Chapter 3 – The Prince’s Cold Smile
721 Words
Selena’s steps echoed softly on the marble floor as the two guards escorted her through an endless corridor. The high, arched ceilings seemed to swallow the sound of her breathing, while towering stained-glass windows bathed the hallway in an ethereal golden glow.
Her fingers kept fidgeting with the skirt of her gown. The heavy fabric was gorgeous, yes—an intricate weave of deep red and gold—but it also felt suffocating. Every rustle of the cloth reminded her that this was real.
Not a dream.
Not a prank.
Not a drama shoot.
The guards halted in front of a massive set of doors, carved with symbols she couldn’t recognize. They looked like swirling vines intertwined with… snakes? Or dragons? Her brow furrowed.
The older of the two guards cleared his throat.
“The prince is waiting inside.”
Her stomach churned.
The prince.
The man whose piercing gaze earlier seemed to see through her soul. The man whose touch burned against her skin when he took her hand in the ceremony. The man she was now—apparently—married to.
One guard pushed the heavy doors open, revealing a grand study. Shelves upon shelves of leather-bound books lined the walls, and a massive fireplace roared at the far end. At the center stood Prince Kael Dreven, his tall figure framed by the flicker of firelight.
He wasn’t looking at her.
Instead, he was staring at a parchment on his desk, quill in hand, his jaw set in a way that made him look like a man carved from stone.
“Leave us,” Kael said, his voice deep and commanding.
The guards bowed and stepped out, the heavy doors closing behind them with a resonant thud.
Now, it was just her and him.
Selena’s heart pounded. She cleared her throat, trying to find her voice. “Your… Highness?”
Kael looked up slowly. His eyes—icy blue and utterly unreadable—met hers, and for a brief second, she swore something flickered in them. A flash of crimson?
But it was gone before she could even blink.
“You’re from another world,” he said flatly, as if stating a fact.
Selena froze. “I—I never said that.”
“I can smell it on you.”
Her blood ran cold.
He took a step forward, closing the distance between them. “Your manner of speaking. The way you walk. Even the way you held my hand in the ceremony—you don’t belong here.”
“I didn’t choose this!” she blurted out, her voice shaking. “One moment I was… somewhere else, and then—”
Kael’s lips curled into a faint, cold smile. “Fate has a cruel sense of humor.”
There was a pause. The fire crackled behind him, and she could hear the faint ticking of a clock somewhere in the room.
Then Kael turned his back to her, walking toward the fireplace. “This marriage was never meant to be about choice. You are here because you are the only one who can keep it at bay.”
Her brows knitted. “It?”
The prince didn’t answer. Instead, his right hand tugged at the high collar of his uniform, revealing a faint, glowing red mark at the base of his neck.
It pulsed… like a heartbeat.
Selena’s breath caught. The light from the mark seemed alive, crawling along his skin like molten fire. For a split second, she swore she heard something—like a whisper, deep and guttural, curling around the edges of her mind.
Kael quickly covered it again, his tone sharp. “You will not speak of what you saw to anyone. Not the maids. Not the guards. Not even the king and queen.”
Her throat felt dry. “Why… why me?”
This time, Kael turned back to her, his eyes colder than ever.
“Because if you fail to keep the curse under control…”
He stepped closer until there was barely a breath between them.
“…I will kill you myself.”
The air between them was heavy, charged with something she couldn’t name. Fear. Curiosity. Something darker.
And yet… for reasons she couldn’t explain, her pulse quickened not only in terror, but in something dangerously close to fascination.
- Writer
