The second warning horn echoed through the palace like a scream.
Kael grabbed the nearest wall torch and pulled it free, his jaw clenched as he listened.
Shouts erupted down the hall.
Boots thundered against marble.
Swords unsheathed.
The palace—usually so quiet and elegant—was shaking.
"Aura," Kael said breathlessly, "stay behind me."
"I won't."
"You will."
His tone left no room for argument.
But I wasn't the girl he remembered.
"Kael," I said, stepping around him, "if you want to protect me—don't block my way."
Before he could argue again, a guard sprinted down the corridor toward us, armor clattering.
"Your Highness! Prince Kael! Lady Aura!" he gasped. "It's the western gates—they're breached!"
Kael's eyes widened. "Breached? By who?"
The guard swallowed hard.
"Not who, sir. What."
A cold tremor ran up my spine.
"What does that mean?" Kael demanded.
The guard opened his mouth—
but a scream cut him off.
A raw, blood-chilling scream from somewhere below.
Then another.
Then—
a roar.
Not human.
Not animal.
Something between the two, twisting violently in the air.
My heart slammed once, like it remembered exactly what was happening.
This wasn't supposed to happen in this timeline.
Not so early.
Not like this.
Kael cursed under his breath. "Aura, get to safety. The eastern wing. Now."
"I'm not running."
"Aura—"
Another roar shook the walls.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
"What is that?" I whispered.
Kael gripped the torch tighter. "I don't know. But it broke through two guard lines already."
A shiver crawled beneath my skin—
not fear.
Recognition.
My magic pulsed in warning.
Something from the forest had followed me home.
Child of the moon…
You returned.
So did your hunters.
The air behind us shifted.
Before I could turn, Kael shoved me behind him, pulling his dagger.
"Aura—stay back!"
A figure stumbled into the corridor—
a palace guard, face pale, eyes wide with terror.
"RUN!" he choked out. "It's coming—"
He didn't finish.
Because something slammed him from behind.
Hard.
His body flew down the hall like a ragdoll, hitting the wall with a sickening crack.
I gasped.
The creature stepped into view.
Or rather… crawled.
Wrong.
Its movement was wrong.
Its limbs bent too far.
Its spine was arched like a broken animal.
Its skin—pale gray.
Eyes—black and hollow.
Mouth—too wide, full of sharp teeth dripping with something thick and dark.
Kael froze.
I did not.
I remembered this creature.
It hadn't come in my first life.
It came in my dreams.
"Aura," Kael whispered, "go. Now."
The creature lifted its head—
and sniffed.
At me.
Kael stepped forward, dagger raised. "Stay away from her!"
The creature hissed—a sound like glass grinding on stone.
It launched itself forward.
Kael met it head-on, torch in one hand, dagger in the other. Flame hit its face. It shrieked, recoiling for the briefest second.
"Aura!" Kael shouted. "RUN!"
I didn't.
Because something inside me snapped open.
The creature looked at me again—
and the moment its hollow eyes met mine,
the moon inside my chest exploded.
Light surged under my skin.
Not gentle.
Not warm.
Violent.
Silver lightning cracked across my arms.
Kael saw it.
He froze in shock.
"Aura…?"
The creature lunged at me.
I raised a hand—
instinctively, blindly—
and a blast of silver light erupted from my palm.
The force slammed into the creature like a tidal wave.
It flew backward, smashing into a stone pillar so hard the whole corridor rattled.
Kael stared at me as if he'd never seen me before.
"Aura… what—what did you—?"
I didn't get to answer.
Because the creature began to rise.
Its limbs snapped back into place, bones cracking. Its head twisted too far, as if resetting itself. And then it screeched—
A sound that split the air.
The sound I heard
the night I died.
My chest tightened painfully.
Kael grabbed my arm. "We have to go!"
"No." My voice came out cold. "It came for me."
"ALL THE MORE REASON TO RUN!"
But I was rooted to the ground, staring at the creature as it dragged itself up, jaws snapping.
Not a creature.
A harbinger.
A messenger from the forest ruins.
The shadow-man had warned me:
"When the blood moon rises again, they will come for you."
The creature charged again.
Kael threw himself in front of me—
but the beast knocked him aside like he weighed nothing.
Kael hit the ground hard.
"Aura!" he shouted.
But the creature didn't look at him.
It looked at me.
It reared back—
jaws opening—
and leapt.
Silver light surged through me again—
wild, uncontrolled—
but before I could release it—
A dark blur shot across the corridor.
Fast.
Silent.
Impossible.
A hand—pale, gloved—grabbed the creature's throat mid-air.
The shadow-man.
One moment he wasn't there.
The next, he was holding the creature like it weighed nothing.
His violet eyes glowed like twin flames.
He whispered something in a language I couldn't understand—
a soft, deadly murmur.
The creature convulsed violently.
Then collapsed.
Dead.
Silence filled the corridor.
Kael stared, stunned, bleeding from a cut on his forehead.
The shadow-man stood slowly, letting the creature drop with a thud.
His cloak unfurled behind him like living darkness.
He turned his head—
and looked directly at Kael.
Kael reached for his dagger, hand shaking. "Who—what are you?"
The shadow-man ignored him.
He walked toward me.
I stood frozen, breath shallow.
When he reached me, he lifted a gloved hand—
and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Aura," he murmured, voice like dusk, "your power wakes dangerously fast."
My pulse fluttered.
"What was that thing?" I whispered.
"A servant," he said. "A lesser creature born from the ruin's hunger. Sent to test you."
"To test me?"
"Yes." His violet eyes glimmered. "But someone interfered. Someone drew it too early."
My stomach dropped.
"Who?"
He leaned closer, his breath cool against my cheek.
"You already know."
Arcelia.
Or the man she was meeting.
Or the council.
Or all three.
Kael forced himself between us, grabbing my arm and pulling me back.
"Stay away from her," he snarled at the shadow-man.
The shadow-man tilted his head, unbothered.
"You," Kael growled, "you're not human."
"No," the shadow-man said simply.
Kael stiffened.
The corridor trembled lightly—
as if the shadows themselves were listening.
"And if you touch her again—" Kael began.
"You'll what?" the shadow-man asked softly.
Kael's jaw tightened. "I'll kill you."
A slow, amused smile curved the shadow-man's lips.
"You may try," he said. "But you will fail."
I swallowed. "Enough."
Both men turned to me.
The creature's blood pooled on the marble near my feet.
I inhaled shakily.
"We need to get to Father," I said. "If the gates were breached—"
Kael nodded immediately. "I'll take you."
But the shadow-man stepped forward.
"Aura doesn't need protection from you."
Kael stiffened. "And she needs it from you?"
The shadow-man's voice turned soft. Deadly.
"She needs it from the ones you share tables with."
Kael flinched.
I stepped between them, chest rising and falling.
"Both of you," I whispered, "stop."
Kael looked at me with worry, confusion, fear.
The shadow-man looked at me with recognition.
Like he had seen me wield light long before this moment.
"Aura," Kael said, voice shaking, "tell me what's happening to you."
I opened my mouth—
But before I could answer—
A crashing sound echoed from the throne room.
Followed by—
"THE KING—! PROTECT THE KING!"
My heart stopped.
"Father," I breathed.
Kael paled. "Aura—run!"
The shadow-man didn't speak.
He simply disappeared into the darkness—
and reappeared at the far end of the corridor in less than a heartbeat.
He lifted a hand toward me.
"Come," he said quietly. "Your fate is accelerating."
My pulse roared.
Kael grabbed my hand.
The shadow-man extended his.
And I—
stood caught between
the man who once watched me die
and
the man who saved me before I even understood what I was.
But only one of them knew the truth of what waited in the throne room.
I let go of Kael's hand.
And stepped toward the shadows.