By dawn, the dungeon was a mess.
Zarek's breathing was ragged, his body drenched in sweat as he slowly regained consciousness.
A guard walked up to him and offered him a towel. "Your Majesty."
Zarek ran the cloth across his face, jaw clenched. "How many this time?"
Commander Aldric answered with a bored bluntness, as if he was reporting livestock. "Four dead."
Zarek shut his eyes briefly. "And the injured?"
Maelina exhaled, visibly tired. "Many."
The king's fingers tightened around the towel. "See to their families. Give them the best we have."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Just like that, as if this was simply routine, everyone moved on.
The seers checked their wounds. The guards moved to clear the mess. But Zarek wasn't himself, because the scent was still there. Sweet, unfamiliar and impossible to ignore.
He rose, the chains falling away now that he had fully regained control.
Aldric cleared his throat. "My king… about Ravehaven." He brought out a scroll. "The new servants have been brought in and have already begun their duties."
"Good." Zarek nodded, distracted because the smell only grew stronger.
His chest tingled, right over the place where a bond mark should appear when a beast found his soulmate.
They walked down the corridor, boots echoing in the hall. The closer he got to his wing, the sharper the scent grew.
Aldric hurried to catch up. "Your Majesty? Are you-"
Zarek raised one hand, silencing him. Because ahead of them, stood a small human figure bowing so low her head nearly touched the tray in her hands.
She held herself perfectly still, waiting for them to pass.
The moment he got closer, the scent slammed into him like a storm. His breath stopped, then his beast flared beneath his skin.
As he tried to look back at her face, just as his soul recognized what his mind had not yet grasped...she fled away, gone around the corner before he could say a word.
Zarek stayed still.
Aldric looked confused. "Your Majesty? What happened?"
"My soulmate."
Aldric's eyes widened in shock, but he said nothing. Not while Zarek was rigid as stone, staring at the empty hallway where the human had disappeared, and definitely not when he was still unstable from the full moon.
He only followed silently until they reached the king's chamber.
The moment Zarek entered, every servant scrambled backward like frightened birds. They drew his bath at record speed and fled the instant he dismissed them.
Only when the door closed did Aldric finally speak. "Your Majesty. Did you say…" He swallowed. "Your soulmate?"
Zarek did not answer. He stood with his back to Aldric, shoulders tense, still breathing unevenly. But the silence itself was a confession.
Aldric stepped closer, disbelief breaking his usually unshakable composure. "That servant? The one bowing in the corridor?"
Still no response.
Zarek exhaled slowly and finally turned. His eyes were cold and unsettled all at once. "Yes."
Aldric just stared, stunned into silence.
The Beast king's soulmate...a human?!!!
.
.
That night, Eliora could barely feel her legs by the time she dragged herself into the tiny servant room. Her whole body ached.
Kira, her roommate, looked up from her bed, smiling softly. "Eliora, long day?"
She nodded, letting out a shaky breath. "Very long."
"Well… welcome," Kira said kindly. "Bathroom's free. You should wash up. You look frozen."
"Thank you," Eliora whispered and stepped inside.
The moment she removed the palace uniform, she gaped. "What… what is that?" she whispered to herself.
Through the mirror, she saw a mark on her shoulder, right where her neck curved. It was faint and weirdly incomplete but shaped like some kind of animal.
A beast? She couldn't even tell.
"No, no… this...this wasn't here," she panicked, touching it with trembling fingers.
It tingled, almost burned.
She had been feeling strange since entering the palace, but she had blamed it on nerves. Now terror crawled up her spine.
She bathed quickly, almost frantically, scrubbing the mark but it didn't fade.
When she stepped back into the room, Kira glanced at her. "You okay?"
She forced a nod and whispered, "Just tired."
Then she slipped into her bed. The sheets were warm, but she couldn't stop shaking.
That aura she'd felt earlier, those beasts she had encountered in the hallway, she remembered them clearly.
One was much larger, he seemed more powerful and terrifying, yet something about his aura had pulled her in instead of pushing her away. Her hands had fidgeted around the tray so badly she almost dropped it.
"Why did it feel like that?" she whispered into the pillow.
The mark tingled again.
"What is happening to me?"