Chapter 1 — Aria: A Princess in Shadows
The Red Kingdom's castle was quiet that morning, though not in a peaceful way. The corridors echoed with distant laughter and chatter from a family that had never truly cared for her. Aria sat by her bedroom window, gazing out at the gardens she would never walk in freely. She smoothed the hem of her dress, hands trembling, heart pounding.
She had learned long ago that being seen was not the same as being loved. Her parents' eyes passed over her as if she were air, her siblings' smiles never reaching her. She had learned silence. She had learned to shrink herself. And yet today, she could not hide the fear coiling in her chest.
Her handmaid knocked softly.
"Princess… they are here for you," she said.
Aria nodded, unable to speak. Her gown was heavy with jewels and silk, a costume of duty rather than choice. Soon, she would stand before the Alpha, the ruler of a kingdom of shadows and strength, a man who had no interest in her comfort, only in the alliance her marriage would bring.
The carriage ride was short but torturous. Every bump in the road made her stomach lurch, every turn tightened the knot of dread in her chest. At the gates of the Alpha's fortress, she could see him for the first time. He stood tall and imposing, the air around him cold and deliberate. His eyes, sharp and calculating, barely flicked to her as she approached.
The wedding was brief, formal, and distant. He did not greet her. He did not touch her. Aria's lips parted in a silent plea for some warmth, some kindness—but it never came. The vows were said, the rings exchanged, and the ceremony ended. The Alpha's hand barely brushed hers. He did not smile. He did not speak.
She was his now. Bound by duty, by expectation, by a world that had never considered her heart. Aria bowed, curtsied, and swallowed the lump in her throat. The cold walls of the fortress seemed to echo her own hollow feelings.
And as the evening shadows stretched across the stone halls, she realized, with a quiet, sinking certainty, that her life had become a gilded cage.