All Chapters of Eclipsed Hearts: The Chronicle of Shadows and Stars: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Moonlight glazed the spires of Ardenthall, silvering the banners that fluttered faintly against the night wind. Beneath the veneer of calm, however, the palace throbbed with whispers—rumors born in shadows and carried by the mouths of servants too frightened to keep silent. Serenya Vale, cloaked in her disguise as a mere handmaiden, felt those whispers coil around her like smoke as she slipped through the servants’ passages toward the great hall.A masquerade had begun, its laughter and music floating faintly through the stone corridors. But Serenya knew this gathering was not simply revelry. Tonight, alliances would be tested, secrets bartered, and enemies would measure each other with false smiles. Nightfall was always when intrigue bloomed, when blades—both political and steel—cut deepest.She paused at an arched alcove, adjusting her mask of plain silk. Across the hall, she spotted Kaelen Draven, already present among the lords and ladies. He leaned casually against a marble pilla

Rain clung to the stone walls of Maelis Rowan’s tower, dripping through the moss and filling the silence with a steady rhythm. Serenya stood near the window, arms wrapped tightly around herself, staring at the storm-tossed horizon. The prophecy still rang in her ears—cryptic words that painted both promise and doom.Kaelen lingered a few steps behind her, his presence steady but unreadable. He hadn’t spoken since they left the chamber where Maelis had delivered her vision. The tension between them grew heavy, a cord stretched too tight, threatening to snap with a single word.Finally, Serenya turned, her eyes searching his.“You heard it, didn’t you? She saw me—crowned and broken. Loved, yet destroyed. How am I supposed to carry both?”Kaelen’s jaw clenched, his gaze flicking away as though afraid of what she’d read in his expression. “Prophecies are riddles, Serenya. They twist meaning until you see what you fear most. Do not chain yourself to words spoken in smoke and shadow.”“And

The sky churned with angry clouds as Crestfall Keep loomed against the horizon, its black spires slicing through the stormlight. The sea beyond thundered in restless fury, hurling waves that crashed against the cliff walls below. Soldiers lined the battlements, their armor slick with rain, their torches flickering weakly in the wind.Inside the great hall, the atmosphere was no less tempestuous. Nobles whispered behind jeweled hands, their eyes darting to the high dais where Thalric Veynor presided like a vulture waiting for a feast. His smirk was sharp, knowing, as though the storm itself bent to his ambition.Serenya kept to the shadows near the stone pillars, her hood pulled low to shield her face. Kaelen was at her side, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade, eyes flicking over every entrance and every threat.“They know something,” Serenya whispered. The air carried a tension thicker than smoke, charged with fear and suspicion. “Look at them—they’re restless.”“They’r

Moonlight streamed through the fractured stained-glass windows of Moonspire’s old chapel, painting the stone floor in shards of red and blue. Serenya Vale held her breath in the shadows, her cloak drawn tightly around her frame. Somewhere beyond the broken arches, boots scraped against stone.She wasn’t alone.Her fingers brushed the hilt of the dagger strapped to her thigh—not her weapon of choice, but enough to buy her time. The letter she had stolen only hours ago, folded carefully within her bodice, pulsed like a second heartbeat against her chest. It was the very reason she was hunted tonight.Kaelen Draven’s voice echoed in her memory: “Do not let anyone see what you carry. It names the betrayer.”And now, she could almost hear his voice whispering again, though he was leagues away, riding to Crestfall with Darian.A shadow slipped across the chapel’s fractured doorway. She tightened her grip.“Come out,” a low voice rasped. “I know you’re here.”Not Kaelen. Not Darian. Someone

The throne room of Astralis had always been a place of grandeur—pillars carved from silver-veined marble, chandeliers glittering with crystal stars, a dais that loomed high above the rest of the hall like a stage built for judgment. Tonight, however, it pulsed with danger. Every noble present sensed it in the silence that trembled after the herald’s announcement.Serenya Vale stood at the center, her heart hammering beneath her simple gown. She had not worn a crown, not yet, but all eyes searched her face as though they could already see it gleaming above her auburn hair.Kaelen Draven shifted closer, the faintest brush of his hand against hers grounding her. His voice was low, for her ears only.“Breathe, Serenya. You’ve hidden in shadows long enough. Tonight, the light belongs to you.”She wanted to believe him, but the weight of truth threatened to crush her. For years she had been the girl no one saw—an orphan, a healer’s apprentice, a figure passing unnoticed through crowded mark