Two battered souls now bound as fiercely as the stars, defying the darkness that sought to extinguish our light. After endless days trapped in this cage, freedom seemed like a distant dream-until the wounded Vinduthi was thrown into my cell at the brink of death. Still, the will to fight smoldered through him. And when I asked him to give me a claiming mark to shield me from the designs of our captors, that spark ignited into a blaze that threatened to consume us both. Yet his stoic nature leaves me wondering . . . Does the passion I see flickering in his eyes only reflect the yearning in my own heart? Contains mature themes.