CHAPTER.6
433 Words
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Chapter 6: Bloodlight and Secrets
By dawn, the mist had cleared, but the fear hadn’t.
Selene walked through the woods with nothing but Valerian’s cloak and her stubborn heartbeat. Every step echoed in the silence like a warning. Her boots, still damp from the cave, squelched softly against the moss-covered earth.
But the creature’s words spun in her head like thorns.
> “You haven’t read the rest of the prophecy yet…”
“They are coming.”
Who were they?
And what did it mean to “break” Valerian?
She didn’t even know what they were to each other — yet she could feel him in her soul, as if he were still with her. She wondered if he felt her too, wherever he was.
She stumbled into a clearing — and froze.
A village. No. Not just any village. It was charred, bones of homes splintered into blackened teeth. Smoke still rose from the ashes.
She swallowed. “Valerian…”
But he wasn’t here.
She stepped forward — past shattered doorframes and scorched memories — until something crunched under her foot.
A locket.
She bent down, brushing ash off the delicate silver. Inside was a portrait — a woman, smiling, and a child. The warmth in their eyes clashed with the ruin around her. Someone had lived here. Loved here.
And now…
“Careful where you step, little moon.”
The voice was velvet, but colder than steel.
She turned — and met golden eyes.
A man stood at the edge of the clearing. Tall. Wreathed in a long black coat, embroidered in silver thorns. A vampire, but not like Valerian. He smiled without fangs, but it made her blood chill anyway.
“Who are you?” Selene asked, standing straighter than she felt.
The man tilted his head. “You smell like him.”
Her heart thudded. “If you mean Valerian—”
“I mean the Night King,” he said, stepping closer. “You’re the reason he’s bleeding power.”
Her breath caught.
“You bonded,” the man said, voice hushed like it was a sin. “The moment you touched, he fractured. The Night King cannot belong to anyone — yet now he belongs to you.”
“No—” she shook her head, backing away.
He smiled. “Yes. And that makes you very valuable.”
Selene ran.
But the man didn’t chase.
He only watched her disappear into the trees, whispering to the wind:
> “She doesn’t know what she is.
She doesn’t know what she’s done.”
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- Writer
