THE VILLAIN OF RAVENHOLLOWUpdated at Oct 12, 2026, 04:29
I am Cassian Nocturne, the second-born, the spare, the shadow they locked in the North Tower because my magic wasn't golden - it was black.
My magic didn't heal. It _took_. It took light, it took heat, it took memories if I wanted it to. My mother called me a curse. So at 16, I burned the North Tower down and disappeared into the Whispering Woods. The woods where no knight dared to enter.
For ten years, I became the Villain. The one mothers warned about. The Witch of the North who traded in desires.
That's how she found me.
Elara Vane.
Fiancee to my perfect brother Alistair. The most beautiful girl in Aelthorn. Ice-blonde hair, skin like fresh snow, lips that had never been kissed by anyone but a prince.
She came barefoot through the snow in a white silk dress, bleeding from her feet, furious.
"You," she spat, slamming the doors of my castle open. "You have to kill him."
I lounged on my throne made of frozen thorns. "Hello to you too, future sister-in-law."
"I heard you grant wishes for a price," she said. "I want my fiance dead. Prince Alistair."
Now that was interesting.
"Why? Isn't he the dream? Charming, heroic, good in bed I assume?"
Her perfect face twisted. "He's a monster. He beats the maids. He drowned my brother's dog because it barked. He told me if I ever disobey him, he'll lock me in a convent and take my family's lands. Everyone thinks he's light. He's rotten inside. But you - everyone says YOU'RE the monster, and you haven't hurt anyone."
She was right. I hadn't. The great Villain of Ravenhollow had spent ten years scaring off hunters and healing wounded wolves.
"What's your price?" she asked.
I looked at her - shivering, desperate, beautiful in a way that made my dark magic curl inside my chest.
The truth was, I was falling for her in a way that villains are not supposed to fall. Obsessively. Possessively. Romantically. I wanted to burn Aelthorn down just so she would never have to go back.
On the 29th day, we finally had a plan to expose Alistair. Letters, proof, witnesses hidden in my woods.
And then Alistair himself came to my gates with 200 knights, because he had tracked his missing fiancee.