The Vale of the Beast is no more. The plain where Kael and Rayne faced the Oathbound King collapses into silence, erased from the world as though it never existed. Only the brands seared into their flesh, and the hunger coiled in Kael's blood, remain as proof of what was unleashed. But their scars are not theirs alone.
The court of Varathis calls it blasphemy, a curse that binds two enemies in blood and flame. They say she's bewitched him as part of her grand scheme of revenge against them for what they did to her clan. Rayne becomes the hunted prize, her brand a mark of fear and prophecy. Kael becomes the betrayer; torn between the loyalty and ruthlessness demanded by his father and his bloodline, and the vow to protect her that he cannot break.
Each step towards Varathis drags them deeper into truths long buried. Kael's body betrays him, fangs stirring beneath his lips, the hunger he cannot deny sharpening with every heartbeat. Rayne's mistrust of him deepens, even as fate and destiny drives them closer, her fire kindled by the same very bond she swears to resist.
"When dusk bleeds crimson and fire binds with blood, the Heir shall fall thrice before he rises. The huntress shall strike him down, yet guard him still. And in their joined defiance, the Court of Varathis will tremble, for the soulbond spares no throne, no oath, no heart."
In the trials to come, they will be hunted. They will be imprisoned. And before the dusk if Act II falls, both Kael and Rayne will learn that the curse does not only bind their souls, it chains their fates to ruin or salvation.