The air was still as Kael landed, boots hitting the cracked marble with a thud. He didn’t mean to be here. Didn’t even know this place existed until his wings caught a strange current, a scent too pure for Nocturnal air — lavender and rain, maybe. He followed it, half out of boredom, half out of instinct.

Now he stood in the middle of something that didn’t belong to him. Ivy climbed stone pillars. A fountain trickled lazily under a broken archway. Everything looked... untouched. Forgotten. Holy.

He scowled.

And then he heard it — a soft gasp. Not startled, not afraid. Just… caught off-guard.

His hand went to his dagger before his eyes even landed on her.

White. Everything about her was white. Her dress, her hair, even the way the moonlight clung to her skin. She stood at the edge of the fountain, hands frozen over the water, wings trembling slightly behind her back.

Celestial.

Kael cursed under his breath.

"You lost, angel?" he called out, voice sharp like broken glass.

She turned.

And for a second, he forgot how to breathe.

Not because she was beautiful — though she was. But because she didn’t look scared of him. She looked angry.

Her brows furrowed. “You’re trespassing.”

Kael laughed once, bitter and low. “Funny. I was just about to say the same.”

Silence stretched between them. Her wings flared. His fingers twitched near his blade.

Neither moved.

“Go back to your tower,” Kael said coolly. “Before someone sees you talking to a monster.”

She didn’t flinch.

He hated that.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said.

Kael took one slow step forward. Then another.

"And yet… here we are."