" Lucien's brows pulled together faintly. "It's like… a current. Your aura's flaring. Not dangerous. Just… bright." Kai sat up slightly. As the sheet slid down, something shimmered faintly across his chest — a glowing mark, like a rune, pulsing softly beneath his skin near his collarbone.
Lucien's eyes sharpened instantly. "That wasn't there before." Kai's fingers brushed over it. "It doesn't hurt. It's warm. Like it's part of me."
Their eyes locked.
Then a knock came — sharp, deliberate — and the bond between them flared with tension.
Lucien wrapped a robe around himself quickly and opened the door. On the other side stood a tall man with silvery hair slicked back, dressed in formal dark robes with the crest of House Draven — Lucien's lineage.
"Father," Lucien said, voice flat. "To what do I owe the unexpected visit?" Lord Adrien Draven entered without waiting. His gaze swept over the room, pausing on Kai — shirtless, glowing mark visible.
"So it's true," he said coolly. "You've bonded with him." Kai stood slowly, wrapping the sheet around his waist, not breaking eye contact. "Careful," Lucien said. "You're in my home. Don't speak to him like he's property."
Adrien scoffed. "He is not just anyone. The magic around him is cursed, and now… bound to you. You think that will go unnoticed by the High Circle?" Lucien's jaw tightened. "That's our concern. Not theirs." Adrien moved past them, inspecting the shimmering ward lines built into the room's walls. "I came because I felt it. The power spike last night—it reached the outer districts. That kind of bond is rare. Dangerous."
Kai stepped forward. "We didn't mean to cause trouble." "Trouble," Adrien said, turning to him, "is exactly what follows a cursed omega with glowing runes who binds himself to my heir." Lucien stepped between them. "Say another word like that, and I'll throw you out myself."
Adrien's lips curled into a small smile, cold and amused. "Then I suggest you both start reading your family's history more closely. Especially the part about the flame-bonded pairs." He turned toward the door. "You'll find it in the east wing. The old archives."
When he was gone, Lucien rubbed a hand down his face. "He's never cared before. Why now?"
Kai touched the mark on his chest. "Because something's changing."
Lucien met his eyes. "Then let's find out what."
************
The east wing smelled of old paper and candle wax. Hidden behind a sliding panel, the family archives were filled with crumbling tomes, floating glyphs, and books sealed with protective charms. Lucien unlocked a chest with his blood, drawing out a leather-bound journal covered in dust.
The pages inside told of an ancient pair — a cursed omega and an alpha touched by fire magic — whose bond ignited something far greater than themselves. "They called it the Flamebound Curse," Lucien read. "A love so intense it awakened forgotten magic. It threatened the balance between realms."
Kai's hands trembled as he turned a page. A sketch of two figures — one marked with runes, the other crowned in fire — stared back at him. "But it wasn't just a love story," Lucien continued. "They were hunted. Used. Broken apart to keep the power from spreading."
Kai looked up. "Do you think that's happening to us?"
Lucien reached across the desk and held his hand. "I think history is repeating itself. But we're not them. Not yet."
Later that night, Kai's body burned. He collapsed to his knees in Lucien's bedroom, gripping his chest as glowing veins raced across his skin. Lucien rushed to him. "Kai!" Kai gasped, trembling. "It hurts… inside. Like something's trying to get out."
Lucien didn't hesitate. He pulled Kai into his arms, whispering calming words, his own magic wrapping tightly around him. The mark on Kai's chest flared — and then, for a moment, they both saw something else.
A temple in flames. A figure in black watching from above. A whisper: "You are the key."
Kai clung to Lucien as the vision faded, his breathing ragged. "Did you see that too?" he asked. Lucien nodded slowly. "The Watcher." Kai swallowed hard. "He's coming, isn't he?"
Lucien's voice was low. "No. He's already here."
Back in the archives, a locked cabinet cracked open on its own. Inside, a glowing pendant pulsed softly in time with Kai's heartbeat — a relic once worn by the omega in the old tale.
It shimmered with residual magic… waiting to be claimed.