CHAPTER 1: The Boy With The Bracelet

Aurielle's POV

The wheels of the royal caravan rattled softly under us as we rolled through the streets of Vaeloria and I pressed my face to the window like some little kid who had never seen the outside world before.

Well… technically, I was sixteen and had never been allowed outside the palace walls so maybe the comparison wasn’t that far off.

Still, I tried to look regal. I really did.. I kept my chin lifted and my shoulders straight, pretending I was used to all this... the colorful market stalls, the stone houses, the bright flags and the excited shouts of the people. But my eyes kept darting everywhere and my mouth kept parting like I’d just discovered there was a world outside of books.

My father sat beside me with arms crossed, looking like he was mentally handling ten different political crises at once. The High Lycan King of Vaeloria rarely relaxed and today wasn’t any different. He had that same stern expression he always wore when he took me anywhere that wasn’t within five feet of the palace gates.

“Stop craning your neck,” he muttered without even looking at me. “People are staring.”

“I’m staring at them too,” I said. “It’s only fair.”

He gave me a look.. the kind that said behave, Aurielle but I pretended not to see it.

Today was different though. We didn’t leave the palace for festivals or celebrations. Today was the annual visit to my mother’s grave. My memory of her was blurry but the ache of missing her was always sharp.

The caravan suddenly jerked to a stop, jolting me forward.

“What was that?” I asked.

Father leaned toward the window.

“A carriage broke down. We’ll wait.”

But the tone of his voice already warned me... he didn’t like delays.

Outside, voices rose sharply and tense. A whip cracked, startling me enough to make me flinch.

“Why are they whipping someone?” I whispered.

“Because someone is holding up an entire royal procession,” Father said. “Stay here.”

That was the end of discussion. He opened the door and stepped outside with soldiers surrounding the carriage instantly.

Once he was gone, I leaned forward, peeking out again. A crowd had gathered with people whispering, soldiers shouting and someone begging for mercy. It was a little frightening… but also exciting. Way more exciting than the palace and honestly… he left me in here alone.

A terrible idea, considering he raised a daughter who had mastered sneaking past twenty guards at age twelve.

I glanced at the guards stationed beside the carriage. They were focused on the commotion. Perfect.

“Just for a minute,” I murmured to myself.

I slipped out of the opposite door with my dress brushing the street dust and kept my head low. No one noticed.. I walked quickly... okay, I tiptoed dramatically because it made it more fun... and blended into the crowd before anyone could yell my name.

The streets were quite busy with vendors shouting.. kids running and music drifting from somewhere. Everything felt warm and alive.. not cold and quiet like the palace halls. I grinned as I wandered.

“So this is what it feels like. Freedom.”

I stopped at a fruit stand, staring way too intently at a basket of bright, strange-looking berries.

“First time seeing a luma-berry, young miss?” the vendor asked.

“Yes,” I smiled. “And I’m not buying anything. I have no money.”

“Well, that’s honest.”

I kept walking, lifting my skirts to avoid a muddy puddle. I didn’t even care that Father was going to explode when he found out I was gone. For now, this was worth it.

Then a soft voice called from the mouth of a narrow alley.

“Princess Aurielle.”

I froze.

A woman stood there in a dark cloak with a hood low over her face. I blinked at her, confused.

“How do you know my...”

“Come here,” she whispered. Her voice was low and coaxing. “I’ve been waiting.”

My curiosity... my worst trait, according to every royal tutor I ever had... nudged me forward and I took a step toward her.. then another.

Something about her felt… off. Not dangerous, exactly. Just… wrong.

Before I could get close enough to see her face, a familiar voice boomed behind me.

“Aurielle!”

My heart jumped. Father.

I turned around, ready to defend myself with something like, It was just a walk... please don’t banish me to my room for the next decade. But my father wasn’t alone. Several soldiers were rushing toward me and they weren’t looking at me. They were looking past me at the woman.

“Step away from the princess!” one soldier roared.

I rolled my eyes.

“Why are you yelling? She’s just...”

I turned back to the woman and my breath froze in my throat. Her hand had slipped out of her cloak clutching a silver dagger and her eyes... dark, furious... locked onto mine.

“For the death of the Lycana bloodline,” she hissed.

And she hurled the dagger straight at my face.

I couldn’t move.. I couldn’t scream and the world slowed down until I could see the blade spinning toward me and glittering with silver... a metal that could kill my kind instantly.

My heart stopped snd then something slammed into me hard.

The ground hit my back and a warm weight pinned me down while my eyes widened. It wasn’t a soldier.

It was… a boy! A boy who looked only a bit older than me, maybe eighteen.. His hair was dark and messy with his eyes bright and fierce like he lived for chaos and on his face was the wildest smile I’d ever seen.

“Hi,” he whispered like he’d just done something very normal and not just saved my entire life.

A second later, soldiers swarmed us. While some of them went for the already fleeing woman.

“Get off her!”

“Grab him!”

“He attacked the princess!”

Hands yanked him away from me but he didn’t fight them. He only lifted his arms lazily like he’d been arrested a hundred times and found it boring.

“Wait!” I shouted, scrambling to sit up. “He didn’t attack me! He saved me!”

No one listened and I glared at the closest soldier.

“Are you deaf? I said he saved me!”

That made them pause.

Father stormed toward us with his eyes blazing.

“Aurielle—are you hurt?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Because of him.”

The soldiers hesitated, then slowly released the boy. He stretched his arms like the whole thing had been mildly inconvenient and Father studied him with a suspicious gaze.

“Who are you?”

The boy shrugged.

“Nobody special.”

I blinked at him.

“You literally just jumped in front of a silver dagger.”

He only grinned but Father didn’t look impressed. He signaled a few more soldiers to chase after the cloaked woman who had already disappeared into the chaos and threw a small pouch of coins at the boy.

“Back to the carriage,” he ordered me.

I groaned under my breath but didn’t argue. I’d already caused enough trouble for the day and as the soldiers escorted me, I glanced over my shoulder.

The boy was standing there clutching the pouch and looking like he found the whole situation entertaining and when he caught me staring, he gave me the smallest smile. Soft and almost gentle and then he lifted his hand and waved.

My heart did a weird little flip. Well. That was new.

Something brushed my palm.. I looked down and froze. It was a bracelet.

It was worn and scratched. The string frayed like it had lived through a war but what caught my eye was the tiny engraving on a crooked metal piece.

Raeyan…