The throne room slowly emptied.
Guards carried bodies out. Servants scrubbed blood from stone. The broken pillars groaned like dying trees. My father was escorted away by three healers, leaning heavily on them.
But Kael stayed.
He didn't take his eyes off me.
Not once.
Arcelia tried to step closer, but Kael's glare was so sharp it could've sliced skin.
"Leave us," he ordered.
She faltered—
her pretty mask cracked.
"Aura needs—"
"She needs me," he snapped.
The shadow-man laughed very quietly, low and amused.
Kael ignored him and reached out his hand, palm up.
"Aura," he said softly, "come with me. Please."
My heart twisted—
not from trust,
but from memory.
In my first life, he extended his hand to me the same way—
on the night everything fell apart.
I walked to him then.
I didn't know then
that it was the last safe step I would take.
I stared at his outstretched hand now.
Silver light still glimmered on his chest where my magic had touched him.
Bound.
Chosen.
Marked.
Not love.
Not destiny.
Something older.
Darker.
A warning.
The shadow-man leaned close to my ear, voice like smoke.
"You chose him," he murmured. "Now see if he deserves it."
Kael's jaw tightened at that.
He hated feeling powerless.
I knew him too well.
I placed my hand in his.
His shoulders eased with relief.
"Good," he whispered.
But the shadow-man's soft laugh behind us sounded like a promise:
This will not go the way you think.
Kael's Chambers
He led me through back corridors—
quiet, dimly lit, empty.
He didn't speak.
Neither did I.
His fingers were trembling slightly, but he didn't let go of my hand.
Not until we reached his chamber door.
He finally released me there, raking a hand through his hair.
"Aura," he said, turning to me with a rawness I'd never seen in his first life, "tell me the truth."
"What truth?"
He stepped closer.
"Are you afraid of me?"
I blinked. "Afraid?"
"When the creature came," he said, voice hoarse, "you ran toward it. Toward your father. Toward death. But when you looked at me…"
He swallowed.
"You stepped back."
I didn't deny it.
He exhaled sharply. "Why?"
Because the shadow-man whispered your name.
Because you watched me die once.
Because I don't know which version of you stands in front of me—the one who promised me safety, or the one who delivered me to the grave.
I stepped back from the door, leaning against the wall. "Kael… there are things I can't say."
"There are things I can't say either," he whispered, voice breaking. "But you still look at me like I've already betrayed you."
Have you?
I remained silent.
Kael's eyes softened. "Aura, sit with me. Just for a moment."
He sat on the edge of the low bed, shoulders hunched.
Tired.
Bloody.
Human.
Not a prince.
Just Kael.
I didn't sit.
He looked up at me again, something sharp in his expression.
"You say nothing. But your silence is louder than arrows."
I swallowed.
He continued, voice soft but trembling:
"Did that monster tell you something? Did he tell you something?"
"He?" I repeated carefully.
"That creature you keep following," he snapped. "That thing with the glowing eyes."
The shadow-man materialized behind Kael's shoulder, invisible to him, but not to me.
He smirked.
Kael clenched his fists. "Aura… what is he whispering? What is he twisting in your mind?"
"He's not twisting anything."
Kael rose to his feet instantly, tension bristling through his body.
He stepped close.
Close enough to smell the smoke still clinging to his clothes.
Close enough to feel his breath.
"Aura," he whispered, "I would NEVER hurt you."
A lie.
Or a truth he believed.
I couldn't tell.
Not anymore.
"That creature tried to kill you," he continued. "I held it off. I tried to shield you. I would have died for you."
My throat tightened.
"Then why," I whispered, "weren't you there the first time?"
He went still.
"What…?" he breathed.
"I said," I murmured, "that creature wasn't the first time death reached for me."
"Aura…" He frowned, searching my face. "What are you saying…?"
My lips pressed together.
Kael reached for me. "Aura—"
The shadow-man's voice slithered through the air.
"Careful," he murmured in my ear. "He will twist your words. As he did before."
Kael's fingertips brushed my wrist.
My magic flared in defense—
silver light flickering beneath my skin.
Kael jerked his hand back. "A-Aura… your eyes… they're glowing."
I closed them immediately.
"That creature—when you killed it—your entire body was—"
He stopped, breath shaking.
"That wasn't human."
I opened my eyes slowly.
"No," I said softly. "It wasn't."
Kael stepped back, struggling to regulate his breathing.
"Are you," he said slowly, "still… you?"
That question hurt more than I expected.
"Yes," I whispered. "More me than before."
He stared.
Silent.
For a long, long time.
Then, quietly, he said:
"I am losing you."
I blinked. "What?"
"You look at me differently," he said. "You move differently. You speak differently. Aura… what happened to you?"
You killed me.
"I woke up," I said simply.
He flinched.
"Aura… I don't care if you have magic or prophecy or moonfire."
He took a step forward.
"I don't care if you're changing. I just… don't want to lose you."
My throat tightened painfully.
I didn't know what to say.
But before I could speak, he whispered:
"Please… don't let him take you from me."
My breathing halted.
"Who?" I asked.
"Him," Kael whispered. "That thing. That shadow."
His voice cracked.
"Aura… don't go to him. Don't trust him."
The shadow-man smirked behind him.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "He fears me more than death."
Kael stepped forward, voice breaking.
"Please," he whispered, "if there is anything—anything at all—between us, don't let him come between it."
My heart twisted painfully.
Because once—
in another life—
those were the words I ached to hear.
Now, they felt like a trap.
I swallowed. "Kael… I need time."
He nodded once, like those two words shattered him.
But he tried to hide it.
He turned away, gripping the bedpost tightly.
"Go," he whispered. "Before I say something you'll hate."
I hesitated—
but the shadow-man placed a hand against the wall beside my head, leaning close.
"We're done here," he murmured.
I walked toward the door.
Kael didn't look back.
But just when I reached the threshold, he whispered:
"I don't know what he told you, Aura…
but if it was about me—
it was a lie."
I froze.
My heart hammered.
And the shadow-man's whisper slid down my spine like cold moonlight—
"This is how betrayal sounds before it begins."
I left without answering.
Aura's Chambers — Midnight
Sleep dragged me under slowly.
The moon pressed against my window, too-close, too-bright.
And in the space between waking and dreaming—
a shape stepped toward me.
The shadow-man.
No cloak.
No hood.
Just shadow-smoke swirling around a body of moonlit bone and dusk.
"You dream loudly," he whispered.
"I don't want you here," I said.
"That is untrue," he said. "You only fear why I am here."
"Why are you here?"
He circled me slowly, voice soft.
"To show you what you forgot."
The room dissolved.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
A woman stood before me.
Silver hair.
Moonlit eyes.
A face I had only seen in softened memories.
"My mother?" I whispered.
The shadow-man's voice answered from behind me.
"Yes."
The woman turned—her gaze landing on me with heartbreak and pride.
"Aura," she whispered. "My moon-born child…"
My lips trembled.
"Mother," I breathed.
Her hand lifted—
but before she could touch me—
her body jerked violently,
pulled backward into a bloody smoke.
A blade pierced through her chest.
I screamed.
But before I saw the attacker's face—
the dream shattered.
I woke up gasping—
sweating, shaking—
And a scroll of silver light floated above my chest.
A prophecy.
My heartbeat slammed painfully.
I grabbed it.
The words burned into my mind:
"When the moon bleeds,
the daughter will rise,
and the son of the crown
will choose her death—
or her throne."
The son of the crown.
Kael.
My blood froze.
This was no misunderstanding.
No miscommunication.
No accident.
My fate was tied to Kael—
but his choice
would either save me…
or kill me.
Again.