PRINCESS ELARA — POV
The palace smelled of roses, silk, and lies.
Everyone called tonight a celebration, but every lantern felt like it was lit to watch me suffocate. I stood on the balcony, staring at the kingdom that applauded my future… a future that never belonged to me.
My father wanted me married.
My father wanted me protected.
My father wanted me silent.
But I could feel it—something he feared, something he hid.
Something tied to me.
And that terrified me more than any arranged marriage ever could.
When the fireworks faded and the music died, I didn't hesitate.
I changed into a dark cloak.
I strapped a dagger to my thigh.
I stole the old map from my father's war table.
And I ran.
The moment I crossed the border into the Forest of Whispers, I felt free for the first time.
Until… the forest began whispering back.
"Not alone…"
"He's here…"
"He hunts…"
My blood turned to ice.
Before I could move, the shadows parted—slowly, ruinously—and a tall figure stepped out.
Armor black as midnight.
Presence cold as winter.
Eyes that felt like they could read my soul.
And that was when I saw him.
The Dark King.
Kael of Drakmorn.
The man kingdoms feared like death itself.
He approached like he owned the ground under my feet.
Kael: "A runaway princess. How interesting."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Not because he terrified me—
but because something about his gaze made it hard to breathe.
I raised my dagger anyway.
Elara: "Stay back."
Kael: "If I wanted you harmed, you'd already be dead."
A shiver ran through me.
Not from fear.
From the way his voice slid into my bones like dark velvet.
He stepped closer, fingers brushing a strand of hair off my cheek.
His touch was barely there…
yet it felt like a claim.
Kael: "You ran from your kingdom."
Kael: "But you ran straight into mine."
And for the first time that night…
I wondered if I had escaped anything at all.
KING KAEL — POV
The curse burned tonight.
A faint pulse under my skin—dark, ancient, restless.
She had crossed into my realm.
The girl of light.
The runaway princess.
The one I was warned about.
The prophecy echoed in my head for the thousandth time:
"When she runs,
she will run into your darkness.
Her choice will break you or save you."
For years I dismissed it as superstition.
Until the sigil on my wrist began to glow.
Until I felt her.
I tracked her through the forest in silence, watching from the shadows as she stumbled forward—exhausted, trembling, yet stubbornly unbroken.
And when she turned, when those bright eyes met mine…
the curse surged like fire licking at my veins.
So this was the king's precious daughter.
She looked nothing like the fragile political pawn I expected.
She looked like fire trapped in human skin.
I stepped forward, letting the moonlight catch my armor.
Her breath hitched.
She tried to look brave.
She almost succeeded.
Kael: "A princess alone in my forest.
You should have run farther."
She held a dagger to me—
a tiny thing, laughable in her shaking hand—
but she looked at me as if she refused to be ruled by fear.
It intrigued me.
I hated that it intrigued me.
Elara: "I'm not afraid of you."
Kael: "You should be."
I reached out, brushing a lock of hair away from her face.
I expected her to flinch.
She didn't.
Bold little flame.
Kael: "Your father kept you hidden."
Kael: "He feared someone would take you."
I leaned closer, voice low, just for her:
Kael: "He was right."
Because the moment I touched her,
I knew one truth:
I was keeping her.
For the curse.
For the prophecy.
For reasons I didn't dare name yet.
And when she whispered back:
Elara: "What do you want from me?"
I almost told her the truth.
Almost.
Kael: "Everything."
Her breath trembled.
The forest bowed to the darkness around us.
And the prophecy whispered again.
Not a warning.
A promise.
"The girl of light will walk into the arms of the king of shadows."
And tonight,
she did exactly that.