A Dangerous First Impression.
1788 Words
Chapter two
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The chamber was so quiet that Celyn could hear the faint crackle of the fire behind the king.
Her fingers tightened around the silver pendant.
Kael was still staring at it.
Not at her.
At the crest.
She had seen people look at the pendant before. Her father had. Her stepmother had. Even her stepsister had once asked where it came from.
But none of them had looked at it the way this man did.
Like it had dragged a memory out of him.
Celyn swallowed.
“Your Majesty?”
Kael finally lifted his eyes.
The strange golden glow remained.
“Who gave you that?”
“I already told you.”
His voice hardened.
“Who?”
“My father.”
A muscle moved in his jaw.
“Your father’s name?”
“Edric.”
The reaction was immediate.
One guard lowered his head. Another exchanged a quick glance with the man beside him.
Celyn noticed.
“What?”
Kael’s expression became unreadable.
“Leave.”
The guards hesitated.
“Your Majesty—”
“I said leave.”
They bowed and hurried out.
Celyn remained where she was.
Kael looked at her.
“You too.”
She blinked.
“Me?”
“You heard me.”
“But I was brought here to serve.”
“You’ll be given quarters.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand.”
Something inside Celyn snapped.
She had heard those words too many times that day.
From her stepmother.
From the guards.
Now from the king.
“No,” she said.
Kael’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Celyn surprised herself by continuing.
“I think I deserve to understand.”
The king stared at her.
Nobody spoke to him like that.
Certainly not servants.
Yet the girl standing before him wasn’t trembling.
She was frightened. He could see that.
But beneath the fear was something stronger.
Defiance.
His wolf stirred.
Mine.
Kael’s hands tightened into fists.
He hated that word.
He hated the certainty behind it even more.
“Be careful,” he said quietly.
Celyn lifted her chin.
“Of what?”
“Of forgetting who you’re speaking to.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“Then act like it.”
“I would,” she replied, “if you would stop looking at me like you already know me.”
Silence.
Kael took a step toward her.
Celyn instinctively stepped backward.
His gaze dropped to the movement.
“You’re afraid of me.”
“Yes.”
Her honesty caught him off guard.
“Yet you continue challenging me.”
“Being afraid doesn’t mean I can’t speak.”
Something almost resembling amusement crossed his face.
“You’re either very brave or very foolish.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Kael studied her.
There was something wrong.
Not with her appearance.
With the feeling she created around him.
His wolf had never reacted to anyone this way.
Not once.
And now it refused to settle.
The golden glow in his eyes slowly faded.
“Go to your room.”
Celyn hesitated.
“What about my pendant?”
His expression changed.
“Keep it.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
Before she could say anything else, the doors opened.
A middle-aged woman hurried inside carrying a bundle of folded clothes.
Her eyes landed on Celyn, then Kael.
She froze.
“Your Majesty.”
“Take her to the servant quarters.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Celyn turned toward the door.
Then stopped.
She looked back at Kael.
“Why did you say you knew my father?”
Kael’s face became cold.
“I didn’t.”
“You looked like you did.”
“You’re mistaken.”
Celyn studied him.
She knew a lie when she heard one.
She had lived with them all her life.
“Good night, Your Majesty.”
She turned and walked away.
Kael watched the doors close behind her.
Only then did he speak.
“Edric.”
His wolf growled inside him.
A memory surfaced.
A woman running through the palace corridors.
A newborn crying.
Blood across white marble.
A silver crest.
And a man named Edric carrying a baby into the darkness.
Kael shut his eyes.
That night had been buried for twenty-two years.
Yet somehow, the past had just walked back into his palace.
Celyn followed the woman through several long corridors.
The palace was enormous, far larger than she had imagined.
But its beauty wasn’t what caught her attention.
It was the silence.
People moved whenever they saw the woman accompanying her.
Servants stepped aside.
Guards bowed.
Whispers followed them.
“Is that her?”
“She came tonight.”
“From the village?”
“Why would the king—”
The woman stopped abruptly.
The whispers died.
She turned to Celyn.
“My name is Mara.”
Celyn nodded.
“I’m Celyn.”
“I know.”
Celyn frowned.
“How?”
Mara’s expression shifted.
“I was told your name.”
“Oh.”
They continued walking.
“Where am I sleeping?”
“The eastern servants’ quarters.”
“Is that far from here?”
“Far enough.”
Something about her answer made Celyn uneasy.
“Why?”
Mara glanced behind them before lowering her voice.
“Because you’re not supposed to be here.”
Celyn stopped.
Mara stopped too.
“What do you mean?”
The woman sighed.
“You were brought here because someone ordered it. Do your work. Keep your head down. Don’t wander.”
“Why?”
“Because people disappear in this palace.”
Celyn’s stomach tightened.
“Disappear?”
“Especially people who ask too many questions.”
Celyn thought of the king.
Then the way his face had changed when he saw her pendant.
“I think I’ve already asked too many.”
Mara stared at her.
For a moment, something like pity appeared in her eyes.
“You have no idea.”
Then she walked on.
Celyn followed.
But now she paid attention to every corridor.
Every door.
Every face.
Every whisper.
Something was terribly wrong with this palace.
And she had a feeling it had something to do with her.
Later that night, Celyn sat alone on the edge of her new bed.
It was far better than the mattress beneath the stairs.
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to feel grateful.
Her thoughts kept returning to Kael.
His golden eyes.
The way he had looked at her.
The certainty in his voice when he asked her name.
And most of all—
Who gave you that?
Celyn touched the pendant.
It was cold now.
She turned it over in her fingers.
For the first time, she noticed a tiny marking on the back.
A crescent.
With a thin line running through its center.
Her father had never explained the symbol.
Why had he told her never to remove it?
A sound came from outside her door.
Celyn froze.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
They stopped directly outside.
Her heart began pounding.
She grabbed the wooden stool beside the bed.
The handle moved.
Celyn raised the stool.
The door opened.
A young maid stood there.
Both of them screamed.
The maid jumped back.
“I’m sorry!”
Celyn lowered the stool.
“What are you doing?”
“I—I was told to bring you this.”
She held out a tray of food.
Celyn stared at it.
“Who told you?”
“The kitchen.”
“Who in the kitchen?”
The maid hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Celyn narrowed her eyes.
The girl quickly placed the tray on the table.
Then turned to leave.
“Wait.”
The maid stopped.
“Why is everyone afraid of me?”
The girl’s face went pale.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I have to go.”
She hurried away.
Celyn watched the door close.
She didn’t touch the food.
Instead, she crossed to the window.
The palace courtyard was dark beneath the moonlight.
Guards stood at every entrance.
Then something moved near the eastern wall.
A shadow.
Celyn leaned closer.
The figure stopped.
Slowly, it turned toward her window.
Even from that distance, she felt as though someone was staring directly at her.
Her skin prickled.
Then the figure disappeared.
Celyn stepped away from the window.
Her heart raced.
Someone had been watching her.
And she knew one thing for certain.
Her arrival at the palace had not been an accident.
Across the palace, Kael stood before an old wooden cabinet.
He pulled out a thick, leather-bound book covered in dust.
He hadn’t opened it in years.
He turned the pages until he found a faded drawing.
A silver crescent.
The same crest Celyn wore around her neck.
Beneath it was a single sentence:
The Moonheart bloodline shall never be destroyed.
Kael’s eyes hardened.
He turned the page.
A drawing of the royal heir stared back at him.
A baby girl.
Around her neck hung a small silver pendant.
Kael’s breath caught.
It was identical to Celyn’s.
He closed the book.
“No.”
His wolf growled.
Yes.
Kael stared into the darkness.
If Celyn truly was the missing princess, then someone had spent twenty-two years hiding her.
And if someone had gone to that much trouble to hide her, they would kill to keep the truth buried.
A knock came at the door.
Kael didn’t answer.
The door opened anyway.
His most trusted commander entered.
“Your Majesty.”
Kael looked at him.
“Tell me everything you know about the girl who arrived tonight.”
The commander hesitated.
“Celyn?”
Kael’s expression sharpened.
“Yes.”
“We checked the records.”
“And?”
“She’s listed as the daughter of a farmer named Edric. There’s no royal connection.”
Kael said nothing.
The commander continued.
“But there’s something strange.”
“What?”
“Her records begin only twelve years ago.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
“Where are the first ten years?”
“We don’t know.”
Silence filled the room.
Kael looked toward the window.
Somewhere in the palace, Celyn was sleeping.
Or perhaps she wasn’t.
Perhaps she was already asking questions.
He almost smiled.
The girl was trouble.
He knew it already.
But trouble wasn’t what frightened him.
It was the possibility that she was exactly who he thought she was.
Because if Celyn was the lost princess, then the people who had hidden her for twenty-two years had just made their first mistake.
They had brought her home.
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