CHAPTER NO 6
The Princess's Secret
The palace corridors felt colder that night. The moonlight poured through tall crystal windows, painting silver trails along the walls as Selene walked quietly, her fingers grazing the smooth marble. She had been told not to wander — especially near the east wing — but curiosity was louder than fear.
Ever since the night she first saw Nyra's crimson eyes soften, something inside her had changed. It wasn't just fascination; it was a pull, strange and magnetic, that made her want to know what lay behind the vampire princess's armour of silence.
She followed the faint sound of strings — music, faint and broken — leading her toward an open door. Inside, Nyra sat at a grand, ancient piano, her black hair falling around her pale shoulders, her eyes distant. She wasn't wearing her royal armour, only a simple dark tunic.
Selene froze at the doorway, afraid to interrupt, but Nyra's voice came softly:
"You shouldn't be here… human."
Her tone wasn't sharp — it trembled slightly, as if she already knew Selene wouldn't leave.
Selene stepped forward. "I couldn't sleep. The song… it sounded lonely."
Nyra looked up, her crimson gaze meeting Selene's blue one. The distance between them felt heavy with things neither could name.
"This song," Nyra said quietly, her fingers brushing the piano keys, "was written for the one who will break the curse of my bloodline."
Selene frowned. "A curse?"
Nyra rose slowly, walking toward her. "Every heir of the Vampire Throne carries a secret… a hunger that never fades. Mine was born not for blood — but for something forbidden."
The air thickened as she stopped just a breath away from Selene. The faint scent of roses and iron filled the room.
"You fear me," Nyra whispered.
"I don't," Selene replied, though her voice trembled. "You saved me. Even when you shouldn't have."
A small smile flickered on Nyra's lips — fragile, almost human. Her hand lifted, brushing a strand of pink-white hair from Selene's cheek. The touch was cold at first, then warmer, trembling.
For a moment, the world stood still. No guards, no titles, no walls — just two souls caught in the same ache.
"You don't understand what I am," Nyra murmured. "If I let myself care… it could destroy us both."
Selene's heartbeat was loud in her ears. "Then destroy me softly," she whispered, almost without meaning to.
Nyra's eyes darkened — not in anger, but in surrender. She leaned forward, their foreheads touching, breath mingling, hearts trembling like fragile glass. The piano behind them hummed with a final note as if sealing their silence.
No words followed. Only the faint sound of rain outside the windows and the quiet, forbidden warmth that passed between them — the beginning of something neither could control, nor stop.