Seraphina had survived poison, lies, and her own doubt.But nothing could've prepared her for the surveillance.
The hidden room. The kiss.Someone had filmed it.
And that footage of her and Levi tangled in secrets and adrenaline and something dangerously close to love was now playing on a tiny, flickering monitor in Kai's hands.
He watched the whole thing in silence.
She stood across from him, frozen.
"You said you hated him," Kai said finally. His voice wasn't angry — that was the scary part. It was cold. Flat.
"I do," Seraphina lied.
Kai tilted his head. "Then what was that?"
She swallowed. "We were caught in the moment."
"Sure," he said, slowly. "And I guess I imagined the part where you touched his face like you knew exactly what you were doing."
She flinched. "This isn't about Levi."
"Then tell me what it's about."
She couldn't.
Because this wasn't about one kiss.
It was about the war she was waking up to the realization that her family had erased Lila, that someone had tried to kill her, that no one in the palace was safe and Levi was the only one who never lied to her face.
Kai stepped closer. "You want to trust him. You think he's your shield. But what if he's the blade?"
Her breath caught.
"He was there when your sister vanished. He was trained by your father. You don't think it's convenient that he's suddenly always around?"
Seraphina felt it then. The weight of doubt.And for the first time… she wondered.
She ran. Straight to Levi's quarters.
But he wasn't there.
Only a letter. Left in a hurry.
Don't trust anyone. Not even me.