Morpheus moved toward her bedside with a deliberate calm, every step echoing softly against the marble floor. When he sat down, the mattress dipped beneath his weight, the faint scent of his cologne— wood and smoke— brushing the air between them. With practiced grace, he set a silver tray upon her legs, the porcelain plates clinking softly in the quiet room.
He poured water into a glass, the liquid catching the light like fragnts of a fractured mirror. Then he guided the cup into her trembling hands, his fingers curling over hers— not too tight, but just enough to feel possessive under the pretense of tenderness. His skin was warm, almost too warm, as though he ant to thaw her confusion with his touch.
"You still seem to be in a bind," he murmured, voice smooth as silk and low enough to almost sound kind. His palm moved to her back, the rhythmic motion of his patting oddly controlled, almost chanical. "How about you drink so water first?"
Arabella hesitated before nodding. Her lips parted, the na Cassius almost spilling from her mouth before she caught it— Cassius? No. Morpheus. It was Morpheus sitting before her. The one who had found her in that dungeon, the one who had saved her, the one who had... loved her.
Loved?
Her heart stumbled. The word felt wrong— unfamiliar, like a foreign coin pressed into her palm. Was love always supposed to feel this heavy? This hollow?
"Don’t think too deeply," Morpheus said smoothly, his smile faint but unwavering as he removed the lids from the dishes, releasing the steam of freshly cooked food. "I understand why you’re confused. You hit your head quite badly when you last woke. It must have hurt enough to jumble your mories a little."
"Really," Arabella murmured, pressing her fingers to her temple. Her head throbbed with a dull ache that seed to pulse with her thoughts. "It’s strange... I feel like I’ve forgotten sothing important. It was such a bad fall?"
"Yes," Morpheus replied without missing a beat, his tone so steady it almost lulled her into believing it. "But what matters is that you’re safe now. I had the sorcerers examine you— they said you’ll recover soon." He lifted the spoon, nudging it toward her fingers with a gentle insistence. "So eat first, alright? Don’t strain yourself. I’ll help you with anything you need."
His voice dripped with reassurance, the kind that felt almost too perfect.
Arabella forced a small smile, obediently taking the spoon and stirring the soup. "Yes..." she whispered before taking a sip.
The warmth of the broth slid down her throat, but it didn’t comfort her. Sothing in her chest tugged painfully— a small, invisible ache that refused to quiet. Morpheus’s gaze lingered on her, unwavering and possessive beneath his tenderness, and the air seed to thicken with an unspoken unease.
He was gentle. Kind. Attentive. So why did her heart twist with unease?
Sothing in her soul mourned, as though she had lost sothing precious— soone precious— and no matter how hard she tried to recall, the mory slipped through her fingers like sand. The ache in her chest deepened, whispering a truth she couldn’t yet rember.
While Arabella ate, each movent was slow and hesitant, her gaze distant and filled with a quiet sorrow that seeped through the calm of her face. The spoon trembled faintly in her hand, clinking against the porcelain bowl.
Watching her, Morpheus’s eyes turned sharp— cold and colorless as cracked glass. The faint, loving mask he wore began to fracture, revealing sothing darker beneath.
He studied her intently, his mind calculating with each soft sigh she made. The magic he had woven around her— so carefully crafted, so flawlessly layered— should have bound her thoughts and bent her reality. She was supposed to forget Cassius completely, to forget that damned vampire ever existed.
And yet—
She had whispered his na. Done so subconsciously. The na had slipped from her lips as if it belonged there, as if his na was carved into her tongue and soul alike.
That shouldn’t have been possible.
Morpheus clenched his jaw, hiding the irritation twisting inside him. Most mortals— no, even most sorcerers— would have been consud by such a spell. The mories would dissolve into dust, leaving nothing but a hollow void he could reshape. But Arabella... she was different. Her will clung stubbornly to that vampire’s mory like ivy around stone.
For now, she didn’t question it— didn’t ask, didn’t fight. That ant the spell still held. She accepted this reality he had spun for her, this illusion where he was her savior, her solace.
But the faint sorrow in her eyes betrayed sothing deeper. A longing she couldn’t na. A piece of herself still reaching for soone who wasn’t there.
Morpheus clicked his tongue, a small, venomous sound that echoed faintly in the still air.
How was that fair?
How could Cassius— that filthy and cursed creature —be loved so deeply that even a spell designed to rewrite fate itself couldn’t erase him?
How could he be precious enough to survive the kind of magic that would shatter a soul?
It wasn’t fair.
What about him? What about all the ways he had tried to be better, to be worthy, to be loved —and always ca up empty-handed?
His fingers curled tightly into his palm, the faint crackle of forbidden magic rippling across his skin. The air thickened, the candle flas wavered, shrinking under his wrath. But just as quickly, he exhaled, forcing composure back into his tone, into his expression.
No, this wasn’t over.
If he couldn’t destroy Cassius himself— then he would make Cassius destroy himself.
He smiled faintly, eyes glinting like a blade catching the light. Arabella would be his instrunt. His beautiful, perfect Arabella.
She would be the one to kill Cassius with her own hands.
Because Cassius— fool that he was— would never lift a hand against her.
A perfect plan, he thought as he reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face with feigned tenderness.
Yes. Perfect.
"Don’t forget to take this," Morpheus then pulled a glass of milk towards her, smiling, "I mixed your dicine here. To make sure you could sleep well without a problem. Because you need it for your recovery, never forget to drink this, would you?"
Arabella looked at Morpheus, the earlier weird itch disappeared when she looked at him. Looking at her precious, Cassius.
"I won’t, I’m sorry for taking your ti with this when you are busy governing the castle," she muttered but Morpheus shook his head.
"For you, this is nothing, Bella."
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