My eyes still feel cool with the white light clinging to my irises—as if the moon were occupying both eye sockets at once. Outside my body, the sound of breathing still echoes. Inside, my vision tears apart each page of time, one by one.
The first vision rushes in without pause. A small, brightly lit house, the scent of incense, and hands clasped together. My mother—Aurora—stands in the center of the room, her skin reflecting a soft glow like an unyielding lamp. Beside her, a man in a robe, neat and cold, yet his eyes hold something unspoken: love and fear that knows the risk. They gaze at the newborn baby.The baby’s cry shatters the silence. I saw my mother’s hand gently stroke the tiny head—light enveloping the baby’s face until I realized. The baby was not a stranger.“She is ours,” the man whispered, his voice soft like a gentle touch. “We will protect you. Though the world may scorn us, though my lineage clings like a stain—she is stI woke up gasping for breath, as if my lungs had just swallowed back the life that had almost been taken away. My vision blurred for a few seconds—white specks flickered at the edge of my vision like scales of light that refused to fade. The scent of pine wood from the fireplace, now reduced to ashes, lingered slowly. The bedsheet touched my skin, cold, confirming one thing I hadn’t expected would be both soothing and piercing: I was in my own room.No one was here.The silence felt like a hand covering my mouth. I turned—the chair in the corner was empty, the vanity held an untouched comb and small bottle of hair oil, the half-open window revealed a forest still green. Still green. The words trembled in my chest like a bell struck from within: Still green. If the forest hadn’t dried up, it meant Alpha King had known the truth all along. It meant he had endured the storm of lies alone, or—worse—he had chosen to hide it from me.“But why?” I whisp
My eyes still feel cool with the white light clinging to my irises—as if the moon were occupying both eye sockets at once. Outside my body, the sound of breathing still echoes. Inside, my vision tears apart each page of time, one by one.The first vision rushes in without pause. A small, brightly lit house, the scent of incense, and hands clasped together. My mother—Aurora—stands in the center of the room, her skin reflecting a soft glow like an unyielding lamp. Beside her, a man in a robe, neat and cold, yet his eyes hold something unspoken: love and fear that knows the risk. They gaze at the newborn baby. The baby’s cry shatters the silence. I saw my mother’s hand gently stroke the tiny head—light enveloping the baby’s face until I realized. The baby was not a stranger.“She is ours,” the man whispered, his voice soft like a gentle touch. “We will protect you. Though the world may scorn us, though my lineage clings like a stain—she is st
Mira Solenn's POV"Bring the runic candles! Quickly!" I commanded, my voice cutting through the commotion in the treatment room like a knife. Trained hands moved. Doctor Clera lit the candles, Hessel weighed the potions, Father unrolled the parchment, and Ilon stood in the doorway holding his breath like an old cannon holding its load. Alpha King lay there, his body emitting an unnatural heat, his skin taut like metal over embers.I pressed my palm against Alpha King’s chest, trying to read the magical pulse that usually flowed freely. Now? There was a rhythm, but it was imprisoned by something tight and slippery. As if an invisible hand were rolling up the river within his chest, closing off the flow bit by bit."This is a difficult curse," I said, my voice unable to be masked by gossip or speculation. "The cooling potion doesn't react. The runic salt is ineffective. The dampening cloth only delays. He is bound."I looked at D
"Seraphyne Duskfang," my name escaped my lips once more, my fists clenching tighter. In that instant, I spun around with wide strides. My feet barely touched the stone floor, the palace corridors whipped past me like a lash. My breath caught, the sound of my own footsteps echoing like war drums. Ilon, Tavien, everyone was shouting my name behind me, but I heard nothing but one voice growing louder: the curse echoing in my head. “Damn it! I’ll kill you, Seraphyne. I’ll kill you!” I muttered. The underground prison door opened like a mouth waiting for flesh. The smell of dampness, iron, and blood assaulted my nose. Under the flickering hanging lamp, the sight that awaited me made the mud in my stomach churn.The guard warriors—who usually stood tall like pillars—lay like dolls. Some still breathed with raspy sounds, others were silent. The wounds on their bodies were not mere cuts. Their skin looked as though it had been burned from within, th
"Here! Bring a wet cloth! Quickly!" The shout echoed through the hallway, making my eardrums vibrate. I rushed into the open treatment room, my body still panting. Everyone's eyes were on me—Dr. Clera, Hessel, Lysander, Mira, Tavien, Serel—a circle of familiar faces that now looked like shadows waiting for their fate. In the center, Alpha King lay like a melted metal statue.The room had turned into a quiet battlefield: wet cloths being dragged, potions being stirred without pause, and words spinning like bullets. "Don't get too close! It's hot… incredibly hot," Dr. Clera ordered, holding her breath, her hands trembling as she touched one of the burn marks with a stick wrapped in cold cloth.I stepped closer, though Hessel held my arm with a deathly pale face. "Luna Lyara—don't. His body's dock is hot; the dampening runes slip if touched by just anyone."His body felt strange, like holding metal freshly pulled from a flame—hot to the point o
“Pass me that bread, Lysander. You always hold onto it too long before anyone else gets a chance to taste it.” Alpha King’s voice cut through the soft buzz of the small dining room in the east wing. He reached out his hand, half joking, half commanding—a combination that made the servants hold back their smiles and me shake my head in amusement.“Good bread is worth keeping, Alpha King,” Lysander replied with a grin that instantly revealed the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. “But fine, I don’t want my head to end up as a banner on the Red Tree.” He finally pushed the bread basket toward us.“The Red Tree is full,” I joked lightly, though my chest still felt cold from yesterday. I divided the bread, placing a piece on Alpha King’s plate and another for myself. “Alpha King, Luna,” said Hessel, who was sitting across from us, opening his scroll of notes that smelled of flaxseed oil.“Brief report,” Hessel tapped the page. “Grade two healing pot