B
Chapter One: The Night of Crimson Moons
The capital city of Elaria glittered under a blood-red moon — an omen, they said, of broken thrones and cursed heirs.
In the farthest corner of the market district, seventeen-year-old Liora Vale pressed a trembling hand against her chest as the ancient church bell tolled midnight. She couldn't explain the sudden heaviness in her heart, the way the air grew thick, charged with something... wrong.
"Liora, you okay?" her friend Alin asked, panting from the run. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I... I think something just changed," she murmured, her voice barely audible over the wind. A sharp chill ran through her spine, and for a split second, she swore she heard a whisper in her mind.
> "Mine."
She shook it off.
The Festival of Moons was in full swing, with lanterns dancing across the sky and fire jugglers entertaining the masses. But the joyful noise felt distant, like it belonged to a world she no longer fit into.
---
Deep within the Blackspire Palace, the cursed heir, Prince Kaelith of the Shadow Crown, stood at the altar of his ancestors. His hands were clenched, his cloak heavy with midnight embroidery and silver runes, but nothing weighed more than the prophecy on his shoulders.
He turned to the high seer, voice low. "It happened, didn't it?"
The old man's blind eyes turned toward the blood moon.
"The soul-bond has awakened. You are no longer master of your fate."
Kaelith slammed his palm against the stone. "Who is she?"
The seer paused, then whispered, "A girl of no noble blood. She walks the market streets tonight. She bears the mark."
---
Back in the alley behind her cottage, Liora gasped in pain as something seared into her skin. She yanked up her sleeve—and stared in horror at the symbol that had appeared across her arm: a black crescent moon, curled around a crown of thorns.
"What the hell is this?" she breathed, heart pounding. "What's happening to me?"
From the shadows behind her, a voice answered.
"You've been chosen."
She spun around.
A man stood there—tall, cloaked, and face hidden behind a silver mask. But it was his eyes that caught her: they burned like fire through ice.
Liora's body froze. Her instincts screamed to run, but her soul whispered otherwise.
> He's the one.
> And you are his bride.
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End of Chapter Hook:
> Liora doesn't know it yet, but her fate is now entwined with a man the world calls cursed... and soon, she will face a choice — surrender to the bond, or break an empire.