Aurelia stepped back — heart pounding like thunder — but he didn't chase her.
He just stood there, watching her with those dark, cursed eyes.
Eyes that knew.
Eyes that remembered.
"Go," he said softly, like a command wrapped in velvet. "Before they find you."
"Who?" she whispered.
The sound of a blade unsheathing answered for him.
The trees parted. Leaves shivered.
And there he stood — Darius Fenrald Nightbloom — the Duke himself, carved from wrath and shadows.
Behind him, Aero looked like a storm on legs. Ren, pale and shaking, tried to step between them.
But the Duke didn't look at them.
He looked at him.
"Get away from my daughter," the Duke growled, voice deep as a death bell.
The devil's son didn't flinch. Not even an inch.
"I didn't touch her," he said.
"You touched her soul," the Duke snapped. "And I'll gut you for it."
Aurelia gasped. "Father, stop!"
But he wasn't listening.
No one was.
Because the wolf and the devil were already circling.
The forest air cracked with tension.
A sword drawn.
A claw unsheathed.
Fangs bared.
And in the middle — one girl, wide-eyed, heart pounding, soul trembling…
She stepped forward.
"STOP!"
Everything froze.
Aurelia stood between them — arms out, dress fluttering in the night wind.
"I came here," she said. "On my own. He didn't force me."
The devil's son lowered his claws. "She speaks the truth."
The Duke didn't move. Didn't blink. "You want her."
He said it like an accusation. Like a curse.
The boy didn't deny it.
Instead, he said, "She wants herself. I'm just the mirror."
Silence.
Then, with a voice like falling ash, the Duke said, "You ever come near her again… and I'll bury you where your father sleeps."
A flicker of something passed between them — hate, history, a shared wound.
The devil's son looked at Aurelia one last time. Then turned.
And disappeared into the dark.
Aurelia didn't realize she was crying until Ren gently touched her shoulder.
Aero was silent — staring where the boy vanished.
The Duke? He turned, cloak swirling, and walked back to the estate without a word.
But something had shattered in his eyes.
Something he could never glue back.