Chapter 4 The demon within

He stood there like he owned the shadows.

The Demon Lord she'd dreamed of. The one with the velvet voice and ember eyes. Up close, he looked more human than her father - but that made him all the more dangerous. He was beautiful in the way wildfires were: something that would kiss you before it consumed you whole.

Seraphina didn't speak.

Neither did he.

Not at first.

He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, like a predator giving prey a head start out of courtesy.

"You're not what I expected," he said, voice low and smoky. "They said you were unstable. That your angel side would cage the fire."

"It's barely contained," she replied, gaze cold.

"Oh, I can tell."

His smile wasn't kind. It was wicked - like he saw something in her soul that even she didn't.

Before she could ask his name, her father cut in.

"Seraphina," he said sharply, "this is Kael. General of my Legion. And your appointed guard."

"Appointed by who?" she asked, arching a brow.

Kael answered first. "By me."

"You don't even know me."

His eyes darkened. "I've known you since before you bled."

Seraphina's lips parted, but no sound came. That sentence landed in her chest like a stone dropped in deep water. It stirred things. Things she didn't want to feel.

---

Later, they stood alone in a training court carved into the mountain's side. The floor was obsidian-black and glittering with sigils, like a galaxy trapped under glass.

Kael tossed her a dagger.

She caught it - barely. The blade was searing cold.

"You're not ready," he said bluntly.

"You don't know me."

"I know your kind. Born of two realms. Torn in both."

Seraphina advanced, blade steady. "Then teach me."

Kael smirked and lunged without warning. Steel rang as their weapons clashed. She barely had time to think - only react. He moved like smoke - fast, fluid, brutal. She fought like she was drowning in herself.

After only moments, her blade went flying.

He had her pinned in a heartbeat.

Her back hit the wall. His hand was at her throat - not choking, but holding. Testing. His face was inches from hers, breath hot against her lips.

"You hesitate," he murmured.

"Because I'm not like you."

"No. You're worse."

He released her.

She gasped, rubbing her throat as he stepped back, eyes still smoldering.

"You feel it, don't you?" Kael asked. "The hunger. The flame beneath your skin. You think the angels will save you from it, but they fear you more than I do."

She didn't respond.

Because he was right.

---

That night, Seraphina stood on a balcony of the dark castle, staring at the twin moons.

Her hands shook.

Her powers were growing stronger, harder to control. Earlier, she'd touched a rose in the courtyard and it had withered to ash. When she looked in the mirror, her pupils were no longer round. They were slitted like a serpent's.

And worst of all, her heart beat faster when Kael was near.

Not because she feared him.

But because she didn't.

---

A voice spoke behind her.

"You're unraveling."

She turned. Her father.

He didn't come closer. His silhouette was framed by the moonlight.

"I feel like I'm burning alive," she confessed.

"You are. The demon side rises when threatened. But it must be balanced. Or it will consume the rest of you."

"And if I lose control?"

"You won't," he said. "Because you're stronger than either side. You were meant to be both."

She looked at her hands. "Then why does it feel like I'm becoming someone else?"

His gaze softened. "Because becoming who you truly are means killing who you thought you were."

---

The next morning, Seraphina awoke in sweat and silence.

The room had darkened overnight, like the shadows clung to her dreams.

She rose, and her feet instinctively carried her not to the court, but to the deepest corridor in the castle - a place not marked on any map. Her blood pulled her there.

Past cracked mirrors and walls that whispered.

Until she found it: a sealed chamber door, chained in silver. Runes flickered across it.

She reached for the lock.

"Touch it, and the angel in you dies."

Kael's voice. He stepped from the shadows, as always.

She didn't flinch. "What's behind it?"

"A mirror."

"Why seal a mirror?"

"Because it doesn't show your reflection," he said. "It shows your true self."

She stared at the door. "I want to see."

"No," he said, stepping closer. "Not yet. Not until you're ready."

She turned to him - her anger, her pain, her desire simmering at the surface.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I was there when your mother fell," he said quietly. "And I saw what love cost her."

Seraphina blinked.

"You loved her?"

"No," Kael said, eyes narrowing. "But I loved what she stood for."

"And what do I stand for?" she challenged.

Kael hesitated. Then whispered, "War."

Their gazes locked - heat blooming between them like sparks on dry wood.

Then he turned and vanished into the dark again.

---

That night, Seraphina dreamed of fire.

Not wild fire - controlled. Elegant.

It shaped itself into wings. Into thorns. Into lips that kissed hers with a hunger that hurt.

She woke with Kael's name on her lips.

---

To be continued