Chapter 5 — The Hidden Star
901 Words
POV: Alex
The bond shattered my sleep.
I bolted upright in bed with a sharp gasp, moonfire exploding through my veins as if the Moon herself had struck my soul with lightning. The chamber glowed silver for half a heartbeat before the light collapsed back into my skin.
Riley sat up instantly across the room.
“You felt it too,” she said.
It wasn’t a question.
My heart was racing violently, power roaring through me in wild, unfamiliar patterns. This was not the slow hum of pack bonds or the steady thrum of royal magic.
This was new.
And it was screaming.
“He just formed a mate bond,” I whispered.
Riley was already out of bed, armor sliding into place with practiced speed. “Damieon.”
The name burned like a star across the bond-line.
Fear surged behind it.
Not Damieon’s fear.
Hers.
We reached the eastern border as frost-fire tore across the sky.
Damieon came out of the trees at full sprint, blood on his clothes, a strange girl in his arms glowing faintly with silver light. His eyes were wild with fury and instinct, his wolf raging beneath his skin so violently the ground cracked beneath his feet with each step.
He skidded to a halt when he saw us.
“Get the healers,” he snapped. “Now.”
Riley was already moving.
I stared at the girl in his arms.
She shimmered.
Not with illusion.
With celestial resonance.
Her blood was glowing.
Stars lived beneath her skin.
And the moment her gaze met mine—
My power recoiled.
Not in threat.
In awe.
“Damieon,” I breathed. “What have you done?”
She whimpered weakly. “You’re the Moon Queens…”
Damieon shifted her closer to his chest protectively. “She’s my mate.”
Silence detonated across the border.
The stars overhead flared violently once.
Riley inhaled sharply. I felt her terror through our bond.
“You bonded a star-blood,” she whispered.
The girl stiffened.
“They told me not to let it happen,” she said brokenly. “They said your bloodline would end if I touched you.”
Damieon’s voice was steel. “They lied.”
The forest shook.
A cold presence swept the land.
Nytherion had felt it.
We were halfway to the palace when the first ward shattered.
Not shattered softly.
It screamed as if torn apart by claws made of shadow.
“Shields up!” Riley commanded.
The night split as assassins dropped from the sky like falling stars made of darkness—six, then twelve, then more. Their bodies pulsed with void-magic, faces hidden beneath bone masks etched in star-runes.
Star-Hunters.
Royal-grade killers.
They weren’t here for the court.
They were here for her.
Damieon shifted mid-run.
Silver-black massive wolf.
He did not drop his mate.
He fought with her protected beneath his chest.
I unleashed moonfire.
Riley shattered the earth.
The battlefield ignited.
Blades met celestial blood and royal wrath.
One assassin breached the shield.
He lunged straight for the girl, screaming an incantation in Nytherion’s true tongue.
She screamed—
And starfire exploded from her body without her consent.
The blast disintegrated him instantly.
The surviving hunters fled.
Nytherion’s withdraw was immediate.
Too clean.
Too deliberate.
This was not the main strike.
It was confirmation.
The healers stabilized her.
But they could not touch the wound fully.
Her blood rejected lunar magic and devoured shadow.
Star-blood responded only to star-blood.
She woke just before dawn.
Damieon was at her side instantly.
She stared at him like he was both salvation and execution.
“You shouldn’t have saved me,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said softly. “I should have.”
Her eyes brimmed. “They will take everything from you for this.”
His jaw tightened.
“They already took my future once,” he said. “They don’t get it again.”
Riley stood at the foot of the bed. “What is your name, star-child?”
“…Seraphyne.”
The room went still.
Even the healers froze.
That name did not exist in modern language.
It was carved into the First Prophecy Tablets.
“The Starbreaker’s Daughter,” I whispered.
Her breath hitched. “I never knew what they meant.”
“You will,” I said quietly. “Because Nytherion knows.”
The palace trembled faintly.
High above us, the sky darkened.
Not with storm.
With memory.
By noon, the truth was undeniable.
Damieon’s bond had ignited a dormant celestial bloodline thought extinct for over a thousand years.
Nytherion did not hunt Seraphyne because she was dangerous.
He hunted her because she could destroy him permanently.
And she had chosen the Royal Moon heir.
Not through prophecy.
Through choice.
I stood on the eastern balcony, watching Damieon sit beside her bed through the open chamber doors, his massive shoulders bowed protectively as too much destiny settled too young upon him.
“This changes everything,” Riley said beside me.
“Yes,” I replied.
She met my gaze slowly.
“He will be orphaned for this.”
I said nothing.
We both already knew.
War does not spare bloodlines.
And the universe had just marked our nephew as its next battlefield.
Far beyond the realm, in the collapsing void between star and shadow, Nytherion’s voice echoed with dark amusement:
“Good… bring me the child of stars.”
- Writer
