.....☆....
The chamber was a pressurized cage of conflicting magics. Lady Selene, or rather, the woman who had spent centuries burying her past beneath the title of Second Concubine, held her watery whip aloft, her face twisted in a mask of livid jealousy. Below her, the broken, exhausted form of Kaelan seemed like a mere shell, his consciousness drifting in a grey sea of pain.
But the soul of a Pantherinae does not sit quietly while its vessel is threatened.
As Selene's hand descended, a sound erupted from the bed that didn't belong to a human. It was a primal, chest-rattling roar, a guttural explosion of sound that vibrated the very obsidian floorboards.
From Kaelan's prone, unconscious body, a shimmering, emerald, black aura manifested. The Panther Spirit, the raw, ancient essence of his lineage, leaped forward. It wasn't a physical shift, but a spectral one, a massive, fanged shadow with eyes like burning stars. The spirit stood over Kaelan's body, its claws unsheathed and glowing, snarling at the Water Dragon with a fearless, feral fury that momentarily froze Selene's heart.
"What is this... this filth?" she shrieked, stumbling back as the spectral panther lunged, snapping its jaws inches from her throat.
"It is a warning," a voice boomed, turning the air into liquid fire.
The heavy doors didn't just open; they disintegrated. Ignis stepped into the room, his royal robes billowing like smoke, his golden eyes no longer glowing, they were suns. He didn't look at Kaelan first; he looked at the woman standing over his bed with a weapon.
The silence that followed was more terrifying than the roar. Ignis walked toward her, his footsteps heavy with the weight of a thousand years of dominance.
"My King!" Selene gasped, her watery magic dissolving into a pathetic puddle. "This... this beast... I found it in your bed! I was only protecting your honor—"
Ignis stopped a mere inch from her. He was a gentleman by the ancient codes; he would never raise his hand to a woman, but his aura was more violent than any physical blow. He glared down at her, his expression one of cold, absolute contempt.
"Protecting my honor?" Ignis whispered, the words sizzling. "You invaded my sanctum. You threatened the only creature in this realm that makes my blood run hot. And you brought a child to witness your perverse jealousy."
"I am your Concubine!" she cried. "I have a right to be here!"
Ignis leaned closer, his voice dropping to a terrifying, razor-sharp hiss. "You have the rights I give you. And right now, you have nothing but a very short window of time to vanish."
He paused, a dark, knowing smile stretching across his face. "Unless, of course, you'd like me to address you by the name you buried in the salt marshes, Zadkiel."
The woman turned deathly pale. Her breath hitched, and the iridescent scales on her jaw began to flake away with fear. Zadkiel. The secret name of her disgraced house, a name that carried a death sentence in the old courts. The fact that Ignis knew it,and used it now, was a social execution.
"Leave," Ignis commanded, his voice a low rumble. "Before I do something we will both regret. Take your child and return to the West Wing. If I see your face again before the next moon, I will make sure Zadkiel is the only name history remembers you by."
With a choked sob of terror, the woman turned and fled, dragging her confused child behind her.
The room was suddenly quiet, save for the low, rhythmic snarling of the Panther Spirit.
Ignis turned to the bed. The spectral cat was still standing over Kaelan, its emerald eyes fixed on Ignis with a livid, protective rage. It didn't recognize him as a master; it saw him as the predator that had spent days dismantling its host.
The spirit lunged.
It was a beautiful, desperate attack. The panther's shadow claws raked the air, aiming for Ignis's throat. But Ignis was a Dragon King. He didn't even flinch. He simply raised a hand, a pulse of golden, heavy magic radiating from his palm.
"Rest, little beast," Ignis murmured.
The gold light slammed into the spectral panther with the force of a falling mountain. The spirit let out a final, outraged yelp as it was sent crashing against the far wall. The impact shattered a decorative marble vase, and the spirit flickered, its emerald glow fading as it was forcibly disappeared back inside Kaelan's body.
The room fell into a heavy, absolute silence.
Kaelan stirred, a low, pained grunt escaping his lips. He was still profoundly exhausted, his body lacking any force to move, but the sudden absence of the spirit's roar allowed his human consciousness to resurface.
He opened his eyes to see Ignis kneeling beside him.
"You're... still... here," Kaelan croaked, his voice a pathetic, dry rasp. His panther ears were flat, and his tail twitched with the residual, stinging pain of the week's overtime.
"I will always be here," Ignis answered, his hand sliding behind Kaelan's head to lift him gently. The obsession in his eyes was softer now, tempered by a strange, dark pride. "Your spirit fought well. Even unconscious, you are fearless."
Kaelan tried to summon a funny, sarcastic curse, but his mind was too tired. He just looked at the gold chain on his ankle, then at Ignis's bruised neck.
"I hate... your... palace," Kaelan whispered, his eyes closing again. "It smells... like... arrogance."
Ignis let out a soft chuckle, pulling the blankets up around Kaelan's ruined form. "Sleep, Kaelan. The weekend is over. But our time... has only just begun."