Chapter 1- The Enemy at My Mercy
The first time I saw Prince Kael Draven, I had a sword pressed against his throat.
I had imagined this moment since I was a child.
In my imagination, he always begged.
He never did.
Rain poured over the battlefield, washing blood into the muddy ground beneath our feet. Smoke twisted through the air, and somewhere behind me, soldiers were shouting.
But I heard none of it.
My entire world had narrowed to the man kneeling before me.
Kael.
The Shadow Prince.
My enemy.
His black hair was soaked, strands falling across his forehead. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow, but his expression remained infuriatingly calm.
His eyes met mine.
Dark. Cold. Unafraid.
“So,” he murmured, “you're the Moon Princess.”
I pressed my sword harder against his throat.
“And you're exactly as arrogant as the stories say.”
One corner of his mouth lifted.
“I've heard worse.”
My grip tightened.
For twenty-one years, I had been told the same story.
The Shadow Kingdom had murdered my mother.
Their king had ordered the attack that destroyed our eastern palace.
And Prince Kael's family had never apologized.
I had grown up with her portrait hanging above my bed.
My mother.
Queen Seraphine.
Beautiful. Kind. Dead.
Because of him.
Because of them.
“You killed my mother,” I whispered.
Kael's expression changed.
Only for a second.
Then the coldness returned.
“I didn't.”
“Your father did.”
“My father didn't give that order.”
I almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
His eyes remained fixed on mine.
“I expect you to know that you don't know the truth.”
My sword trembled.
Not because I was afraid.
Because I wanted to kill him.
“Any final words?”
Kael looked at the blade against his throat.
Then back at me.
“Yes.”
He leaned slightly closer.
“Run.”
I frowned.
“What?”
His eyes suddenly widened.
“Elara—”
I never heard what came next.
The ground exploded beneath us.
A wave of black light erupted from between our bodies.
I screamed.
Something burned into my palm.
My sword fell from my fingers.
Kael grabbed his chest at the exact same moment.
“What did you—”
Pain ripped through me.
Not ordinary pain.
It felt like fire had been poured into my veins.
I collapsed onto my knees.
Across from me, Kael was doing the same.
A strange symbol appeared on my palm.
A crescent moon surrounded by black flames.
Kael stared at it.
Then at his own hand.
His face finally lost its calm.
“No.”
The battlefield disappeared.
The soldiers.
The rain.
The screams.
Everything blurred.
All I could feel was him.
His heartbeat.
His fear.
His pain.
And somehow, he could feel mine too.
I looked up.
“What did you do to me?”
“I didn't do anything.”
For the first time, Kael sounded genuinely frightened.
The mark on my palm began glowing.
So did his.
Then an ancient voice echoed through the battlefield.
“Blood of Moon. Blood of Shadow. Bound by hatred. Bound by fate.”
My blood ran cold.
Kael slowly stood.
“What is this?”
The voice continued.
“One life. Two souls. One death shall claim them both.”
Silence followed.
I stared at Kael.
He stared back.
“No,” I whispered.
He took one step toward me.
I immediately stepped backward.
The pain struck.
Sharp.
Brutal.
I gasped and fell against a broken stone.
Kael stopped.
The pain disappeared.
We stared at each other.
He slowly moved away.
Pain immediately tore through my chest.
He stopped.
The pain stopped.
My eyes widened.
“You've got to be kidding me.”
Kael looked equally horrified.
“We can't separate.”
I shook my head.
“There has to be another way.”
“There isn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I've heard of this curse.”
My stomach dropped.
“You have?”
He nodded.
“Once.”
“Where?”
Kael's expression darkened.
“In a book that was supposed to have been destroyed centuries ago.”
Before I could question him, horns sounded across the battlefield.
Both kingdoms were retreating.
Our soldiers were pulling back.
The war wasn't over.
But something far worse had just begun.
Kael looked at me.
I looked at him.
The man I had spent my entire life preparing to kill was now the man I could never escape.
And somehow, deep inside my chest, I could still feel his heartbeat.
I hated it.
I hated him.
But the terrifying part was this—
For the first time in my life...
I wasn't sure I wanted the curse broken.
