Betrayed By One. Bound To Three-Chapter 40: Loving Three.

Third person POV:

Selena had just finished braiding her hair when the knock came at her door.

It was not loud, but it was firm enough to make her pause. She glanced toward the window. Morning light had fully broken now, washing the room in pale gold. Most of the palace would already be awake.

She crossed the room and opened the door.

Kael stood there.

He looked the same as always at first glance. Broad shoulders. Straight posture. Dark hair slightly tousled from the wind outside. But something in his expression was different. His jaw was set tighter than usual, and his eyes held a restless edge that made her chest tighten.

"Kael," she said softly. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," he answered, though the word came too quickly. "May I come in?"

She stepped aside without hesitation.

He entered, and she closed the door behind him. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The air between them felt heavy, filled with something unsaid.

He walked farther into the room, his gaze sweeping over the space as if searching for something. Or perhaps confirming something.

"Did he leave early?" he asked at last.

She did not pretend to misunderstand. "Edris? Yes. He left at dawn."

Kael nodded once. His expression did not change.

"I see."

Silence followed again. Selena watched him carefully. She knew this mood. It was not anger in its explosive form. It was something quieter and more dangerous. Something that built slowly inside him.

"He told you why he stayed?" Kael asked.

"He said he was worried about me after Silas came."

Kael’s lips pressed into a thin line. "That was not my question."

She felt her pulse quicken slightly. "Then what are you asking?"

He turned fully to face her now. There was no accusation in his tone, but there was strain beneath it.

"Did you ask him to stay?"

The question settled heavily between them.

Selena held his gaze. She would not lie to him. "No," she said honestly. "I did not ask him to."

Kael’s shoulders shifted, as if he were absorbing that answer. It did not seem to relieve him.

"But you wanted him to," he said quietly.

It was not a question this time.

She hesitated, not because she feared the truth, but because she understood what the truth would do.

"I was unsettled," she admitted. "Silas unsettled me. When Edris arrived, I felt calmer."

Kael let out a slow breath through his nose.

"So you felt safer with him."

"Yes," she said, keeping her voice gentle. "In that moment, I did."

He looked away then, toward the window. Outside, distant voices from the training grounds drifted faintly through the glass.

"And when you needed comfort," he continued, still not looking at her, "did you think of me?"

The vulnerability in the question was subtle, but it was there.

Selena stepped closer to him. "I did not think clearly at all," she said. "I only reacted to what I felt."

"And what did you feel?"

She studied him for a long moment before answering.

"I felt relief that someone came," she said. "I felt grateful that I was not alone."

He turned back to her sharply. "Someone," he repeated.

The single word carried more weight than he intended.

"You are not someone," she said, her voice firmer now. "Neither is Ronan. Neither is Edris. You are all my mates."

Kael’s eyes softened for a fraction of a second, then hardened again.

"That is not the same as being chosen first," he said.

There it was. The wound laid bare.

Selena’s chest tightened.

"You think this is about being first?" she asked gently.

"Is it not?" he replied. "He was the one you turned to last night."

"He was the one who arrived."

Kael took a step closer to her. Not threatening. Not forceful. Just closer.

"If I had come instead," he asked, "would it have been different?"

She could see how much that answer mattered to him. This was not about rivalry in the way men usually fought. It was not about pride alone. It was about worth.

"No," she said honestly. "It would not have been different."

His expression flickered. "You say that now."

"I mean it."

He searched her face, as if trying to read what lay beneath her words.

"Do you love him more?" he asked suddenly.

The question caught her off guard, not because she had never considered it, but because she had never expected it to be spoken aloud.

"I do not measure my love like that," she replied.

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only honest one I have."

Kael’s jaw tightened again. He ran a hand through his hair, frustration clear in the gesture.

"It does not feel equal," he admitted. "Not this morning."

Selena reached for his hand. He did not pull away, but his fingers were tense in hers.

"You feel left out," she said quietly.

"Yes."

The word came without hesitation.

"I am sorry you felt that way," she told him. "But I did not choose one of you over the others. I responded to who was there."

"And that was him."

"Yes."

He looked down at their joined hands, then back up at her.

"I do not like the idea of him holding you while I was not there," he said, his voice rougher now. "I do not like knowing you fell asleep in his arms."

She stepped closer still, until there was barely space between them.

"Would you rather I had been alone?" she asked softly.

"No."

"Then what do you want from me?"

The question was not challenging. It was sincere.

He swallowed, his throat moving visibly.

"I want to know that I matter the same way," he said. "Not as part of a group. Not as one of three. As me."

Her heart ached at the honesty in his voice.

"You do matter as you," she said firmly. "You are not a fraction of something. You are whole to me."

His eyes searched hers again, this time less defensively.

"Then why does it feel like I am always behind him?" he asked.

She thought of the night before. Of Edris’s steady presence. Of the way Kael’s fire burned brighter, quicker, more openly.

"You are different from him," she said carefully. "You feel deeply and you show it. He hides it better."

"That is not an answer either."

"It is," she insisted gently. "You assume that calm means more. It does not."

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then, without warning, he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. His touch was warm, firm, and slightly trembling.

"I do not want to compete with my brothers," he said. "But I also do not want to lose you to them."

"You are not losing me," she whispered.

He leaned closer, his forehead almost touching hers.

"Then tell me," he murmured, "that if I had been the one at your door last night, you would have reached for me the same way."

She held his gaze and did not look away.

"I would have."

Something in him finally eased at that. Not entirely. But enough.

He closed his eyes briefly, then pressed a slow kiss to her forehead.

"I needed to hear that," he admitted.

She wrapped her arms around him, and this time he embraced her fully, his hold tight but not desperate. She felt the tension in his body slowly unwind.

After a few moments, he pulled back slightly.

"I should return," he said. "Ronan will try to smooth things over."

"And Edris?"

Kael’s expression grew complicated again.

"I do not know," he said honestly.

He stepped toward the door, then paused.

"I am not angry at you," he added. "I am angry that I felt unnecessary."

"You are not," she said.

He gave a small nod and left.

When the door closed behind him, Selena remained standing in the center of the room, her thoughts heavy.

Loving one man was simple.

Loving three, and being loved by them in return, required more balance than she had realized.

And for the first time, she wondered how long that balance could truly hold.