Chapter 4

The violent energy subsided. Halie lowered her arm, her eyes taking in the devastation. The lab was a wreck, precision instruments shattered across the floor.

Coleman stood like a cornered wolf, his hands braced on a cracked metal workbench, his chest heaving. His knuckles were white from the force of his grip.

He slowly lifted his head. When he saw it was her-Halie-the rage in his silver-gray eyes was instantly replaced by a thick, choking wave of disgust and disbelief.

A hoarse, grating laugh escaped his throat, the sound of sandpaper on glass.

He started toward her, one slow step at a time. The pressure of his S-Class spiritual power descended on her like a physical weight, forcing her knees to tremble.

Halie gritted her teeth against the crushing pain in her bones. She bit her lip, straightened her spine, and met his murderous gaze without flinching.

He stopped just half a step away, towering over her. He sneered, his voice laced with mockery. "Well, well. Look what the storm dragged in. To what do I owe the honor, Your Highness? Have you come to slum it with the rats in the Southern District?"

Her mind reeled as the original Halie's memories flooded her. She saw it clearly now: the way the former heiress had used her own spiritual power to whip this man, this genius who had been cast out by his family simply because he was sterile.

Halie didn't answer his question. She just stared at him, her gaze calm and piercing, taking in the raw pain twisting his handsome features.

Her silence was the one thing he couldn't stand. It was the same look of detached pity she used to give him, the look that said he was less than trash. It broke him.

He lunged, his hand clamping around her throat. He slammed her back against the cold metal door with a sickening thud.

Halie's vision swam as her lungs screamed for air. Her hands clawed at his wrist, but his arm, though trembling violently, was like iron.

With his free hand, he ripped open the front of his coarse shirt. The sound of tearing fabric was unnaturally loud in the silent room.

The shirt fell away, revealing a back crisscrossed with old, faded scars. Whip marks. Every single one a masterpiece of the original Halie's cruelty.

He released her throat and staggered back a step. Then, he did something she never could have predicted.

He fell.

He dropped to his knees on the floor, on the carpet of shattered glass. The shards bit into his flesh, and blood began to seep through his trousers, but he didn't seem to feel it. He just tilted his head back, his expression a mask of utter despair and humiliation, and looked up at her.

"Is this what you came to see?" he choked out, his voice trembling. "The final joke? The sterile waste, finally broken?"

Each word was a fresh wave of uncontrolled spiritual energy. The lights overhead flickered violently, hissing with stray electricity.

Halie pushed herself off the door. Ignoring the stinging in her throat, she took a step forward. Her eyes darted across the floor, her sharp mind calculating the safest path. She carefully cleared a small patch of the shattered glass with the side of her boot before she knelt directly in front of him, feeling the sharp edges of the remaining shards press dangerously close to her knees through her cargo pants, a stark reminder of the physical reality of this chaotic moment.

She reached out, her hands ignoring the cutting aura of his chaotic energy, and cupped his cold, sweat-drenched face.

Coleman flinched, a primal instinct to pull away. But her palms were warm. A warmth he had craved his entire life but had never been given.

Halie looked directly into his unfocused silver eyes. She gathered all her strength and spoke a single, clear, and steady phrase.

"I'm sorry."

The words hung in the air. His body went rigid. The collapse of his spiritual sea paused for a fraction of a second.

It was all the time she needed.

Halie closed her eyes, leaned forward, and pressed her lips firmly against his.