POV: Ella
Fire. My veins were filled with fire.
I collapsed to my knees, my scream finally breaking free. It ripped from my throat like something alive, echoing through the Sacred Grove. The pain was everywhere—burning, freezing, tearing me apart from the inside.
"What's happening to me?" I gasped, staring at my hands.
Black lines crawled across my skin like living ink. They spread from my fingertips up my arms, branching out like twisted tree roots. I watched in horror as they reached my shoulders, my neck, pulsing with each beat of my racing heart.
"No, no, no!" I tried to wipe them away, but they were under my skin, part of me now. "This can't be real!"
My hair fell across my face, and I froze. It wasn't silver anymore. Starting from my scalp, the color drained away, replaced by black so dark it seemed to swallow light. I grabbed a handful and pulled it in front of my eyes, watching the silver die inch by inch, bleeding to midnight.
The tree behind me laughed—actually laughed—a sound like wind through dead leaves.
"Beautiful," it whispered. "The transformation has begun."
"Change me back!" I spun toward the Shadowthorn Tree, tears streaming down my face. "Please, I didn't know—I didn't mean to—"
"Too late, little princess. What's done is done."
Panic clawed at my chest. I needed to fix this. I needed to heal myself before anyone saw. My magic—I still had my magic, right?
I closed my eyes and reached for my nature magic, that warm green power that had always been part of me. It was still there, but it felt different. Wrong. Like it had been flipped upside down and inside out.
"Heal," I commanded, pushing the magic into my hands.
Power surged through me, but instead of the warm green glow I expected, black shadows poured from my palms like smoke. They twisted around my arms, cold and hungry.
"No! Stop!" I shook my hands, trying to make it go away, but the shadows grew stronger. They reached for the flowers growing around the grove, the beautiful white roses that had bloomed for centuries.
The moment the shadows touched them, the flowers turned black. Then gray. Then they crumbled to dust.
"No, no, no!" I fell to my hands and knees, watching the death spread. Everywhere my shadow magic touched, plants withered and died. The grass turned brown. The trees' leaves curled and dropped. Even the sacred glow of the grove began to flicker and fade.
I was destroying everything. Everything.
"HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
The sound of running footsteps thundered toward the grove. Thank the gods. Someone was coming. They would fix this. They had to.
Six Elf Guards burst through the entrance, their silver armor flashing. Captain Aldros led them, his hand already on his sword.
"Princess Ella, we heard—" He stopped dead, his eyes going wide. "By the gods."
The other guards froze behind him, staring at me with their mouths hanging open. One of them—Fennick, who'd taught me to ride horses when I was little—took a step backward.
"Captain?" Fennick's voice shook. "Her hair. Her skin. What happened to her?"
"Stay back!" Captain Aldros raised his hand, blocking the other guards from coming closer. Like I was dangerous. Like I was a monster.
"Please," I sobbed, reaching toward them. "Please help me. I touched the tree and something went wrong and I can't make it stop—"
"Shadow Elf," Aldros whispered, and the words hung in the air like poison.
"What? No! I'm not—I'm just cursed, that's all. The healers can fix this, right? They can—"
"There is no fixing this." Aldros drew his sword. The sound of steel sliding from its sheath made my blood run cold. "You've been corrupted. Transformed."
"But I didn't mean to!" Fresh tears poured down my face. "Theron told me to touch it. He said it was safe. He said—"
"Seize her," Aldros commanded. "Before the corruption spreads."
Two guards rushed forward. I tried to back away, but my legs wouldn't work. They grabbed my arms—rough, painful, their fingers digging into my skin. Not gentle like they used to be. Not respectful. Like I was a criminal.
"You're hurting me!" I cried.
"Move," one guard growled, and they dragged me toward the grove's entrance.
My feet scraped against the ground. I couldn't get them under me. Everything hurt—my body, my magic, my heart. This couldn't be happening. This was supposed to be my engagement day. The happiest day of my life.
We burst out of the Sacred Grove, and the world exploded with sound.
The festival was still going. Music still played. But as soon as people saw me, everything stopped. The musicians' instruments fell silent mid-note. Conversations died. Even the children stopped playing.
Thousands of eyes locked onto me. Onto my black hair. My pale skin. The dark veins pulsing beneath.
"What is that?" someone whispered.
"The princess—look at the princess!"
"She's been cursed!"
A woman screamed. Then another. Children began crying, burying their faces in their mothers' skirts. The crowd surged backward like a wave, everyone trying to get away from me.
"Please!" I called out to them, my people who had cheered for me just minutes ago. "Please, I need help! I'm still me, I'm still—"
"Corrupted!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"The darkness touched her!"
"Shadow Elf! She's become a Shadow Elf!"
The words stabbed into me, each one worse than the last. Shadow Elf. The monsters from nightmares. The evil creatures that hadn't existed for a thousand years. They were saying I was one of them.
"No," I whispered. "I'm not a monster. I'm not—"
Then I saw him. Theron, standing on the platform next to my father. They were both staring at me, but their expressions were so different.
Father looked shocked, horrified, like he was seeing a ghost. But Theron... Theron looked satisfied. Almost happy.
"Theron!" I stumbled forward, dragging the guards with me. "Theron, please! Tell them you sent me to the tree! Tell them this was a mistake!"
He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just watched me with those cold blue eyes.
"Please," I begged, my voice breaking. "You said you loved me. You kissed me. You told me to trust you. Tell them the truth!"
The crowd fell completely silent, waiting to hear what the High Commander would say. Surely he would defend me. Surely he would tell them this was all a terrible accident.
Theron's face twisted with disgust. He turned his back to me.
"I don't know what that creature is talking about," he announced to the crowd, his voice carrying across the festival grounds. "But it is clearly not Princess Ella anymore. The corruption has taken her mind as well as her body."
"No!" The word ripped from my throat. "No, you're lying! You told me to touch the tree! You wanted this to happen!"
But no one was listening. The crowd was already nodding, murmuring agreement. Of course the High Commander was telling the truth. Why would he lie?
Father stepped forward, and hope flared in my chest. Father would believe me. He had to.
"Ella." His voice was so quiet I barely heard it. "Is it true? Did you willingly touch the Shadowthorn Tree?"
"Theron told me to! He said—"
"Did you touch it?" Father's voice grew harder. "Yes or no?"
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Because the answer was yes. I had touched it. I had made that choice.
"Yes," I finally whispered. "But—"
"Then you brought this curse upon yourself." Father's face was stone, cold and unforgiving. "The law is clear. Any elf corrupted by shadow magic must be—"
"Father, please!" I lunged forward, but the guards yanked me back. "I'm your daughter! Your moonlight, remember? You have to help me!"
For just a second, something flickered in his eyes. Pain. Doubt. But then it was gone, buried beneath duty and tradition.
"Take her to the holding cells," he commanded. "The Council will decide her fate at dawn."
"NO!" I screamed as the guards dragged me away from the platform, away from my father, away from everything I'd ever known. "THIS ISN'T FAIR! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"
The crowd parted like I was a plague, everyone pressing back to avoid touching me. Some people were crying. Others looked angry. But most just looked afraid.
Of me.
As the guards hauled me toward the castle, I caught one last glimpse of Theron. He was smiling now, not even trying to hide it anymore. He raised his hand and gave me a small wave.
Then he mouthed two words: "Thank you."
Understanding crashed over me like ice water. He had planned this. All of it. The engagement, the ceremony, convincing me to touch the tree. He'd wanted me cursed. He'd wanted me destroyed.
But why? What could he possibly gain from—
And then I saw it. Father placing a hand on Theron's shoulder. The Council members gathering around them both, already talking, already planning. They were discussing who would rule now that I was gone.
Theron wasn't just taking my place as heir.
He was taking everything.
"You did this on purpose," I whispered, staring at him across the festival grounds. "You destroyed me on purpose."
Theron met my eyes one last time. Then he turned away and began accepting congratulations from the Council, already playing the role of the kingdom's savior.
The guards shoved me through a doorway, and the festival disappeared from view. But I could still hear the crowd behind us, their voices rising in a chant that would haunt my nightmares:
"Shadow Elf! Shadow Elf! Shadow Elf!"
And somewhere in that chanting crowd, I heard a voice I recognized. My father's voice, joining