Prologue
I was laughing when it began.
The palace halls stretched endlessly before me, bathed in golden light, my skirts gathered in my hands as I ran like a child who had never known fear. My footsteps echoed against polished marble, light, careless, free.
For a moment, I forgot.
Forgot the watchful eyes.
Forgot the weight of the crown.
Forgot him.
“Morgana…”
The voice came softly, almost fond.
I slowed, a smile still lingering on my lips as I turned slightly, expecting-
“Morgana.”
Closer now.
Something in my chest tightened.
I stopped.
And then-
“Morgana.”
The third time, his voice changed.
It dropped, dark, low, threaded with something that made the air itself feel wrong.
My smile faded.
Slowly, I turned.
He stood at the end of the hall.
Prince Gideon Stormfang.
No-
Not a prince.
Not anymore.
His face was streaked with blood, dark against his skin. A wicked, crooked smirk pulled at his lips, as though he had just finished something… or was about to begin.
And his eyes..
They glowed.
Gold. Unnatural. Watching me with a hunger that made my breath catch in my throat.
I could not move.
I could not breathe.
I could only stare.
and then..
I woke up gasping.
The world lurched violently around me.
Rain hammered against wood, thunder splitting the sky apart as the carriage rattled beneath us. The air was thick, suffocating, the scent of wet earth and fear pressing into my lungs.
“Morgana, stay with me.”
Leon.
My brother’s voice.
I turned toward him, my hands trembling as I gripped the seat.
“We’re close,” he said, his voice tight but steady. “Fifteen minutes. We cross the border, and you’re safe.”
Safe.
The word felt like a lie.
Because I could feel it.
Him.
Drawing closer.
“No…” My voice shook. “Leon… as long as he lives, I will never be free.”
The carriage jolted, and then everything shattered at once.
A blade pierced through the front, sudden and merciless, driving straight into the driver’s chest. He didn’t even have time to cry out, his body slumped forward as blood sprayed across the narrow space.
The horses screamed.
Another flash, an arrow, precise and brutal, cut through the ropes binding them.
They snapped.
The carriage lurched violently as the horses bolted, freed and panicked, dragging us into chaos.
“Hold on- !” Leon barely managed before the world slammed sideways.
His head struck the wall with a sickening crack, and he crumpled, unmoving.
“Leon- !”
The carriage tipped again, harder this time, and I was thrown.
The door flew open.
Cold air and rain swallowed me whole as I was hurled out into the storm, the ground rushing up to meet me-
I was going to die.
A hand seized mine.
Cold.
Unyielding.
The force yanked me back before I could hit the earth, my body snapping painfully as I was pulled upward instead of down.
I gasped, suspended for a heartbeat between falling and being caught.
And then..
I looked up.
Gideon.
The storm raged behind him, lightning carving his silhouette into something almost inhuman.
His grip tightened around my wrist, firm, possessive, as though I had never once slipped from it.
Rain streaked down his face, mixing with blood that wasn’t his.
His expression was wrong.
Too calm.
Too sharp.
A twisted echo of a smile touched his lips, but there was no warmth in it, only something dark, something broken.
Something that watched me like I had always belonged to him.
“Morgana,” he said softly.
His eyes burned gold through the storm.
“I caught you.”
He pulled me back inside like I weighed nothing.
Behind me, Leon groaned, barely conscious, until Gideon glanced at him.
With one careless motion, he grabbed my brother and threw him out into the rain.
“Leon!” I screamed, reaching for him, but the carriage door slammed shut.
Outside, voices. Armor. Struggle.
“Tie him,” Gideon said calmly.
Leon’s voice rose, desperate, furious. “Don’t touch her! Gideon, I swear- !”
His words cut off into strained shouting as they forced him down.
Inside, it was just us.
The storm. The silence.
And him.
Gideon turned to me slowly.
His gaze dragged over me like something physical, something suffocating.
I swallowed hard, my body trembling.
“I was wrong,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Please… take me back. I won’t run again. I swear it. Just, don’t hurt him. Please, Your Majesty- ”
His expression darkened.
“You should have been waiting for me,” he said quietly. “Obediently. In my bed.”
My breath caught.
“Did you truly think you could escape me?” he continued, stepping closer. “Just by running?”
I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks.
“Then serve me,” he said.
My heart stopped.
“Right here.”
“No…” I whispered, horror clawing up my throat. “You can’t, he’s right outside, he’ll see- Please- ”
His hand snapped to my throat.
Tight.
Possessive.
His eyes flared brighter.
“You dare refuse me?” he murmured.
My vision blurred.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.
I had no choice.
My lips met his.
Shaking. Cold. Terrified.
For a split second, he stilled-
Then he surged forward, responding with a hunger that swallowed me whole.
It wasn’t gentle.
It wasn’t human.
Outside, I could hear Leon shouting my name.
Desperate.
Breaking.
“Please…” I gasped when Gideon finally pulled back. “Let him go. I’ll do anything. Just, don’t hurt him.”
That was the mistake.
His expression snapped.
Something vicious and dark replaced whatever restraint remained.
Without a word, he turned, grabbing his sword, and stepped out into the storm.
“Your Majesty, no!”
I stumbled after him.
Leon was tied to a tree, struggling against the ropes, rain pouring over him.
“Run, Morgana!” he shouted. “Don’t come any closer- !”
Gideon raised his sword.
And I moved.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t hesitate.
I stepped between them.
The blade pierced straight through me.
For a moment, there was no pain.
Only silence.
Gideon’s eyes widened.
Shock, real, raw, cracked through the madness.
“Morgana…?”
Something warm slid down my chest.
I looked down.
Blood.
Leon was screaming my name.
Somewhere. Far away.
Or maybe close.
I couldn’t tell.
Gideon’s hand trembled.
A single tear slipped down his cheek.
And for the first time..
he looked at me like he knew me.
I wondered, distantly…
if this was death.
If beyond this darkness, there would finally be something gentle waiting for me.
My father’s steady presence.
My mother’s warm smile.
No crowns.
No blood.
No fear.
Just… them.
The thought came softly, like a fading light..
And for the first time since everything began, I felt something close to peace.
Maybe…
maybe I would see them again.
And then, everything went black.
