My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Chapter 222 PROPHECIES BE DAMNED

SERAPHINA’S POV

Kieran’s hair was wet, plastered to his forehead and temples. His shirt clung to his body, rain dripping from the hem, and his breath came in heavy bursts, as if he’d been running.

Over me, he held an umbrella—large, black, sheltering.

Sheltering me, not him.

His eyes locked onto mine, and I saw the storm of emotions swirling beneath the stoic mask he normally wore.

Panic. Fear. Relief so intense it almost looked painful.

“Sera,” he breathed, his voice rough, strained. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Something inside me cracked at the sound of his voice. At the fact that he had come, that he had searched, that he had found me.

The swing beneath me shifted slightly as I exhaled, a trembling, broken sound I couldn’t hold back.

His jaw clenched, and he took a half-step toward me, rain still streaming down his back. “You’re freezing.”

“I’m fine,” I whispered, even though I clearly wasn’t.

His brows pulled together in a way that told me he wasn’t fooled.

He lowered the umbrella, angling it more fully over me, ignoring how the rain drenched his shoulder further.

“Margaret called me in a panicked frenzy that you left her house without your car. And no one could reach you.”

I looked down, gripping the chains tighter.

“I just needed air,” I murmured.

“What happened, Sera?” His voice gentled. His knuckles were white where he gripped the umbrella. “Tell me.”

My vision blurred, and even though the rain streaked down my cheeks, Kieran saw right through it.

His expression softened. “Sera...” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “You’re crying.”

That undid me.

A sound escaped my throat—small, fragile, humiliating. Before I could turn away, before I could ask that he leave me alone, Kieran crouched in front of me, one knee sinking into the wet, muddy ground so his face was level with mine.

He reached up with his free hand, brushing his knuckles against my cheek. His touch was impossibly gentle, wiping a mixture of rain and tears that wouldn’t stop falling.

“Sera,” he murmured, “if Daniel saw you like this, his little heart would break.”

I choked out a half-laugh, half-sob. “Using Daniel to get me to open up. Touché.”

He let out a half-hearted chuckle. “You would do anything for Daniel, right?”

I swallowed hard. “Kieran...”

He leaned closer. “I’m listening.”

“If someone prophesied,” I whispered, voice trembling, “that Daniel was destined to be nothing. Ordinary. Would you...Would you give up on him?”

Kieran’s head jerked back.

Even through the rain, I saw it: the flash of outrage sharpening his features, the protective, feral instinct rising instantly to the surface.

“Who the hell,” he growled, “would say something like that about my son?”

“It’s hypothetical,” I said, my lips twisting. “Just answer.”

His nostrils flared, and for a moment, he seemed to be wrestling between anger and disbelief.

Then he said, with a fierce certainty that left no room for doubt: “No damn prophecy or fortune or stranger gets to define my child’s worth.”

He scoffed, jaw tight. “I wouldn’t believe that crap for a second.”

I blinked, stunned by the intensity of his conviction.

“And if they insisted on it?” I asked quietly, needing to hear him say it. “If they said there was no other outcome for him?”

“I’d beat the shit out of them,” Kieran answered flatly. “No one decides who Daniel gets to be. That’s his choice. His life. His future. And I’ll destroy anyone who tries to clip his wings.”

Breath whooshed from me, dissipating some of the heavy weight I felt. “Thank you.”

His expression softened, his eyes gentling even as rain continued dripping from his eyelashes.

But then he frowned, studying my face more carefully, more intensely.

“Sera...what happened?” He shifted closer, voice low. “Please tell me.”

I hesitated.

I considered telling him nothing. I considered burying it the way I used to bury everything.

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