Chapter 1 Blood Moon Rising

The night of her eighteenth birthday should have been ordinary. Candles flickered in her small room, and the scent of vanilla cake mingled with the crisp autumn air drifting through the open window. Aria smiled faintly at the gathering of friends and family below, yet a restless ache throbbed in her chest. Something was… off.

The villagers spoke of the blood moon that night. Most dismissed it as an old superstition, a tale to scare children. But Aria felt it in her bones—a pull she could neither explain nor resist. As the crimson light spilled across the sky, her pulse quickened, and a strange warmth surged through her veins, as if the moon itself whispered her name.

Unable to resist, she slipped out of the cottage, leaving the laughter behind. The forest lay ahead, dark and silent, yet inviting. With each step, the air thickened, and shadows stretched unnaturally. The leaves whispered secrets she could almost understand, and the ground beneath her seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat.

Then she saw him.

A figure stepped from the darkness, tall, impossibly elegant, and radiating a cold authority that made her knees tremble. His eyes glowed like molten rubies, piercing through the night and straight into her soul. Aria’s breath caught. Fear and fascination warred inside her.

“You came,” the stranger said, his voice smooth as silk but edged with steel. “My little flame.”

“Who… who are you?” she stammered, backing a step, though her body betrayed her, drawn inexplicably toward him.

“I am Lucian,” he said, each syllable deliberate and magnetic. “The King your blood belongs to.”

Aria stumbled, her mind racing. Her blood? Her? “I don’t understand… I’m just—”

“Not just,” Lucian interrupted, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Your blood carries the curse, the power, the fate that has slept for centuries. And now… it awakens.”

A shiver ran down her spine as the air thickened, and the forest seemed to close around them. She tried to pull away, but invisible threads tightened, binding her closer. Panic surged. “Let me go!”

Lucian’s smile deepened, and he tilted his head, as though amused by her fear. “Run, and you’ll see how fragile your mortality truly is. Stay… and you might just survive the night.”

Before she could react, shadows erupted from the trees. Figures—faster than any human—surrounded her. Teeth bared, eyes glowing, the creatures hissed and lunged. Aria’s scream tore through the forest, echoing under the crimson sky.

Lucian stepped forward with a predator’s grace, hands flashing, and in a heartbeat, the attackers were gone—scattered like smoke in the wind. He turned to her, his gaze softening for the first time.

“You belong to this world now, Aria,” he murmured. “And to me.”

Her knees gave way, and she collapsed onto the cold forest floor. Her heart pounded, and her mind screamed at the impossible truth—the life she had known was over. Somewhere deep inside, she felt a stirring of something she had never felt before: fear, yes, but also… desire.

The blood moon cast its eerie light over her trembling form. And somewhere in its crimson glow, destiny waited.

Aria pressed her palms against the damp forest floor, trying to steady herself. Her body shook, not just from fear but from something deeper—an awakening that gnawed at her bones and whispered in her veins. Every beat of her heart felt unnatural, like drums calling her toward a path she had never wanted to walk.

Behind her eyelids, strange flashes burned—visions of fire, of crimson skies, of a crown of thorns dripping with blood. She gasped and opened her eyes, clutching her chest. The world spun, yet Lucian stood firm, unmoved by the chaos consuming her.

“You feel it, don’t you?” he asked quietly, his voice carrying like silk over steel. “The old power stirring, the bond you cannot sever. You can lie to yourself, little flame, but your blood will never lie.”

Aria wanted to scream at him, deny everything. But the truth clung to her like the crimson light itself. When she tried to speak, her voice cracked. “Why me? Why now?”

Lucian’s gaze softened, though it still burned with command. “Because destiny has patience. It waited centuries for the right vessel, the right night, the right moon. And you… you are the answer it chose.”

Her breath hitched, and she staggered to her feet. The forest around them was too quiet, unnaturally still, as though the trees themselves leaned closer to listen. The scent of roses and iron filled the air, mingling into something intoxicating and terrifying. She hugged her arms tighter, her mind a battlefield.

“I don’t want this,” she whispered. “I just wanted my life. My family. My village.”

Lucian’s smile was neither cruel nor kind. It was inevitable. “And they will remember you, Aria, but not as you were. From tonight on, you are more than a daughter, more than a villager. You are marked. You are mine.”

The words cut deeper than any blade, not because they bound her to him, but because a small, terrible part of her believed them. In her chest, something ancient stirred—an ember of desire, of hunger, of power—that she could no longer deny.

The blood moon blazed higher, pouring its fire across her trembling face. Her shadow stretched longer, sharper, as though it no longer belonged only to her. Somewhere in the darkness, wolves howled in unison, their voices carrying the weight of an oath. The sound made her spine tingle, her blood race.

And though Aria longed to run, to cling to her old world, she knew in her heart that it was gone. The moment she stepped into this forest, she had crossed a threshold she could never return from.

The night of her eighteenth birthday would be remembered not for candles or laughter, but for the moment the blood moon rose and claimed her. It was no longer just her story—it was the beginning of a legacy that would shake kingdoms.

And as the crimson light crowned her trembling form, destiny whispered its promise: Aria was no longer ordinary. She was chosen.