The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 103

Betrayal-1

For one brief, stunned second, Caleb did not move.

Claim

Sonia’s lips were pressed against his, soft and warm, her hands gripping the front of his jacket with surprising determination as the moonlight spilled across the palace garden and the quiet night air seemed to freeze around them.

Shock coursed through him like a jolt of lightning

Then instinct returned.

Caleb pulled back sharply, his hands coming up almost automatically as he grasped her shoulders and gently-but firmly-pushed her away from him.

The sudden distance between them seemed to echo louder than the kiss itself.

Sonia stumbled half a step backward.

Her cheeks turned violently red.

Her wide brown eyes searched his face, clearly expecting something that had not happened.

And when she saw his expression-confusion, surprise, but most importantly the complete absence of any welcoming reaction-her lips parted.

Her eyes filled instantly with tears.

“Oh…”

The sound escaped her like a fragile breath.

Then suddenly her composure shattered.

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she brought a trembling hand to her mouth, a soft sob escaping her before she could stop it.

Caleb froze.

Completely.

Utterly.

He stared at her in stunned silence.

Rogues.

Assassins.

Entire hostile packs.

He had faced them all without hesitation.

But a crying woman?

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Betrayal L

Claim

That was a battlefield he had never mastered.

“Why” he started, then stopped.

He rubbed a hand briefly over the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.

“Sonia… why are you crying?”

His voice softened instinctively, the sharp edge of surprise fading as he tried to calm the situation before it escalated further.

“Please,” he added gently, “calm down.”

But Sonia only shook her head as more tears slipped down her face.

Between small sobs she managed to speak.

“I… I can see that you don’t want me.”

Caleb blinked.

“What?”

Her voice trembled again.

“You are pushing me away.”

The accusation hung in the air between them.

Caleb exhaled slowly.

“Sonia,” he said carefully, “why would you believe that?”

She looked at him as if the answer were obvious.

“Because of your reaction to our kiss.”

Caleb’s patience thinned instantly.

He ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair.

“Sonia…”

His tone carried clear exasperation now.

“You need to understand something.”

She sniffed quietly but lifted her eyes to him.

“That was an unexpected kiss.”

He gestured vaguely between them.

“Plus, we literally met today.”

Her expression tightened.

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Betrayal L

“But we are fated!””

Her voice cracked again, emotion rising quickly.

The protest sounded almost desperate.

Caleb exhaled sharply.

“Sonia,” he replied, his voice tightening with frustration, “we might be fated according to you…”

Her eyes widened instantly.

“What does that mean?” she interrupted him defensively. “Do you believe I’m lying?”

Caleb’s jaw clenched.

“Stop here.”

The word came out firmer than he intended.

He shook his head slowly.

“Sonia… stop putting words in my mouth and interrupting without listening my full sentences.”

The sharpness in his voice made her fall silent instantly.

Her shocked expression made it clear she wasn’t used to being spoken to like that.

Caleb noticed it immediately.

And it told him something important.

This girl had likely spent most of her life being praised!

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