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Aster arrived the next afternoon with company.

"Your management has insisted on upgraded security, given the public nature of your collapse." He gestured to the man standing in the doorway, backlit and imposing. "This is Kael Draven. He will be your personal security officer during your stay here."

Victoria's response died in her throat.

The man who stepped into her room moved like water, fluid and controlled in a way that suggested violence held carefully in check. He was tall, his build suggesting strength that came from use rather than vanity. Dark hair fell across his forehead, not quite touching eyes that were the color of storm clouds, grey with hints of something darker. He wore all black, practical clothes that somehow looked expensive, and his expression was completely unreadable.

But his eyes.

The moment their gazes met, the sterile room fell away.

Victoria's breath caught in her chest. Her heart stuttered, then began racing for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. The connection was immediate and overwhelming, like touching a live wire. Recognition slammed into her, though she had never seen this man before in her life.

I know you. I have always known you.

The thought came from somewhere deep, from the same place as the visions, from a part of her that remembered things her conscious mind did not. Her fingers gripped the edge of the bed as the room seemed to tilt again, but this time there was no collapse, just the weight of his attention holding her in place like a physical force.

Kael's expression did not change, but something flickered in those grey eyes. Surprise? Recognition? It was gone too quickly to name, buried under layers of professional distance.

"Ms. Alston." His voice was low, controlled, with an accent she could not quite place. "I will be monitoring your security protocols during your recovery."

"Monitoring." The word came out breathless, and she hated how transparent her reaction must be, how easily he could probably read the way her pulse hammered in her throat. "That sounds ominous."

"It is standard procedure for someone of your profile." Kael moved further into the room, and Victoria tracked his every step like prey watching a predator circle closer. He positioned himself near the door, hands clasped behind his back in a stance that looked relaxed but was anything but. "I will be outside your room at all times."

"How reassuring." She tried for sarcasm, but it fell flat, the words lacking the sharp edge she had intended. The air between them felt charged, dangerous in a way that had nothing to do with physical threat.

Aster watched the exchange with an expression that had gone carefully blank, his earlier warmth evaporating into something cold and calculating. "Kael comes highly recommended. Former Royal Guard, multiple security certifications, completely discreet."

"I do not need a bodyguard in a locked room."

"You need someone who understands the value of privacy." Aster's tone had cooled several degrees, frost creeping into his usually warm voice. "The press is already spinning stories about your collapse. Addiction rumors, mental health speculation, career-ending theories. Kael will ensure no one unauthorized gets near you, including reporters who might bribe hospital staff."

But I am not in a hospital, Victoria thought. And we all know it.

Kael had not looked away from her. That steady, unblinking gaze felt like it could see through skin and bone to whatever was underneath, to the part of her that recognized him on a level deeper than conscious thought. Victoria met his eyes, refusing to be the first to break contact, and something in the air between them crackled like static before a storm.

"I will need your cooperation," Kael said, his voice cutting through the tension. "No leaving this wing without clearance. No unsupervised communications. No visitors without prior approval."

"So I am definitely a prisoner."

"You are a protected asset." His expression finally shifted, something that might have been dark amusement crossing his features like a shadow. "There is a difference."

Aster cleared his throat, breaking the moment like shattering glass. "I will leave you two to establish protocols. Kael, her next evaluation is at eighteen hundred hours. Make sure she is prepared."

He left quickly, and Victoria wondered if he had felt it too, the strange electricity that had filled the room the moment Kael entered. Now it was just the two of them, security officer and captive, and the silence stretched heavy between them like a living thing.

"You can relax," Victoria said finally, trying to find her footing in this new dynamic. "I am not going to make a run for it in a hospital gown."

"I do not relax." Kael moved to the chair Aster had vacated, sitting with controlled precision, every movement deliberate. "And you are not the type to run."

"You do not know me."

His eyes met hers again, and this time she saw it clearly. Knowledge, ancient and bone-deep, recognition that mirrored her own impossible certainty.

"Do not I?".

The question hung in the air, impossible and terrifying.