Selene had always believed fate was cruel, but tonight, she saw its wickedness firsthand.
The moment Aeric uttered the prophecy, the weight of centuries crashed upon her shoulders. The kingdom's oldest curse,the one that forbade witches from loving nobles wasn't just legend. It was a spell woven into blood, a binding magic that held the kingdom in its grip.
And now, somehow, Aeric knew
Her pulse quickened. "What do you know of the prophecy?" she demanded.
Aeric's gaze darkened, his expression no longer teasing but grave. "Enough to know that it was never meant to be just words," he said. "And enough to know that the kingdom has lied for generations."
Selene's breath hitched.
The prophecy had always been a warning, a tale whispered to witches so they would never dare cross the forbidden line. But what if the prophecy wasn't just about preventing love,what if it was about keeping something hidden?
Something more powerful. Something dangerous.
Aeric stepped closer, lowering his voice. "My father fears magic because he knows what lies beneath Eldoria," he murmured. "He doesn't rule the kingdom. The magic does."
Selene's eyes widened. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Aeric's voice was edged with something she couldn't name,fear, perhaps, or something worse. "What if the curse is not about love, but control? What if witches and nobles were always meant to be bound together?"
Selene had spent her life hiding from the laws that sought to erase her kind.
But maybe—just maybe—the laws were nothing more than lies meant to keep magic from finding its true power.
And suddenly, she wasn't just fighting for herself anymore.
She was fighting against the fate that had been written in blood