The Immortal King's Forbidden Bride

The night the dead began whispering my name, I was alone in the forest. I should have gone home. Every girl in our village knew the rule: never enter the Blackwood Forest after sunset. People who entered rarely returned. Those who did came back changed. But my little sister was burning with fever, and the only flower that could save her grew deep inside the forest. So I kept walking. The trees stood like giant shadows around me. Cold wind touched my face, and the moon disappeared behind dark clouds. I held my basket tightly. "Please," I whispered. "Let me find the moonflower before it's too late." A strange sound came from behind me. Amara. I stopped. Nobody was there. Amara. The voice was soft, almost like a woman crying. I turned around. "Who's there?" Something moved between the trees. My heart began to beat faster. I had seen spirits since I was a child. My mother once told me that it was a gift, but she had looked afraid when she said it. This voice was different. It did not belong to the dead. It belonged to something much older. I took a step backward. Then I heard a man's voice. "You're a long way from home, little girl." I spun around. A man stood beneath an enormous black tree. I had no idea how he had appeared without making a sound. He was tall, with black hair that fell across his forehead. His clothes looked like something worn by a king, and a long dark coat covered his broad shoulders. But it was his eyes that frightened me. They were silver. Not grey. Not blue. Silver, like moonlight trapped inside a storm. I tightened my grip on my basket. "I'm looking for a flower." "At midnight?" "My sister is sick." He studied me without speaking. For some reason, his silence felt more dangerous than a threat. Then he stepped closer. I immediately stepped back. "Don't come any closer." His eyebrows rose slightly. "Do you know who I am?" "No." "Most people would be on their knees by now." "Then most people must be foolish." The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. For one terrible second, the forest became completely silent. Then the man smiled. It was not a kind smile. "Interesting." I turned to leave. "Stop." Something wrapped around my ankle. I looked down and gasped. A black shadow had risen from the ground and curled around my leg like a living snake. I pulled at it. "Let me go!" The man lifted one hand. The shadow tightened. Anger replaced my fear. "Release me!" Golden light burst from my fingers. The shadow vanished. The man went completely still. For the first time, he looked shocked. He stared at my hands as if they were weapons pointed at his heart. Then he whispered a name. "Impossible." "What?" He crossed the distance between us so quickly that I barely saw him move. Suddenly, he was standing directly in front of me. I could smell rain and something like burning wood on his clothes. He caught my wrist. A sharp warmth passed between us. My breath caught. His silver eyes flashed gold. And somewhere deep inside my chest, something answered him. A strange mark appeared on my wrist. It looked like a small crescent moon surrounded by thorns. The man's fingers trembled. "No," he whispered. I tried to pull away. "What is happening to me?" He looked at me as if he had been searching for me for a thousand years. Then he said the words that would destroy the life I had known. "I have finally found you." "Found me? I don't even know you!" "My name is Kael Draven." The wind rose around us. Every tree in the forest bent away from him. I remembered the stories my mother had told me when I was little. Stories about the immortal king who lived in a castle beyond the mountains. The king who commanded shadows and whose name no one dared speak after dark. I stared at him in horror. "The Shadow King?" His expression hardened. "Yes." I tried to run. He caught my hand before I could take three steps. "Let go of me!" "You don't understand what you are." "I am a girl who wants to save her sister!" "And you are the woman bound to me by a curse older than this kingdom." I shook my head. "You're mad." "Perhaps." He moved closer, lowering his voice. "But you will not remain here tonight." "I am not going anywhere with you!" His silver eyes darkened. Shadows gathered at his feet. For one moment, I thought he would force me to obey. Instead, he looked toward the deeper forest. A terrible growl rose from the darkness. The trees began to shake. Kael's expression changed. "Stay behind me." Two enormous creatures stepped into the moonlight. Their bodies looked like wolves, but their eyes burned red, and black smoke poured from their mouths. I could not move. One of the creatures lunged. Kael raised his hand. Darkness exploded through the forest. The creature was thrown against a tree with enough force to split the trunk. The second wolf charged him, but he caught it by the throat and sent it flying into the darkness. It was over in seconds. Kael turned back to me. A thin line of blood ran down his cheek. Without thinking, I reached toward him. My fingers touched his skin. The wound closed instantly. He stared at me. Then he looked at my hand, and something dangerous entered his expression. "Do you understand now?" he asked quietly. "No." His gaze held mine. "Those creatures were hunting you. And they will return." "Why?" "Because someone knows what you are." He took off his black coat and placed it around my shoulders. It was warm despite the freezing night. Then he looked toward the mountains, where a dark castle rose beneath the clouds. "You are coming with me." I shook my head. "I'd rather face those monsters." His jaw tightened. "Do not test my patience, Amara." "Do not give me orders, Kael." For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then he leaned closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You may hate me. You may fight me. You may even dream of escaping my castle." His eyes burned like silver fire. "But from this night onward, every enemy in this world will know one thing." He gently lifted my marked wrist. "You are the Immortal King's forbidden bride." Far away, inside the dark castle, a woman in a purple gown watched us through a silver mirror. When she saw the mark on my wrist, her smile disappeared. She turned toward the shadows behind her. "The girl has been found," she whispered. A cold voice answered from the darkness. "Then kill her before the king falls in love." And the mirror shattered