Chapter 2 – Whispers in the Dark
419 Words
Aurelia’s new chambers were grand—far too grand for someone who had spent her life sleeping on hard straw beds and cold wooden floors. The room smelled of lavender and polished steel. Velvet curtains draped the walls. A fire crackled low in the hearth, trying—and failing—to make her feel safe.
She stood in silence, the heavy gown still clinging to her skin, the King's touch still lingering on her hand.
“You are mine now,” he had said.
Not welcome. Not safe. Not even chosen.
Just... mine.
She didn’t know what that meant yet. But it echoed in her chest like thunder waiting to strike.
The maids had long since left, bowing low and keeping their eyes to the floor. No one spoke to her. No one looked at her, not really.
She was the half-blood bride. The treaty girl. The peace token dressed in silk.
A prisoner in a crown.
She paced toward the window, but as her fingers brushed the cold glass, her head suddenly throbbed—sharp, pulsing pain behind her eyes. Then came the sound.
A voice. Soft, ancient. Like a whisper through the bones of the mountain.
> “The blood of the moon shall be given... and the balance will break.”
Aurelia gasped, stumbling backward. The room spun.
> “Her death will awaken the king... or end him.”
She gripped the edge of the vanity, heart racing. The voice was gone. The pain vanished.
A dream?
A vision?
No. Something more.
She looked down at her hands. They were trembling. But not from fear—something deeper. Something buried.
She didn’t know it yet, but the prophecy had already begun to awaken in her.
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Elsewhere…
In the shadowed chamber beneath the palace, Alpha King Kaelen Drayke knelt before the Seer.
Her eyes were covered in black silk. Her voice cracked like dry leaves. Ancient, inhuman.
“You brought her,” she rasped. “The girl of mixed blood. The moon’s blood.”
“She suspects nothing,” Kaelen replied. “Not yet.”
“You feel it already, don’t you? The bond forming. The desire.”
“I control it.”
“She is the key. She must trust you. Love you. And then, beneath the Blood Moon…”
The Seer smiled, crooked and cruel.
“…you must kill her.”
Kaelen’s jaw clenched. His amber eyes glowed in the dark.
“I will do what I must for my kingdom.”
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- Writer
