From beyond the shadow
Deep within the luminous forest, Ruby was running—not out of playfulness, nor curiosity, but from the echo of a past that still clung to her like the chill of a forgotten night.
She wore a long white dress that flowed over her slender frame, and over her shoulders, a grayish-black shawl hung like a shadow that refused to part ways with her. Her fiery red hair danced behind her, and her wide eyes—innocent on the surface—concealed a flame that had never ceased burning since the night her world turned to ash.
She had no idea that, beyond the trees, in the shadows untouched by sunlight, eyes were watching her in silence.
William, heir to the Kingdom of Darkness, had been observing her for months.
He never approached. Never whispered. He simply watched.
Not out of fascination...
But because she was the key.
The key to reclaiming a stolen throne.
A sacrifice destined to restore pure blood to the lineage of kings.
He knew her name, her features, her rhythm as she walked—and even the precise moment she held back her tears, unwilling to let them fall where anyone might see.
He knew she was the sole survivor of the night her mother fell—one of the most powerful women of the Light. The one, in his father’s eyes, who ignited a war that scorched two realms for over a decade.
What William didn’t know... was that Ruby saw him, too.
Perhaps not with her eyes,
but with a heart that had learned never to trust the silence—never to find peace in calm.
She felt him there.
As if the shifting shadows in the forest moved not with the wind,
but with the one who hid among them.
She had grown up with one image burned into her soul:
Her mother’s final scream,
the hand that reached out to save her—
then vanished into a pale black light.
That moment sparked something inside Ruby.
Something not of Light,
nor of Darkness—
but something else.
Something no one could name.
So when the leaves behind her rustled,
and when she felt a gaze piercing the back of her neck,
she didn’t turn.
Instead, she stopped walking, smiled coldly, and whispered:
"Do you have any idea how long I’ve been watching your shadow, you bastard?"
The air froze.
In the shadows, between the trees,
William turned his head slowly.
She knew.
And he smiled.
Finally… the game had begun.
.
.
.
.
#love
