CHAPTER 4

THE CURSED REBIRTH (Chapter 4)

(Point of View: The Luna)

My initial reaction was one of coldness.

The kind of cold that seeps into bone, cruel as treachery and sharp as glass, rather than the soft coolness of dawn air caressing bare skin. I could have sworn—no, I was positive—that I had taken my last breath, but my chest rose in a startled gasp.

I recall the burn of the poison and how my vision became blurry as the moonlight above me broke into shards. I recall Lyra's sly smile and her hushed victory. I recall my friend Kael's eyes widening in shock, but it was too late to save me.

I was dead.

But here I was.

I opened my eyes slowly, fearing that the darkness would greet me, but instead I was looking up at a sky that didn't seem to belong in the world I was familiar with. With its silvery glow tinted red like a bleeding wound, the moon loomed large and bruised. The old trees that surrounded me had roots that curled like claws across moss-covered ground and trunks that were twisted as though frozen in mid-scream.

I pressed my fingers into the wet ground. My fingers. They had a distinct feeling. Too thin, too fragile, not like the hands I'd used for councils, feasts, and battles. My stomach lurched as I lifted them into the moonlight, trembling. I didn't hold these hands.

I stumbled over roots and clambered on until I came to a pool of water tucked away between rocks. I leaned over it, saw my reflection, and stopped.

She was a stranger, the woman staring back.

Rather than the golden strands I used to wear as a crown, her long, dark hair spilled like ink. Rather than the pale amber of my birthright, her eyes glowed faintly with a violet sheen. Her skin was paler, her bones sharper, and her lips fuller.

I gasped and gripped my chest.

"This is whose face?"

However, when I spoke, my voice—ragged and breathless, but mine nonetheless—was heard.

I felt panic gnawing at me. I stumbled out of the pool, my heart thumping. I recalled the betrayal that ended my life, the fire in my veins, and then—nothing. And now, this.

As if I could keep my thoughts from breaking apart, I pressed trembling hands to my temples.

I muttered, "No, no, this isn't real." This is the trick of death. A dream.

However, the air was too cold, the soil was too wet under my palms, and the pain was too intense. Never have dreams felt so heavy.

Then I sensed it—

My shoulder was burned.

I tore at the ripped sleeve that was stuck to this new body. When I saw it, my breath caught. The mark.

The faint bond-mark curled across my skin like a crescent moon, glowing like embers that would not die. Weakly, as if attached to something very far away, it pulsed.

To him.

A sob escaped my throat. "Kael."

However, his name only served to further twist the blade. My partner hadn't trusted me. He had allowed uncertainty to undermine what ought to have been indestructible. This bond, however, was alive, demanding, and binding me to a love that had let me down.

I plowed my fingernails into the ground until they were bleeding.

How come the bond had lasted while mine had not?

My ear was touched by a whisper.

It's not the wind. Not from the trees. from within.

"It was not intended for this body to rise again."

I clutched my chest as I froze. It was a faint, fragile, but unmistakably feminine voice.

"Who—who are you?" My voice trembled as I asked.

"I was nobody. A nameless shadow, left to decay where you are now. However, you have become ingrained in me.

The whisper subsided, leaving a suffocating silence.

Nobody.

This body, this vessel—it was the property of a forgotten, abandoned person. And it was mine now.

I was torn between anger and sadness. I had been cursed with rebirth into the form of a stranger, abandoned by love, and murdered by blood. Why? For what reason?

With each step becoming more difficult, I staggered through the twisting forest. With their shadows reaching and their branches moaning, the trees appeared to bend toward me. I sensed being observed. complied. judged.

Another sound pierced the night as the silence drew nearer—an agonized scream escaping my chest without permission. Like the cry of something irreparably damaged, it reverberated throughout the forest.

The earth trembled under me. The air grew heavier.

Then the mark flared, burning, on my shoulder.

Clinging to it, I fell to my knees. My veins were filled with molten fire, and the pain was excruciating. My throat went raw as I screamed.

And I felt him in that pain.

Kael.

I felt his feelings seeping into me through the ember-glow of the bond.

Sadness, regret, and rage.

He lamented me.

He was furious for me.

However, he was unaware of my continued presence. Not the same. altered. Damned.

I struck the ground with my fist. I wasn't sure whether I feared or longed for him to find me. Would he see me behind this person's mask? Did he want to do it at all?

The bond dragged me toward an invisible thread and tugged at me once more, demanding. But the forest changed before I could get up.

One of the branches broke off.

Steps. Deliberate, heavy.

My breath caught. With my heart racing, I spun in the direction of the sound. A figure appeared as the shadows lifted.

tall. broad-shouldered. With eyes that shone silver under the blood-stained moon, cloaked in darkness. Not Kael. I didn't know any wolves.

A few paces away, he halted and cocked his head as if examining his prey. Then he uttered a name in a gravelly voice.

Not mine. Not the woman who was forgotten.

A name I was unfamiliar with.

"Selara."

My blood became icy.

As though the forest itself knew the name and was tying me to it, the mark on my shoulder burned again, more intensely than before.

I shook my head and stumbled back. "I'm not that."

However, the man's mouth curled into a smile that was halfway between a sneer and a smile.

"Yes," he growled, his voice piercing the darkness. "It's right now."

The surrounding forest trembled as he moved forward, and the trees themselves appeared to mutter that accursed name.

Selara.