PROLOGUE

2 Years ago.

The night reeked of smoke and fear.

Crimson light painted the faces of the villagers gathered in the square. Their eyes ; some curious, others cruel ; reflected the flames that climbed higher around the wooden stake. Bound to it, a woman trembled but did not scream. Her long, silver hair caught the firelight like strands of moonlit silk.

Selena could not see the flames, but she felt them.

She felt the air tremble.

She felt her mother’s pain crackle through the night like lightning through her veins.

Her small hands gripped the rough stones of the alley wall as she pressed herself deeper into the shadows. The thin black cloth tied around her eyes kept the world dim, mercifully dull, yet every sound, every cry, carved itself into her heart.

“For practicing forbidden magic!” a soldier announced.

“For cursing our kingdom with her witchcraft!”

The crowd shouted, the torch fell, and the fire roared to life.

Selena’s breath caught. Her chest tightened so sharply she thought her ribs would break. Her mother’s faint gasp echoed across the square, and then, silence. The fire swallowed her final breath.

Something inside Selena shattered.

She ran away.

She didn’t know where her feet carried her. She just ran through the narrow streets, past the horrified whispers, away from the smoke that followed her like a curse. The blindfold clung to her tears. The cold air bit her lungs.

Her heart was breaking with every step.

When she reached the old bridge outside the city, her knees nearly gave out. The moon hung above, pale and merciless. The river below shimmered faintly, a silver path calling her to forget.

The wind rose, tearing at her blindfold until the knot slipped free. It fell from her face and for the first time, she saw. The light stabbed at her eyes like knives.

She stumbled forward, gripping her chest, gasping as her vision blurred between shadows and stars. Her tears caught the moonlight, her world spinning.

And then… she crashed into someone.

A man.

His cloak brushed her arm, fine fabric, not something villagers wore. His hand steadied her, but his eyes, cold and sharp like frost, stared down at her as though she were something fragile and strange.

“Watch where you’re going,” he said, his voice calm but distant.

He didn’t move to comfort her, didn’t ask why she was shaking, or why her clothes were torn. His expression was unreadable, composed, quiet, far too calm for the chaos burning in the city behind them.

Selena tried to speak, but her throat failed her. The light hurt, her legs trembled. The bridge spun beneath her.

“I—” she whispered, before her shoes slipped on the wet stone.

The boy’s eyes widened, only for a heartbeat before she fell backward into the river. The splash shattered the stillness.

For a moment, he only stood there, staring into the dark waters that swallowed her whole. His hand, the one that could’ve saved her in time, lingered in the air, uncertain.

And then something in his chest…  something he didn’t understand made him move.

Without hesitation, he jumped.

The cold hit him like ice, but he reached her pale skin, dark hair floating like shadow beneath the surface. He pulled her toward him, her body limp, her eyes closed. When they broke the surface, she didn’t move.

He laid her against the riverbank, chest heaving, water dripping from his hair and cloak. For a long while, he just stared at her. The girl who had appeared out of the smoke and fallen into his arms like a curse whispered by fate.

“Foolish girl,” he murmured, voice low and cold.

“If the world wants you dead… you shouldn’t make it so easy.”

But even as he said it, his hand brushed the wet hair from her face, and for a second, his expression softened, ever so slightly.

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