Celeste POV
"Everyone stay calm," I say, stepping between the crowd and Kael. "This wasn't him."
"The message says 'The Serpent Hunts'!" a servant shrieks, pointing at the bloody words. "He killed Lady Vivienne's shifter!"
"Why would I kill a butterfly?" Kael asks coldly. "I'm a snake king. If I wanted someone dead, it wouldn't be a safe pet. It would be the people who threaten my mate."
His words hang in the air like a threat. Several workers back away.
"We need the guard," another worker says, running off.
Helena appears, Vivienne crying dramatically in her arms. "My poor baby's friend! Murdered by that monster you brought into our home!"
"He didn't do it," I say strongly.
"How can you be sure?" Helena wants. "You've known him for less than a day!"
"Because he was with me the entire time." I meet her eyes without flinching. "We went right from your study to my rooms. He never left my sight."
It's true. Kael hasn't been alone since we entered the house.
Helena's mouth tightens. She didn't expect me to have an excuse ready.
The guards arrive, and I repeat my statement. They study the body, the blood, the message. Finally, their captain turns to me.
"Lady Celeste's story checks out. The snake shifter couldn't have done this." He looks at Helena. "Which means someone else killed this shifter and tried to frame him."
"But who?" Vivienne wails. "Who would do such a horrible thing?"
I could answer that. Someone who wants Kael jailed. Someone who wants our link broken. Someone who gains from chaos in this house.
Someone like Helena or Vivienne themselves.
But I don't say it. Not yet. I need proof first.
"We'll investigate," the captain says. "Until then, everyone should stay in their rooms tonight. Lock your doors."
The maids scatter. Helena leads Vivienne away, giving Kael and me poisonous looks.
When we finally reach my room, I lock the door and lean against it, tired.
"They're getting desperate," Kael says, going to the window. "Sloppy, too. That frame job was obvious."
"They didn't expect me to defend you." I sit on my bed, my hands shaking now that the energy is fading. "They thought I'd be scared of you after seeing the blood."
"Are you?" Kael turns to look at me, his green eyes sparkling in the darkness. "Scared?"
I should be. A shifter was killed in my house, a message written in blood. Everyone thinks my bonded partner is a killer.
But when I search my feelings through our bond, I only find confidence.
"No," I say honestly. "You didn't kill that butterfly. And even if you had, it wouldn't be without reason."
Something flickers in Kael's eyes—surprise, maybe, or pleasure.
"You trust me," he says slowly, like he's testing the words.
"I trust that you want me living. Everything else is secondary." I pull off my shoes, suddenly bone-tired. "They're going to try again. Tonight, probably. Another death, another frame, until they find something that sticks."
"Let them try." Kael's smile is sharp and cold. "I'll be ready."
"You can't stay in my room all night—"
"Yes, I can." He starts unbuttoning his shirt.
My heart jumps. "What are you doing?"
"Transforming. My snake form is better for guarding." He pulls his shirt off, and I quickly look away from his bare chest. "Unless you'd prefer I stay human and watch you sleep in this form?"
"No!" The word comes out too fast. "Serpent is fine. Serpent is... good."
I hear him chuckle, then feel the rush of magic as he changes.
When I look back, a massive silver serpent takes half my room. He's even bigger than I expected—his body as thick as my waist, his scales glittering like stars.
He coils around my bed, his huge head sitting near my pillow. His forked tongue flicks out, tasting the air.
"Sleep," his voice says in my mind through our link. "I'll keep watch."
I should be afraid. A giant snake is wrapped around my bed, close enough to kill me in seconds.
Instead, I feel... safe.
Safer than I've felt since I was reborn. Safer than I felt in my entire first life.
Because Kael isn't like Damian. He doesn't lie or manipulate. He doesn't pretend to be something he's not.
He's dangerous, yes. But he's MY scary. And he's decided to protect me instead of hurt me.
I slide under my blankets, my hand sitting on his cool scales.
"Thank you," I whisper.
His tail curls slightly, a serpent form of a smile. "Sleep, little mate. Tomorrow, we start hunting."
I close my eyes, and for the first time in two lives, I sleep without nightmares.
But I wake to yelling.
It's still dark outside—maybe two or three in the morning. The screams are coming from downstairs.
Kael transforms quickly, pulling on his clothes. "Stay here."
"Not a chance." I grab my robe and follow him.
We run downstairs, following the sounds of chaos. Servants are gathered in the hallway outside my father's room.
No. Please no.
I push through the crowd and freeze.
My father's room is wrecked. Furniture overturned. Blood spilled on the walls. And in the middle of it all— My father, lying in his bed, his eyes open and empty.
Dead.
A healer kneels beside him, looking for a pulse she won't find. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Lady Celeste. He's gone."
Helena appears, her face pale but her eyes... satisfied? "This is bad. Just bad. First Vivienne's shifter, now my poor husband."
"What happened?" I demand, my voice shaking.
"We don't know," the doctor says. "I was checking on him an hour ago, and he was stable. Weak but steady. Then suddenly..." She gestures helplessly at the damage.
Kael walks to the bed, sniffing the air. His eyes narrow.
"What is it?" I ask through our link.
"This wasn't natural death," he replies silently. "And it wasn't poison either. This was magic. Dark magic."
Before I can reply, Helena speaks up loudly: "Guards! Arrest the snake shifter!"
Everyone turns to stare.
"What?" I breathe.
"He killed my husband!" Helena points at Kael dramatically. "First the butterfly, now this! The monster is hunting us all!"
"That's insane," I say. "He was with me all night—"
"Can you prove that?" Helena's eyes sparkle. "Can you say you watched him every single second? Or did you perhaps... fall asleep?"
My stomach drops. I did fall asleep. I can't prove Kael didn't leave.
The guards move toward Kael, guns drawn.
"Don't," Kael tells them, his voice deadly.
"Kael, don't fight them," I say quickly. "It'll only make things worse."
"They're not taking me away from you."
"They won't. I'll fix this. Just..." I grab his hand. "Trust me. Please."
Through our bond, I feel his reluctance, his rage, his desire to fight.
But he nods.
The guards clap silver chains on his wrists—the kind that silence shifter magic.
"Take him to the dungeons," Helena says. "And Celeste, dear? You should prepare yourself. When they find him guilty, your link will be broken. You'll be free of this curse."
She smiles at me—that cold, winning smile that tells me everything.
She planned this. All of it. The butterfly's death. My father's murder. All to frame Kael and separate us.
And worst of all?
I can't prove it.