CHAPTER FIVE: THE DEVIL'S CLAIM

Darkness.

It wrapped around her like a shroud, thick and inescapable.

Devasena's body ached, every limb weighed down by exhaustion, but pain was good. Pain meant she was alive. Her last memory was of swords clashing, shadows swallowing the battlefield—and then nothing.

Slowly, her senses returned. The air was cool, scented with something unfamiliar—ashes and midnight. The silence felt unnatural, heavy—as if the very walls of this place swallowed sound.

She forced her eyes open.

The room around her was shrouded in shadow, flickering lanterns barely pushing back the darkness. The walls were stone—blackened, almost scorched. Strange symbols carved into them glowed faintly, pulsing with an eerie life of their own.

She didn't know this place. But she knew one thing for certain.

She wasn't alone.

A presence.

Watching.

Waiting.

She turned her head sharply, and there he was.

Zuriel.

He leaned against a stone pillar, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. His black robes draped around him like the very shadows themselves, his obsidian eyes catching the dim light. He was still. Too still.

Devasena's breath hitched. The events of the night came rushing back. The ambush. The fight. The moment when she had been seconds away from death—until the world had turned to darkness.

Until he had appeared.

Her pulse quickened. Zuriel wasn't just a man—he was something else. Something dangerous.

She forced herself upright, biting back a groan as pain lanced through her shoulder. "Where are we?"

Zuriel tilted his head, amusement flickering across his face. "Safe."

She clenched her jaw. "That's not an answer."

He pushed off the pillar, his movements slow, deliberate. A predator that knew his prey couldn't run. "It's the only one you need."

Her fingers twitched toward the dagger at her belt—only to find it missing.

Zuriel smirked and held up the blade. "Looking for this?"

She scowled. "Give it back."

He twirled it between his fingers, inspecting the weapon lazily. "You're awfully bold for someone who just survived an assassination attempt." His dark eyes flicked to her bandaged shoulder. "How fragile mortals are."

Devasena's pulse quickened. There was something about the way he said it—as if she wasn't truly one of them.

She ignored the way her heart pounded. "Why did you save me?"

Zuriel's smirk didn't falter, but something flickered in his gaze. He stepped closer, and it was as if the room shrank around them, his presence consuming everything.

"Would you rather I hadn't?"

She swallowed.

She didn't answer.

She couldn't.

His proximity sent a strange heat curling through her chest. The air felt thicker, charged, like the sky before a storm.

His fingers brushed the edge of her jaw—a fleeting touch, but enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"Careful, Devasena." His voice was soft, almost a whisper, but laced with something dangerous. "You're mine now."

Her breath hitched. "I don't belong to you."

Zuriel let out a low chuckle, his lips curling. "Don't you?"

She hated how easily he unsettled her. Hated that despite everything, some part of her knew he wasn't lying.

The world had tried to kill her tonight.

And the only reason she was still breathing—was him.

But at what cost.

She forced herself to look away, to gather the scattered pieces of her composure. "I need to return to Notheris."

Zuriel gave her a slow, knowing look. "And walk straight into another trap?"

She gritted her teeth. "It's my home."

His expression darkened. "It's also the place where they tried to slit your throat."

Something in his tone sent a chill down her spine. Possessiveness. As if the thought of losing her angered him.

She turned back to him, determined to keep her voice steady. "What do you want from me?"

Zuriel studied her for a long moment, as if weighing something unseen. Then, he took another step forward—too close, too overwhelming.

"I don't know yet." His voice was quieter this time, but no less intense. "But I don't like loose ends."

Loose ends. Was that all she was to him?

Her chest ached, frustration mixing with the tangled emotions she didn't want to acknowledge. This man—this creature—had saved her. And now he acted as though she was his responsibility.

She met his gaze head-on. "I am not your problem."

Zuriel smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "That's where you're wrong, little storm."

She hated how that name sent shivers through her.

His gaze flicked to the flickering lanterns, their flames swaying as if disturbed by an unseen force. "Your power is waking up, isn't it?"

She stiffened.

He saw it.

The storm that had raged the night of her ambush—it hadn't been natural. It had been her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Zuriel let out a low, amused hum. "Liar."

The room suddenly felt suffocating.

Devasena's heart pounded. The diviner's words rang in her mind—you are the chosen reincarnate of the great goddess Arrhena.

She had denied it, run from it. But deep inside, she knew.

And now, so did he.

He stepped closer, until their breaths nearly mingled. "You don't understand what you are yet. But others do."

A shadow flickered behind his gaze, something unreadable. "And if you return to Notheris without knowing how to wield your power, you won't just lose your throne."

His voice dipped lower, laced with something dark and absolute.

"They'll kill you, Devasena."

A shudder ran through her.

His fingers brushed against her wrist—barely a touch, yet it sent a strange current through her skin.

"You should be grateful," he murmured. "I don't let many people live."

Her lips parted, but no words came.

Because for the first time since she'd woken up, she realized something terrifying.

Zuriel hadn't just saved her out of amusement.

He had no intention of letting her go.

Why was he so concerned whether she was safe or not.

Did he like her and wouldn't admit it, or he can't bear to see her in pain.

No. "Devasena, what are you thinking, he doesn't love you , stop allowing your heart to falter" she screamed at herself in her head.

But how was she to stop her feelings towards this mysterious man...