Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 12

Damian’s POV

The ground chamber of the Sun Prince was a masterpiece of light. Massive mirrors lined the high marble walls, designed to catch and amplify the glow of the dozen enormous Sun crystals embedded in the ceiling. The room was eternally bright, perfect and comfortably warm.

I stood in the center of the white rug, stripped naked to the waist, staring at my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass.

I did not look perfect.

I gripped the edges of the marble vanity until my knuckles turned white. A violent, agonizing pain ripped through my chest.

I doubled over, a choked gasp tearing from my throat as I coughed. I spat into the porcelain basin.

It was blood. Thick, dark and laced with an unnatural shimmering gold.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my trembling hand. I then looked back at the mirror.

To the Sun Council, to the Vanguard,and to my father King Helios, I was a flawless heir.

But beneath the glamour, a scary truth was slowly creeping up my left side. Starting from hip winding up to my rib cage, my skin was cracking. Deep, glowing golden energy pulsed beneath my skin, the heat was so intense it felt like I was swallowing hot coals.

The vessel transform.

The ancient Solari texts praised it as the ultimate accession. The moment a Sun prince absorbed enough ambient light magic to become like a living god.

But the texts lied.

The mortal body was never meant to hold the unfiltered power of the Sun. It was a disease. It was a growing rot that ate and burned the host alive from the inside.

But there was only one cure. A star maiden who could absorb the volatile burning energy, purify it through her own core, and bleed it back to me as stable, breathable life. An Astraea.

And that person is Vivian.

I leaned against the marble, my chest heaving. She was supposed to be in the hidden safe house on the Southen border by now. The plan was flawless.

At the Blood moon, I had publicly rejected her, playing the part of the obedient, pure-blooded prince for my father and the council. I had watched her heart break, fully intending for my personal guards to scoop her out of the woods an hour later so I could keep her locked away as my private, secret battery.

I never accounted for the Shadow pack’s night patrols. I never imagined the Butcher of the North would stumble across my property in the snow.

A soft knock at my door diverted my thoughts.

I closed my eyes, forcing the agonising pain down into a tight, locked box in the back of my mind. I grabbed a tailored white white silk shirt and pulled it on, swiftly buttoning it to the collar to hide the glowing, cracked veins creeping up my neck. I slid a heavy golden bracer over my left forearm, covering the worst of the corruption.

I took a deep, steadying breath, painting the effortless, arrogant smile back onto my face. “Enter”.

High councillor Aris stepped into the room, bowing deeply. His golden robes rustled as he straightened, his face lined with genuine anxiety. He didn’t look at me; his eyes darting nervously up toward the vaulted ceiling.

I followed his gaze. The massive Sun crystals that were usually blindingly bright, were faintly flickering. The ambient magic in the citadel was destabilizing. The city was starving without her.

“Forgive my intrusion, your highness”, Aris said, taking a low bow. “But the council is in an uproar. It has been three days since lead chemist Sofia departed to the Northern border. She has missed two mandatory check-ins. The elders are demanding to know why our most valuable asset was permitted to chase after a defect”.

I walked to a silver tray and outed myself a glass of spiced wine, keeping my hands perfectly steady.

“Sofia can handle herself, Aris “,

“That is not the point sire”, Aris stepped into the room, his voice rising. “The council is demanding to know why you authorised a lead chemist to risk her life chasing after a defective slave. Vivian is the daughter of a traitor and a thief. She was meant to be executed years ago! To lose Sofia because of that…that nothing of a girl would be a strategic disaster”.

I finally looked up, my eyes narrowing. He didn’t know the truth. He didn’t know that the nothing of a girl was the new successor of the long lost Astraea. To Aris and the council, Vivian was just a stain on their history that should have been removed”.

“The girl is a flight risk”, I said, my voice cold. “She has spent a decade in our kingdom and laboratories. She knows our border defences. We cannot allow the North to interrogate her. If Sofia cannot secure her, she has orders to ensure the girl does not remain in the Northern hands”.

“She’s a weakling who never shifted!” Aris countered. “The council wants the traitors bloodline ended once and for all. They are voting to declare her a security breach”.

“Tell the council to hold their tongues”, I snapped, my hand folding to a tight fist.

“You’re dismissed”.

As Aris scrambled out, I leaned back, my gaze drifting to a small, rough piece of white stone I kept on my desk. It was a fragment of the old nursery’s foundation.

I remembered the day the heavy wind supposedly took down the east wing. The council had blamed a freak storm, but I had been there. I was fifteen, standing in the courtyard, when I saw little Vivian standing in the wreckage.

The air hadn’t been moving. There was no wind. There was only a terrifying, silent vacuum that had turned the stone pillars into white ash. She had looked at me with those wide eyes, her tiny hands trembling.

“Damian, I’m so sorry, I broke it”, she whispered.

I had knelt in the ash, realised the impossible power sleeping in the defective girl. I had spent years making her love me, making her trust me, all while Sofia drained her marrow in the dark to see how that power worked.

The council might have only seen a traitor's daughter, but I saw the girl who had turned a fortress to dust before she could even read.

I picked up the stone fragment, my grip tightening until the edges bit into my skin. If Dominic thought he had stolen a maid, he was mistaken. He had stolen the Sun I had spent years trying to eclipsed.