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The Curse

last update Last Updated: 2025-04-29 22:11:46

Kael

Vaeloria is lost to slumber. I can taste the magic on my tongue–a heady, metallic sheen I can’t swallow down. Villagers slump against barrels and crates, snoozing peacefully, their bodies damp with the rain that passed through sometime yesterday.

Thank the old gods it’s summer. They would have frozen solid last night otherwise.

Even the children lie in heaps of homespun fabric as I move through the outer villages. The shutters and doors of the humble cottages I pass on my way to the castle clap against their stone walls, left open, unlocked.

The air is still, and the silence is overwhelming, especially when I pass a group of chickens in the center of a dirt road, the entire flock asleep with their heads tucked under their wings.

Warriors slump against the wall surrounding the castle. The gate is open, creaking in the warm wind that rustles through the immaculate garden.

People dressed in finery spread out over the glistening, white stone steps leading to the grand entrance,
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  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Roses and Smoke

    KaelMorgathra is beautiful. Stunning. Long, straight black hair flows down to her impossibly narrow waist, and her skin is as pale as alabaster. I’m sure, in her youth, she was a lovely woman, but even now, with her face smooth, flawless, and young… I can see the marks of age she’s failing to hide–the scars of ugliness, of evil, no magic can erase. Her eyes are round and the brightest green I’ve ever seen. Green, like spring grass. Green, like the first buds on the trees after a long, hard winter. Her eyes draw me in and spit me out, wasting precious seconds. I raise my sword, but a beam of green light flies from her fingertips as she cackles menacingly, her powers ripping the weapon from my grip. “You fool,” she hisses, lowering her arm and taking several steady, unwavering steps in my direction. “You must think yourself a hero, don’t you? King Kael? The dragon king come to save the shifters from their ultimate demise?”“What have you done?” I ask, slowly stepping away from her.

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   A Trap

    KaelI walk into Vaeloria through the main gates that face the road to Hexeton. I let my wings erupt but keep the rest of my dragon form at bay, for now. I need to conserve my strength. The sun is high overhead when I reach the ring of vines as thick as tree trunks. I have no way in unless I fly, but the amulet around my neck is a constant reminder that I may have a sense of protection now, but if it breaks… which shifting into my dragon form will no doubt do… it will render it useless. I squint up at the top of the gate where the vines curl around the iron, twisting it into unrecognizable metal. But the vines don’t reach for me here. In fact, I can lay my hand against a vine, and its tendrils don’t burrow through the wall it’s built. I wonder if the amulet is to thank or if the curse has reached its peak, slowing as it passes into its next phase with the coming of the full moon. I can’t climb this wall. The vines twist and coil tight, creating a flat, impenetrable surface. I make

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Protection

    KaelI jolt into awareness, blinded by startlingly bright sunlight in an unfamiliar room. I have to blink repeatedly to clear my hazy vision while reaching desperately for the woman who’d just been kneeling beside the bed, her hand clutching mine. I grope thin air, grimacing against a sharp rush of heat that funnels through my body like a snake, slithering through my veins. It… hurts. Hurts like hell, actually. The heat is nearing a boiling point when a sharp yelp booms nearby, followed by scuffling feet and the sound of something shattering on the ground. The light abruptly fades as curtain rods squeal against metal, and then someone’s touching me, speaking so rapidly I can’t make out a single word they’re saying. A small, warm hand presses against my forehead then releases, and then I’m alone again, but this time in the dark, which is a welcome relief. I struggle into an upright position, my chest and back aching, which is a reminder I’m horrifically injured, but… I smooth my hand

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Golden Light

    MaxianaThe beach of gems is roiling with an energy I haven’t felt here before. I can’t explain it, but everything feels… wrong. I rise from the sparkling sand of tiny stones, crossing my arms over my chest against a sudden, unusual chill. A soft fluttering breeze rushes toward me, disturbing the otherwise calm, inky-black water. The wind carries whispered voices that make my skin pebble–voices of pain and suffering, of utter despair. A male voice, calling out to me in the stillness, my name a whisper, a prayer, a rushed apology. I furrow my brows as the breeze ceases and silence returns, but that chill remains, licking up and down my spine while I turn to inspect the never ending beach. There’s a door again. Unease creeps through my body, weaving through my veins, as I stare at the heavy, stone entrance to another vision, I’m sure. I’m also not entirely certain I care to see what’s on the other side this time, not after witnessing my father making deals with the witches… deals tha

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Not My Problem

    KaelBelladonna shimmies out of her cloak, revealing a lithe, curveless figure. I watch magic glimmer over her skin as the cloak falls to the ground in a puddle at her feet, her narrow body covered in nothing but a slip that’s seen better days. I laugh at her, shaking my head as she reaches for my cuffs. “Babies? You think I’ll willingly fuck you, witch? Is that what you’re planning to use us for? Breeding? Are you that weak as a people? Will no other men fuck you?”Her magic ripples over my skin, leaving me momentarily numb. I can’t move when she takes off the cuffs, smiling wickedly as she rolls me onto my back, and I’m paralyzed. “Dragons are strong and long-lived. Your scales make our magic, our potions, more potent. Your bones are hard as diamonds and make for the best weapons. Your blood keeps us young,” she draws out the words in a seductive hum. “And… yes, Your Highness, we want you to strengthen our coven. Imagine the children we could produce together.”“Get off me.”“Don’

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Belladonna

    KaelAn entire day passes as I wait for word from the witches of Hexeton. I’d sent flyers–dragon warriors–into the skies to deliver a message for the queen–a summons. If she accepts and agrees to meet with me, it will mark the first time in over five hundred years that a king of the dragons and a queen of the witches have stood on the same plot of soil and spoken. I’m aware of how momentous this is–not just the threat of the curse, but me breaking from the choking grip of Titus’s rule over Drakthor. Ryker paces near the spiraling staircase leading up to the landing platform. It’s pouring rain, of course. There’s a bite in the air tonight that’s not usual for this time of year. It causes my skin to prickle, pebbling with gooseflesh as I wrap my arms tighter around my chest and lean against the wall. “They should have returned by now,” Ryker growls, losing his patience as thunder rumbles all around us. “It’s the storm. Starfall’s socked in. There’s no way around it. They’re probably

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Say Your Name

    KaelI slide my legs from bed, rubbing my eyes as rainy morning daylight floods my room. The arching windows cast shadows as rain coats the glass, sending a thrum through the space. But when I rise to my feet, dressed in nothing but a pair of undershorts, I see her and know at once that I’m still dreaming. Thank the old gods for that. She’s not sitting at the piano at the corner like usual. Her face is shielded by her hair as it falls loose over her shoulders, curling softly in ribbons of gold and the palest of blondes. She crosses her arms, hugging herself, dressed in a thin, cream colored robe of silk, the same color as the nightgown that brushes her ankles. “What’s the matter, my love?” I ask, internally debating moving toward her. All I’d have to do to see her face would be to smooth her hair away, tucking it behind her ears. She shakes her head, looking down at her feet. A tear drops and lands on her robe, sinking into the fabric and leaving a wet stain. “What happened?”“We

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   A Life for a Life

    MaxianaI’m on the beach again–the beach of gems and starlight. I’m not sure where I go when I’m not here, but I think I might be… dying, to be totally, completely honest. I can’t find my way out of this place. The beach is endless. The water remains shallow and still with no current driving it. I must be on an island, trapped on all sides, and the sun doesn’t rise or fall. I am just languishing in the dark, slowly forgetting who I am. I can’t even remember my own name. Isn’t that insane? I roll a polished sapphire between my fingers, curling my digits around it, letting it warm in my hand before throwing it as hard as I can into the water. It silently skips across the glassy surface then disappears without a sound. I close my eyes, wondering if another vision will find me. Praying the man returns to at least keep me company… but I haven’t seen him in a long time, I think. I’m not sure if he’s real or if he’s a figment of whatever dreamscape I’m trapped in. I’m not sure if he exist

  • Beauty and the Alpha Beast   Legend of the Witches

    KaelThe city of Starfall shines in the haze of a late night rain shower. The rocky, barren landscape all around the sparkling city of onyx, obsidian, and silver glows under the lights of shops, taverns, and homes scattered around the city center and built into the mountains. Above, tucked in the clouds, my castle rests high above the sprawling metropolis, lost to the stars. I pull the hood of my cloak over my head as I step out of the tunnel funneling through the mountain and directly into the city. A night market is alive with activity, and the heavy scent of roasting meat, spicy, dark tea and incense cuts through the smell of ozone as I walk through the drizzle, lowering my head against the flickering lights. I nod as the people I pass abruptly stop what they’re doing and bow. Most whisper to each other, some giggling with excitement, and others simply smile. I have a good relationship with my people. We have had several long, occasionally turbulent, but otherwise peaceful decade

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