CHAPTER 3 — The Forbidden Tree
1151 Words
Aria stood frozen before the window, her breath caught somewhere between disbelief and awe.
The garden outside glowed softly, bathed in a light that didn’t come from the moon or any visible source. It shimmered gently, as if the air itself carried magic. Pale flowers bloomed in impossible colors, their petals faintly translucent. Stone pathways curved through the greenery, leading toward the center.
Toward the tree.
It rose tall and ancient, its bark dark and smooth, veins of light running through it like a living pulse. The branches stretched upward, crowned with leaves that glimmered like starlight caught in glass.
Something inside Aria stirred.
Her confusion, her fear, her exhaustion—all of it faded beneath a strange pull tugging at her chest. A certainty she couldn’t explain settled over her.
I need to see it.
She turned away from the window and moved toward the door. It opened easily, silently, revealing a long corridor lined with tall pillars and glowing sconces. The mansion felt empty, but not abandoned—like its owner had simply stepped away.
Her footsteps echoed as she walked, her heart pounding louder with every step.
The doors leading outside were already open.
Cool night air brushed her skin as she stepped into the garden. The ground beneath her feet was soft, warm, alive. With every step closer to the tree, the pull intensified, vibrating beneath her skin.
Her wrist tingled faintly.
Aria frowned, lifting her hand. The sensation wasn’t painful—just… aware.
She reached the tree and stopped.
Up close, it was even more breathtaking. The light within its bark pulsed slowly, rhythmically, like a heartbeat. Its roots twisted through the earth, glowing faintly where they broke the surface.
“This is insane,” she whispered.
She glanced around, half-expecting someone to appear and tell her to stop.
No one did.
The silence wrapped around her, thick and expectant.
Aria hesitated.
Every sensible part of her screamed that touching mysterious glowing trees in unknown mansions was a terrible idea. But another part—older, quieter—urged her forward.
As if this moment had been waiting for her.
She raised her hand.
The instant her fingers brushed the bark, light flared.
Not violently. Not painfully.
Warmth rushed through her, spreading from her palm up her arm and into her chest. Her breath hitched as the glow surged brighter, the tree responding like it recognized her.
“Wait—” she gasped.
Too late.
The light poured into her, wrapping around her wrist like liquid fire. She cried out as a sharp, burning sensation bloomed against her skin.
Then it stopped.
Aria staggered back, clutching her wrist.
A mark glowed there—half of a star, etched into her skin in luminous lines. It pulsed softly, fading from brilliant light to a steady, warm glow.
Her heart raced.
“What… did I do?” she whispered.
---
Kael felt it from across the mansion.
The Ninth Mark on his neck ignited without warning, heat tearing through him like a blade. He sucked in a sharp breath, staggering as power surged violently through his veins.
“No,” he growled.
He knew that sensation.
The bond had been triggered.
He vanished instantly, shadows folding around him as he reappeared in the garden.
And there she was.
Standing before the Heartroot Tree.
Marked.
His gaze snapped to her wrist—and fury exploded through him.
“What did you touch?” he demanded.
Aria spun around, startled. The man from the street stood a few steps away, his silver hair catching the garden’s glow, his eyes burning brighter than she remembered.
“You!” she said. “You’re—”
“Answer me.”
His voice cracked like thunder, sharp and cold. The air around him pulsed dangerously, shadows creeping along the ground.
“I—I didn’t know!” Aria said, backing away instinctively. “I just touched the tree. I didn’t mean—”
“You never touch the Heartroot,” he snapped.
Her eyes flicked to his neck—and widened.
There, glowing faintly against his skin, was a matching star mark.
Only his was whole.
Her breath caught. “That’s… the same as mine.”
Kael went still.
Slowly, deliberately, he stepped closer. He reached out, stopping just short of touching her wrist. The moment he did, the two marks flared in response, light bridging the space between them.
His jaw tightened.
“This can’t be undone,” he said quietly.
“What can’t?” Aria asked, panic creeping into her voice. “What’s happening to me?”
His gaze lifted to meet hers, something dark and dangerous flickering behind his eyes.
“You’ve been bound,” he said.
“Bound to what?”
He straightened, power coiling tightly beneath his calm exterior.
“To me.”
The garden trembled.
Aria shook her head. “That’s not funny.”
“I am not joking.”
She swallowed hard. “Then explain. Because I wake up in a stranger’s mansion, touch a tree that burns me, and now you’re telling me I belong to you?”
“You don’t belong to me,” he said sharply. “But your fate is tied to mine now.”
Her chest tightened. “Who are you?”
For a moment, he hesitated.
Then he answered.
“I am the Ninth Demon,” he said. “And you’ve just touched the one thing that was never meant to choose a human.”
Silence fell heavy between them.
Aria’s legs felt weak. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
She looked down at her glowing wrist, then back at him. “What happens now?”
His eyes darkened.
“Now,” he said slowly, “you cannot leave.”
Her head snapped up. “Excuse me?”
“If you walk too far from me,” he continued, “my power collapses. The bond destabilizes. Everything I am begins to unravel.”
“That’s not my problem,” she said, fear sharpening into anger. “I didn’t ask for this.”
“No,” he agreed. “You didn’t.”
He turned away sharply, fists clenched.
“But neither did I.”
Aria stared at him, heart pounding.
“Then fix it,” she said.
Kael laughed—short, humorless. “If it could be fixed, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
She took a shaky breath. “So what—you’re just going to keep me here?”
“For now,” he said.
She met his gaze, defiance burning through her fear.
“I won’t stay with someone who won’t tell me the truth.”
He studied her for a long moment.
Then he said quietly, “If you leave… I lose control.”
The ground beneath them cracked faintly, shadows seeping through.
Aria realized then that this wasn’t a threat.
It was a warning.
- Writer
