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On the second afternoon, Aster arrived with company.
"Your management has insisted on upgraded security, given the public nature of your collapse," he announced, gesturing to the man who stood just inside the doorway. "This is Kael Draven. He will be your personal security officer for the duration of your stay."
Victoria's prepared response died in her throat.
The man who stepped fully into her room moved like deep water, a fluid and controlled power held in perfect check. He was tall, his build suggesting a strength that came from practical use rather than vanity. Dark hair fell across his forehead, not quite touching eyes the color of a gathering storm. He wore practical, all-black clothing that somehow still looked expensive, and his expression was a mask of unreadable neutrality. He had a faint, silvery scar that cut through the edge of his left eyebrow, a detail that only sharpened his intensity.
But it was his eyes that undid her. The moment their gazes met, the sterile white room fell away, the humming machines faded to silence, and a sudden, crushing pressure filled the air, as if gravity had just doubled its hold.
Victoria's breath caught. Her heart stuttered, then began to hammer against her ribs for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. The connection was immediate, overwhelming, a jolt of recognition so profound it felt like a memory. A truth that settled into the marrow of her bones.
I know you. I have always known you.
The thought was not her own, yet it was undeniably true. It came from the same deep, hidden place as the visions of fire and wings. Her fingers gripped the thin mattress of the bed as the room seemed to tilt, but this time she did not collapse. The weight of his attention held her in place, an anchor in a swirling sea of impossibility.
Kael's stoic expression did not change, but something flickered in the depths of his eyes. Surprise? Recognition? It was gone too quickly for her to name it.
"Ms. Alston." His voice was low and controlled, with a faint, unplaceable accent. "I will be monitoring your security protocols during your recovery."
"Monitoring." The word came out breathless, and she hated how transparent her reaction must have been. "That sounds ominous."
"It is standard procedure for a high-profile individual." Kael moved further into the room, and Victoria tracked his every step. He positioned himself near the door, hands clasped behind his back in a stance that appeared relaxed but radiated coiled tension. "I will be stationed outside your room at all times."
"How reassuring." She aimed for sarcasm, but the words fell flat.
Aster watched their exchange, his own expression having gone carefully, unnervingly blank. "Kael comes highly recommended. Formerly of the Royal Guard, multiple advanced security certifications, and completely discreet."
"I do not need a bodyguard inside a locked room," she countered, her gaze still fixed on Kael.
"You need someone who understands the value of privacy," Aster's tone had cooled. "The press is already spinning the most absurd stories about your collapse. Addiction rumors, mental health speculation, career-ending theories. Kael will ensure no unauthorized personnel get near you."
But I am not in a hospital, Victoria thought. And we all know it.
Kael had not looked away from her. His steady, unblinking gaze felt as if it could see past her skin and bone, straight to the frightened, confused thing fluttering in her chest. Victoria met his eyes, refusing to be the first to break contact, and something in the air between them seemed to hum with a silent, dangerous energy.
"I will require your full cooperation," Kael said, his voice a low command. "No leaving this wing without clearance. No unsupervised communications. No visitors without my prior approval."
"So I am definitely a prisoner."
His expression finally shifted, the corner of his mouth twitching with something that might have been dark amusement. "You are a protected asset. There is a difference."
Aster cleared his throat, breaking the sudden, thick tension. "I will leave you two to establish protocols. Kael, her next evaluation is at eighteen hundred hours. Ensure she is prepared."
He left quickly, the door sliding shut behind him. Victoria wondered if he had felt it too, that strange, heavy pressure that had filled the room the moment Kael entered. Now it was just the two of them, the security officer and his captive, and the silence stretched between them.
"You can relax," Victoria said finally, the sound of her own voice startlingly loud. "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 a controlled, precise economy of motion. "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 absolute. "Do I not?"
The question hung in the air, impossible and terrifying. Victoria wanted to demand answers, to ask why her heart was racing and why his presence felt like both a homecoming and an execution. But something in his shuttered expression warned her that pushing would only make him retreat further into his professional shell.
"Have we met before?" she asked, the question feeling insane even as it left her lips. The certainty that his presence meant something was too strong to ignore.
Kael turned his head slightly, his gaze fixed on the wall just past her shoulder. "No."
"You are lying."
"I do not lie." He rose and stepped through the doorway as it opened for him. "I just do not tell you everything."
The door slid shut, a sterile white wall severing the impossible connection between them. Victoria was alone again, but the room felt different, charged with the echo of his presence. She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart still racing, and tried to understand why a stranger's eyes felt like a memory she had spent lifetimes trying to forget.