Elowen's POV
Something was wrong with the moon tonight.
Its red light dripped from the sky like liquid blood, staining the mist that curled around me. The air was freezing, my breath caught in my throat—but it wasn't the cold that made my body go rigid.
It was the scream.
A howl echoed through the night—long, piercing, full of grief. Not a wild call. No, this was something more… intimate. As if a part of my soul was howling along with it.
I tried to move, but my feet were rooted. I stretched out a hand, and the world opened up—ruins of stone, cracked earth like old wounds, and at the center of it...
Kael.
He stood with his back to me, covered in blood. His black hair stuck to his face, his breath came in heavy bursts. I watched him sway slightly before turning around.
His eyes were no longer Kael's.
There was no gentleness left. Only emptiness… and a guilt so raw it nearly shattered me.
"Kael!" I tried to run, but the voices started—whispers in an ancient tongue I didn't understand, accompanied by shadowy figures crawling through the rubble. They chanted one name.
"Last blood child..."
"Kael, please! Answer me!"
But the ground beneath him collapsed. He fell.
And I—woke up screaming his name.
---
I lay in bed, gasping. My skin was drenched in cold sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs. The world felt like it had shifted beneath me.
Then came the burning.
A sudden heat flared beneath my ribs, so real I winced. My hand moved hesitantly, lifting the hem of my camisole.
And I froze.
A sigil—glowing in a deep crimson red—curled across my skin. It pulsed, alive, its intricate lines wrapping around my abdomen like ancient vines.
I couldn't breathe.
"What... is this...?"
The pattern wasn't just glowing. It was living. Warm. Familiar in the most unsettling way.
Strangely... I wasn't terrified.
I felt bound.
But to what?
---
The next morning, I kept myself locked in my room. I wasn't trying to hide the sigil from Kael—I was afraid of what it might mean. Afraid of what it might awaken between us.
Things had changed since the night in the woods. Since he touched me like I was the answer he had been searching for all along.
And I could still feel that touch.
I stared at my own hand, remembering the fire in his fingers as he pulled me from the mist. That wasn't just rescue. That was recognition. As if something in him had always known me.
I knew I had to speak to him. But when I opened the door, he was already standing there.
"Kael..." I breathed.
He looked tense, his jaw tight. "I heard you scream last night."
I lowered my gaze, fingers brushing the sigil beneath my clothes. Still warm. Still pulsing.
"I had a nightmare," I muttered, trying to deflect.
"Wolves?" he asked quickly.
I froze. "Why would you ask that?"
He stepped closer. "Because I dreamt of you too. You were standing in ruins. And I… was bleeding."
The world spun around me.
I looked up at him. "You saw it too?"
Kael nodded slowly. "It wasn't just a dream, Elowen. I think it was a calling."
He was so close now. Inches away. I could feel the heat of him, and my heart raced with every breath.
I almost told him about the sigil. About the way it burned like a second heartbeat in my skin. But before I could, he reached out, gently wrapping his fingers around my wrist.
"Elowen," he whispered, voice low, "something is binding us. I don't know what it is. But I've felt you—since the moment we met."
His hand brushed against my cheek. A touch so careful, as if I might shatter.
"And last night, when you screamed... I woke up with pain in my chest. Like my heart... remembered you."
I closed my eyes. His touch was magic. A balm to the storm inside me. I wanted to drown in it. But my fear still gripped me tight.
"I... Kael, I'm scared. There's something on my body—"
Before I could finish, a sharp thud came from the window. A shadow passed overhead. A black bird—a raven, maybe—had hit the glass and dropped something on the ledge. A scroll, bound in crimson thread.
Kael got to it first.
He unrolled it, scanning its contents quickly. His face paled.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a symbol," he muttered. "Belonging to the first bloodline. The old ones believed that the last child of the cursed blood would herald the end of days. And the sign would be carved on their skin..."
He turned to me slowly.
"...in the shape of a crescent moon."
My hand trembled as it brushed my abdomen again. The heat was still there.
Kael noticed the movement and approached.
"Can I…?" he asked softly.
I nodded.
His fingers lifted the fabric slowly, carefully.
And then he saw it.
The crescent moon glowed at the center of the sigil. Dark crimson. Alive.
Kael reached out and gently traced the shape with his fingertips.
And the moment our skin met—
Something shattered inside my mind.
A voice. Ancient, deep, echoing through the centuries.
"Last blood child… you are the one who opens the end."
I shuddered. "K-Kael… did you hear that?"
He didn't respond. His eyes were wide.
He heard it too.
And for the first time... Kael Thorne looked afraid.
"No," he whispered. "This wasn't supposed to happen. You're not—You can't be her."
I grabbed his arm. "Be who?"
His expression twisted with something painful. "The blood bride. The heir of the sacrificed line… the one who triggers the end."
"No," I whispered. "I'm just Elowen…"
But even as I said it, I knew the truth. The world would not let me remain ordinary.
And Kael—the one I had trusted more than anyone—now stood at a distance, as if I had become a riddle he didn't want to solve.
But I couldn't let him walk away.
I took his face in my hands. "Kael… don't go."
He shut his eyes, inhaling deeply. "If I stay, Elowen, I will love you… even if I shouldn't. Even if the world burns because of us."
Tears welled in my eyes. "Maybe the world needs to burn... so we can be free."
For a heartbeat, time stopped.
He leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine. His breath mingled with mine, warm and shaky.
"I'll protect you," he whispered. "But if the time comes… if you change... then I'll be the one to end it."
I tightened my grip on his hand. "If that's my fate… then make sure you're the last one to ever call my name."
And then—
The sigil flared, glowing bright red.
And from the far edges of the world, a voice echoed again—louder this time, clear and final:
"Last blood child… you are the one who opens the end."