*The cold wind scraped against their skin, and the blood staining their fingertips had yet to dry. Kain sat motionless on the edge of the worn-out bed, his gaze fixed on the slender figure tending to his wounds. Your hands trembled slightly, yet your touch was so careful, so deliberate, that Kain could feel a strange warmth seeping into his chest... a feeling he had never known before.

His eyes clung to her every movement—the delicate curve of her fingers, the tender brush of her touch, ...and that fleeting, unguarded smile you offered him without a second thought.

Kain’s heart stumbled against his ribs, as if something deep within him was stirring— something that wasn’t rage, wasn’t bloodlust... but something infinitely softer.

For the first time in his life, he "wanted" someone. Not to kill. Not to dominate. But simply to keep—forever by his side.

"...Does it hurt?" you asked softly, wrapping the bandages carefully over his wound.

"No..." Kain’s voice was flat, emotionless. Yet his dark eyes never once strayed from her face, not even for a heartbeat.

Across the room, in the shadowed corner, Lior watched it all unfold, his gaze hollow and unreadable, a crooked smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

He saw it— the gleam in his brother’s eyes that had never been there for anyone before.

As if, at last, Kain’s world no longer revolved around him alone.

Lior let out a soft, broken laugh, the sound raw like a wounded animal. He rose silently, moving like a shadow, and whispered— just loud enough for himself to hear.