Betrayed By One. Bound To Three Chapter 40: Loving Three

Third person POV:

Selena had just finished braiding her hair when the knock ca at her door.

It was not loud, but it was firm enough to make her pause. She glanced toward the window. Morning light had fully broken now, washing the room in pale gold. Most of the palace would already be awake.

She crossed the room and opened the door.

Kael stood there.

He looked the sa as always at first glance. Broad shoulders. Straight posture. Dark hair slightly tousled from the wind outside. But sothing in his expression was different. His jaw was set tighter than usual, and his eyes held a restless edge that made her chest tighten.

"Kael," she said softly. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," he answered, though the word ca too quickly. "May I co in?"

She stepped aside without hesitation.

He entered, and she closed the door behind him. For a mont, neither of them spoke. The air between them felt heavy, filled with sothing unsaid.

He walked farther into the room, his gaze sweeping over the space as if searching for sothing. Or perhaps confirming sothing.

"Did he leave early?" he asked at last.

She did not pretend to misunderstand. "Edris? Yes. He left at dawn."

Kael nodded once. His expression did not change.

"I see."

Silence followed again. Selena watched him carefully. She knew this mood. It was not anger in its explosive form. It was sothing quieter and more dangerous. Sothing that built slowly inside him.

"He told you why he stayed?" Kael asked.

"He said he was worried about after Silas ca."

Kael’s lips pressed into a thin line. "That was not my question."

She felt her pulse quicken slightly. "Then what are you asking?"

He turned fully to face her now. There was no accusation in his tone, but there was strain beneath it.

"Did you ask him to stay?"

The question settled heavily between them.

Selena held his gaze. She would not lie to him. "No," she said honestly. "I did not ask him to."

Kael’s shoulders shifted, as if he were absorbing that answer. It did not seem to relieve him.

"But you wanted him to," he said quietly.

It was not a question this ti.

She hesitated, not because she feared the truth, but because she understood what the truth would do.

"I was unsettled," she admitted. "Silas unsettled . When Edris arrived, I felt calr."

Kael let out a slow breath through his nose.

"So you felt safer with him."

"Yes," she said, keeping her voice gentle. "In that mont, I did."

He looked away then, toward the window. Outside, distant voices from the training grounds drifted faintly through the glass.

"And when you needed comfort," he continued, still not looking at her, "did you think of ?"

The vulnerability in the question was subtle, but it was there.

Selena stepped closer to him. "I did not think clearly at all," she said. "I only reacted to what I felt."

"And what did you feel?"

She studied him for a long mont before answering.

"I felt relief that soone ca," she said. "I felt grateful that I was not alone."

He turned back to her sharply. "Soone," he repeated.

The single word carried more weight than he intended.

"You are not soone," she said, her voice firr now. "Neither is Ronan. Neither is Edris. You are all my mates."

Kael’s eyes softened for a fraction of a second, then hardened again.

"That is not the sa as being chosen first," he said.

There it was. The wound laid bare.

Selena’s chest tightened.

"You think this is about being first?" she asked gently.

"Is it not?" he replied. "He was the one you turned to last night."

"He was the one who arrived."

Kael took a step closer to her. Not threatening. Not forceful. Just closer.

"If I had co instead," he asked, "would it have been different?"

She could see how much that answer mattered to him. This was not about rivalry in the way n usually fought. It was not about pride alone. It was about worth.

"No," she said honestly. "It would not have been different."

His expression flickered. "You say that now."

"I an it."

He searched her face, as if trying to read what lay beneath her words.

"Do you love him more?" he asked suddenly.

The question caught her off guard, not because she had never considered it, but because she had never expected it to be spoken aloud.

"I do not asure my love like that," she replied.

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only honest one I have."

Kael’s jaw tightened again. He ran a hand through his hair, frustration clear in the gesture.

"It does not feel equal," he admitted. "Not this morning."

Selena reached for his hand. He did not pull away, but his fingers were tense in hers.

"You feel left out," she said quietly.

"Yes."

The word ca without hesitation.

"I am sorry you felt that way," she told him. "But I did not choose one of you over the others. I responded to who was there."

"And that was him."

"Yes."

He looked down at their joined hands, then back up at her.

"I do not like the idea of him holding you while I was not there," he said, his voice rougher now. "I do not like knowing you fell asleep in his arms."

She stepped closer still, until there was barely space between them.

"Would you rather I had been alone?" she asked softly.

"No."

"Then what do you want from ?"

The question was not challenging. It was sincere.

He swallowed, his throat moving visibly.

"I want to know that I matter the sa way," he said. "Not as part of a group. Not as one of three. As ."

Her heart ached at the honesty in his voice.

"You do matter as you," she said firmly. "You are not a fraction of sothing. You are whole to ."

His eyes searched hers again, this ti less defensively.

"Then why does it feel like I am always behind him?" he asked.

She thought of the night before. Of Edris’s steady presence. Of the way Kael’s fire burned brighter, quicker, more openly.

"You are different from him," she said carefully. "You feel deeply and you show it. He hides it better."

"That is not an answer either."

"It is," she insisted gently. "You assu that calm ans more. It does not."

For a long mont, he said nothing.

Then, without warning, he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. His touch was warm, firm, and slightly trembling.

"I do not want to compete with my brothers," he said. "But I also do not want to lose you to them."

"You are not losing ," she whispered.

He leaned closer, his forehead almost touching hers.

"Then tell ," he murmured, "that if I had been the one at your door last night, you would have reached for the sa way."

She held his gaze and did not look away.

"I would have."

Sothing in him finally eased at that. Not entirely. But enough.

He closed his eyes briefly, then pressed a slow kiss to her forehead.

"I needed to hear that," he admitted.

She wrapped her arms around him, and this ti he embraced her fully, his hold tight but not desperate. She felt the tension in his body slowly unwind.

After a few monts, he pulled back slightly.

"I should return," he said. "Ronan will try to smooth things over."

"And Edris?"

Kael’s expression grew complicated again.

"I do not know," he said honestly.

He stepped toward the door, then paused.

"I am not angry at you," he added. "I am angry that I felt unnecessary."

"You are not," she said.

He gave a small nod and left.

When the door closed behind him, Selena remained standing in the center of the room, her thoughts heavy.

Loving one man was simple.

Loving three, and being loved by them in return, required more balance than she had realized.

And for the first ti, she wondered how long that balance could truly hold.