CHAPTER NO 10
Whispers Beneath the Crimson Sky
The night was painted in shades of red. Clouds moved slowly across the moon, and the world beneath seemed to hold its breath. Selene stood on the highest balcony of the vampire palace, the wind tangling through her white-and-pink hair, her eyes reflecting the dying stars.
She had started to understand that the palace was not a place of comfort, but a cage wrapped in silk. Servants whispered when she passed. Every corridor held secrets; every glance felt like a test she didn't know she was taking.
Yet amid the silence, one thing haunted her most Nyra. The princess had grown distant. Since the Blood Moon Banquet, she barely spoke. Her voice, once cold but strangely gentle, had turned to frost again. Selene wondered if she had done something wrong.
That night, Selene wandered through the garden, barefoot on marble. The roses glowed faintly under the moonlight some white, some black, their petals shimmering like blood and snow. She sat beside the fountain, tracing her reflection in the water.
Then she heard it.A whisper soft, trembling, almost human.Her name.
"Selene…"
She turned sharply. From the shadows, Nyra appeared, her armor loosened, her red eyes dimmed by something close to pain.
"You shouldn't be out here," Nyra said, stepping closer. "There are creatures who don't listen to me."
Selene smiled faintly. "Then I'll just listen for you."
The vampire princess stopped. For a moment, her breath caught though vampires had no need to breathe. The human girl's words cut through her like sunlight through a closed door.
"You don't understand what I am," Nyra whispered. "You don't know what this world does to those who feel too much."
Selene looked up, fearless despite her shaking heart. "Then teach me. Don't hide from me."
The air grew heavy, almost glowing. Nyra's hand lifted slowly, hesitantly as if fighting herself. Her fingers brushed Selene's cheek, cold and trembling. The moment felt endless. Neither spoke. The silence carried the weight of everything unsaid.
Then, as thunder murmured in the distance, Nyra drew back. "You shouldn't make me feel this way," she said, almost to herself. "It's dangerous."
Selene's eyes glimmered. "Maybe danger is what brought me here."
Nyra turned away before her heart betrayed her. Her cape flowed like shadow, and within seconds, she was gone leaving Selene alone under the crimson sky, her heart beating like a trapped bird.
But far above them, unseen, the moonlight shifted and a single drop of red fell into the fountain, as if the heavens themselves were bleeding.
Something had been set in motion. Something neither of them could stop.