CHAPTER - 10
858 Words
The Moon hung low, red and swollen, bleeding light over the valley.
Seraphine moved through the forest like a ghost…. barefoot, breath trembling, her cloak dragging against the damp leaves.
Every branch that cracked beneath her feet felt like a warning. But warnings didn’t matter anymore.
Not after what she had seen.
Lucienne kissing Selena.
Selena glowing with the mark that should have been hers.
The pack bowing to the wrong twin.
Her heart still burned where jealousy had carved its mark… sharp, endless, unforgiving.
She stumbled near the old shrine, clutching the stone to steady herself. “Why?” she whispered into the night. “Why her and not me?”
The wind didn’t answer. But something else did.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
The voice came from the shadows… smooth, calm, and cold.
Seraphine turned sharply, eyes wide.
Darius Nightfall stepped from the darkness as if it belonged to him. His silver armor glinted faintly beneath the red moonlight. His eyes, darker than sin itself, fixed on her with unreadable calm.
Seraphine’s pulse leapt. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should you,” he replied, his tone low. “But we both came for the same reason.”
She straightened, though her hands trembled. “You want to hurt him.”
Darius’s smile was small, razor-thin. “I want balance. What do you want, princess?”
Her lips parted, a storm swirling in her chest. “I want her gone.”
He took a step closer. “Your sister.”
“Yes.” The word fell out like venom. “She took what was mine. The Moon’s blessing. My mate. My throne.”
Darius circled her slowly, the way a predator tests its prey. “You think he’s yours because destiny said so?”
“Because I earned him!” Her voice broke. “Every wound, every ritual, every offering. I gave everything, and she just existed and the Moon gave her what I bled for.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Then Darius spoke, softer. “I know what it feels like to be replaced by fate.”
Seraphine turned toward him. “Then help me take back what’s mine.”
He studied her for a long moment. “Careful. Revenge is an offering, not a request. Once you feed it, it demands your soul.”
She lifted her chin. “Then let it eat.”
Darius smiled, faintly impressed. “You have her fire. But none of her restraint.”
“Restraint doesn’t win wars,” she said, voice trembling but fierce. “It only delays them.”
He stopped in front of her, close enough that she could feel his breath against her skin. “You’re not as innocent as they painted you, are you?”
Seraphine’s laugh was hollow. “Innocence is a luxury for the chosen.”
Something shifted in his gaze…. curiosity, hunger, a flicker of recognition.
“You’re dangerous, Seraphine.”
She met his stare unflinching. “Not yet.”
He raised a brow. “And what do you think makes a girl like you dangerous?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Someone like you.”
For a moment, neither moved. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the red moon spilling across them like blood.
Darius reached out, catching a strand of her hair between his fingers. “You shouldn’t trust me.”
“I don’t,” she whispered. “But I need you.”
He leaned closer, voice dark as smoke. “Need is the beginning of ruin.”
Seraphine swallowed hard. “Then ruin me.”
That was all the permission he needed.
Darius closed the space between them, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that tasted like ash and danger. It wasn’t gentle, it was a battle, a clash of pain and power. Her tears met his hunger, her fury met his cold.
When he finally pulled away, her breath trembled against his lips.
“What now?” she whispered.
He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “Now you listen carefully.”
The air thickened, the shadows around them moving like living smoke.
“There’s a prophecy older than your pack’s bloodline,” Darius said softly. “When the Moon chooses wrongly, the balance demands correction. That correction, my dear, is you.”
Seraphine frowned. “What are you saying?”
He leaned closer. “That the bond can be undone, if you’re willing to become what the Goddess feared most.”
Her pulse raced. “And what’s that?”
Darius smiled. “The shadow of her light.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead… cold, sealing, final.
The wind howled through the forest, scattering leaves around them like shards of silver.
Seraphine looked up, her eyes no longer reflecting the Moon’s light. They reflected something darker.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Darius stepped back, his smirk faint and dangerous. “Then the war begins at dawn.”
And as he vanished into the mist, Seraphine whispered to the sky, “Sister, may the Goddess protect you from what I’m about to become.”
- Writer
