Conflict

MALACHAI

I don't know what the hell came over me.

One second, I was standing at his door, watching him with something I refused to name burning in my chest. The next, I was kissing him. Kissing Ezra. Like I had any right. Like I hadn't just made everything so much worse.

I messed up.

And yet, I couldn't regret it. Not entirely.

But I could fix it.

My hands moved on their own, yanking open the small panel beside his door, fingers flying over the buttons. A small spark shot out as I twisted the wires, killing the power to the camera inside his room. It wouldn't last forever , Lucius had backups, but it would buy me time. Just enough time to do something, anything, to make this right.

I turned back to him, my breath unsteady, my heart a damn mess in my chest.

Ezra was staring at me like I was a stranger. Like I was something to be feared. And that look…that shattered something inside me in a way I wasn't ready for.

"I'm not leaving you confused again," I said, my voice low, rough. I stepped closer, and though he tensed, he didn't move away. "I don't care if you hate me after this. I don't care if you never want to see my face again. But I need you to understand why I did it. Why I'm here."

He shook his head, his fingers trembling as he clutched his shirt. "I don't want to understand, Malachai." His voice was soft, but the anger underneath it was unmistakable. "I don't want this. Whatever this is. I don't need you to explain anything."

But I wasn't backing down. Not this time.

"You do." My hands found his waist, hesitant at first, but the second my fingers brushed against the bare skin peeking through his thin nightshirt, something inside me tightened. He felt fragile under my touch, warm and real, and for the first time in weeks, I wasn't thinking about blood, about death, about Lucius' orders. I was only thinking about him.

Ezra inhaled sharply, his body going stiff, but he didn't pull away.

"Tell me to stop," I murmured, my fingers pressing just a little firmer into his sides. "If you mean it, if you really want me to, say it."

Silence.

A moment stretched between us, heavy and electric.

I wanted him to push me away. I wanted him to give me a reason to step back, to walk out of this room and never look at him again. Because that would be easier than facing this, than admitting what this really was.

But he didn't.

His hands found my chest, hovering there like he was caught between shoving me away and pulling me closer. His breathing was shaky, uneven. "Malachai…"

Hearing my name on his lips like that, unsure, desperate…it nearly destroyed me.

I leaned in, slowly this time, giving him every chance to turn away. "Let me fix this." My lips brushed against his cheek, down to his jaw, my breath warm against his skin. "Let me fix us."

His breath hitched, but just as I was about to close the distance between us again.

A sharp sting exploded across my cheek.

The sound of the slap echoed in the silence, and for a moment, I didn't even move. My head snapped to the side, my skin burning, but the pain wasn't what made my stomach drop.

It was the way he was looking at me.

Hurt. Angry. Betrayed.

Like I was no different from Lucius.

The realization hit like a dagger to the gut.

I took a step back, my hands falling from his waist like I'd been scorched. My fingers twitched at my sides, aching to reach for him again, to fix what I had just shattered, but I knew better now.

I had already destroyed too much.

Ezra's voice was low, but it cut through me like a blade. "Get out."

I swallowed hard, my throat tight, my jaw clenched so hard it ached.

I nodded once. Then, without another word, I turned on my heel and walked out, the weight of my own mistakes pressing down on me with every step I took.

I had ruined everything.

And this time, there was no fixing it.