Chapter 256: Kieran’s rage

. “Who is ‘Yuki’?” Killian asked in a low, curious tone, having a strong feeling she clearly wasn’t referring to herself in the third person.

Yuki froze instantly, her shoulders stiffening as she realised she had blurted her inner thoughts out loud. A splash of heat hit her cheeks, but she quickly forced her expression into a smooth, smug smile to hide her slip-up. There was no reason to be scared of him.

“He is the most gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on,” she declared proudly, raising her chin.

Killian scoffed, a dry, sceptical sound escaping his throat. “And what does this supposed godly man look like?”

Yuki’s eyes lit up excitedly, and she immediately launched into a detailed description—words that sounded utterly surreal and mythical to Killian, but were painfully, intensely real to her memory.

“He is absolutely gorgeous! Over two hundred centimetres tall, with long, shimmering silver hair that flows like silk, striking violet eyes, and a face so stunning that the moment you look at him, your mind just completely freezes to process it.”

Killian burst out into a low, rumbling laugh, clearly not buying a single word of her wildly fantastical claim. “You have quite the vivid imagination, Little Snowflake. You are literally describing a silver-haired, purple-eyed tall male version of yourself.”

Yuki went dead still. Her head whipped toward him, her emerald eyes wide with sudden realisation. “Wait… do you think I’m so gorgeous that your mind freezes for a moment when you look at me?” she gushed, leaning in slightly, expecting him to immediately deny it and lash out with a cold insult

Instead, Killian offered her a rare, mesmerising smile that reached his dark eyes. “Your sister was able to tear apart fated mates using nothing but her face, wasn’t she?” he murmured smoothly.

Yuki stood completely dumbfounded, her lips parting as she tried to calculate whether he had just paid her a breathtaking compliment or handed her a subtle insult. Killian let out a quiet sigh, his smile fading into a calm, measured look.

“Enough about imaginary men. Back to you. The only reason you noticed I was exhausted is that you’ve been staring at me long enough. Why were you staring at your ex-mate?”

Yuki’s cheeks puffed out in immediate indignation. “First of all, I am not lying! Yuki is completely real—I was literally named after him! And second,” she huffed, glaring at him fiercely, “the only reason I was staring is that I find your presence an absolute eyesore, and I wasn’t distracted by your face to miss how dead on your feet you look. I’ve seen enough of your face to last me a lifetime, and in my opinion, Kieran is by far the best triplet! At least he has functioning cheekbones that know how to smile!”

Killian scoffed again, taking another sip of water. “Just admit you have a crush on him.”

Yuki’s face burned like a house on fire. He talked far too much for someone who was supposed to be running on empty. “I do not have a crush on him! Stop putting words in my mouth! And honestly, you should try smiling more—you look like a fucking boogie man standing there!”

He arched a single eyebrow at her outburst, his unshakable composure getting deeply under her skin. Yuki didn’t know what it was, but ever since Eloise had arrived and upended everything, every little thing Killian did was getting on her absolute last nerve.

“I explicitly told you to stay with Clara and not engage in a chit-chat with the boogie man,” a calm, smooth voice echoed from behind her.

Yuki’s breath caught in her throat. She whipped around to see Kieran standing at the end of the hall, clad in an immaculate white lab coat.

Her mind raced, frantically wondering just how much of her embarrassing rant he had actually overheard, but one look at his face told her everything—he was not in a good mood.

As a matter of fact, Kieran had stepped out into the corridor just in time to hear her aggressively swear that she didn’t have a crush on him. He was already in a foul mood from the chaotic trauma room, and her declaration certainly didn’t help.

Yuki instinctively stepped back, pointing a defensive finger toward Killian. “There was nothing left for me to do in the lab! I just decided to give your brother some glucose water before he fainted on the floor!”

Kieran’s gaze flicked over to Killian, his lips twitching with cold irony. “He needs sleep, not sugar water,” he explained in a clipped, low tone. “But you can leave now, Yuki.”

Yuki didn’t need to be told twice. The heavy, suffocating pressure radiating between the two Alpha brothers was practically thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Bye!” She bolted off down the corridor like a frightened deer, her heels clicking rapidly against the tiles until she vanished around the corner.

As soon as her figure disappeared, Killian arched an eyebrow at his brother, his tone laced with dry amusement. “You look like you want to murder someone.”

Kieran scoffed bitterly, folding his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. “Eloise is stable. She’s just unconscious from the shock and blood loss.” He stepped closer, his intense blue eyes narrowing as his next words made Killian completely pause. “She slit her own throat, didn’t she?”

Killian’s gaze hardened. “How did you know?” he asked

A humourless laugh escaped Kieran’s throat. “It was a remarkably clean, precise incision. It entirely avoided her carotid artery and her laryngeal nerve, missing her vocal cords completely. It was nothing more than a theatrical performance designed to shed blood, executed because she knew you possessed the raw magic to seal the laceration in time.”

Kieran’s sharp medical mind and deduction skills were unmatched, and Killian didn’t bother lying to him.

“Yeah,” Killian admitted flatly, leaning his head back against the wall. “She did it herself.”

The quiet rage radiating off Kieran doubled in an instant. Killian observed the shift, realising then that Kieran wasn’t furious because Eloise had been critically injured on Killian’s watch—he was furious because she had used a grotesque, self-inflicted injury as a weapon of emotional manipulation.

“It isn’t the first time she has pulled a stunt like this,” Kieran spat out, his voice laced with cold venom. “What happened this time?”

Killian felt a massive weight subtly lift off his chest. His headache had been worsening by the minute as he pondered how to explain the violent scene in his office without triggering his brothers’ intense, deeply ingrained protective instincts toward their childhood sweetheart.

“She suspects Kaden is actively avoiding her,” Killian stated quietly. “Then things escalated.” He said not mentioning the details of her schemes he confronted her about.

Kieran’s eyes flickered. He remembered. ” I saw that,” he murmured. Killian looked at him.

“You did?”

Kieran nodded slowly.b”She approached Kaden during the reception. I saw him hesitate before pulling away. I assumed he was simply overwhelmed by everything happening that night.”

Kieran’s dark brows furrowed, a sudden memory flashing through his mind. Eloise had indeed cornered Kaden near the cathedral during Alexander’s wedding reception, attempting to kiss him, but he had abruptly pulled away and excused himself under the guise of needing fresh air.

Kaden had been having a rough, visibly restless night throughout the entire event, clearly stressed by the ceremonial tension and the fact that his father was marrying his mistress. However, Kieran kept one critical detail unspoken.

Later that exact same night, Kaden had quietly slipped away from the estate grounds, taking a thoroughly intoxicated, stumbling Yuki with him into the dark.