The silence that followed Zeik’s words wasn’t discomfort—it was reverence..

Qarinah didn’t speak immediately, but when she finally did, her voice was softer than usual. Almost… distant.

“I have felt it,” she said. “For weeks now. Perhaps longer, before I knew what it was.”

She raised her hand ...

Qarinah didn’t flinch at Khei’s sarcasm. She merely blinked slowly, like someone watching a storm from behind reinforced glass—admiring the spectacle, untouched by the fury.

“Oh, how I’ll miss your charm.”

Her voice was even, unhurried, each syllable precise. She drifted forward, stopping just ...

Qarinah snickered in response to Khei, but she didn’t miss a step.

She held a whisper of blood between two fingers, letting it fall into into the geometric symbol like ink bleeding through parchment. The suspended crystals that orbited the ritual ring responded instantly, their glow deepening to a ...

Qarinah's lips curled, just slightly—more smirk than smile, savoring the initial meeting of two powerful personalities.

“Charming, isn’t she?” She said lightly, easing back into her seat with a languid grace. “Though don’t let that fool you. She’s far more than what she appears to be… dangerously ...

Qarinah’s gaze lifted the moment she felt it—that familiar shift in the air, the slight pull at the edges of her senses that only came from old blood.. ancient company.

She didn’t need to see him to know. The man's presence was unmistakable.

Her smile curled slow and sharp as she rose from her ...

“It won’t be tonight,” Qarinah said, her voice smooth but quieter now, touched with something solemn. “Or tomorrow. But soon.”

Her fingers, always so deliberate and poised, began to drum a quiet rhythm against the table—subtle, yet uncharacteristically restless. It was the smallest crack in the ...

Qarinah’s lips parted at the last question—then curved into a genuine laugh. Soft and rich, like silk unraveling in the dark. It slipped between them, low and lingering, warming the space in a way the moonlight couldn’t.

“Oh no, dear.” she said with a wry smile, eyes glinting again with mischief ...

Qarinah watched Khei in silence. Her eyes, usually glinting with veiled amusement or distant calculation, held something softer now—something quieter.

“No,” she said at last. The word barely rose above a murmur, carried on the edge of her lips, and tinged with hues of regret. “I’m not.”

She ...

Qarinah chuckled softly, the sound low and velvet-smooth. Her fingers continued their slow, deliberate orbit around the rim of her glass, as though coaxing meaning from the silence itself.

“Oh, you’re no fun at all, dear..” she murmured, almost wistfully.

She took a languid sip of her wine, eyes ...

"Oh, don't be so droll.."
Qarinah didn’t look up right away.

She swirled the wine lazily, crimson spinning against the glass like blood made performative. The tip of one pale finger traced the rim in idle circles, as if tuning the moment like an instrument.

Only when Khei’s flat shoes stopped ...