The carriage is silent. The carriage stays steady, even when the road bends or the trees press in. It moves so smoothly, it feels like it's floating, not rolling. Everything is so quiet inside, it makes the silence feel heavy.
I'm sitting on a soft velvet bench, but relaxation feels impossible. My arms are crossed tightly, still sore from the magical ropes that shine like silk yet feel like chains.
Those ropes are gone now. All that's left is the memory, like a touch I didn't ask for.
I glance at the curtained window as the scenery flies by. The trees look tall and strange, their light-colored trunks softly glowing in the dimness. The more we travel, the less this place feels familiar. The colors look strange, the greens are too bright, the shadows are too deep, and there's a bluish tint over everything.
Even the sky looks wrong. It's dusk-like, stuck in twilight without a sun. Just a heavy light that blankets everything, there but out of reach.
We're in their territory now.
And I'm alone.
A soft chime rings out, and the air shimmers nearby.
A figure appears, without the door opening or anything else. She just… shows up, like a thought becoming real.
She's tall and dressed in a gown that sparkles like light dancing on water. Her hair is dark, and her eyes are smoky. I recognized her from earlier, the leader of the delegation. The one who picked me.
She looks at me for a long moment before saying anything.
"You're angry."
"I was taken."
"You were chosen."
"Not by me."
She doesn't seem bothered. She sits calmly, hands in her lap, as still as the air around us. "You may not see this now, but what's happening to you isn't a punishment."
"Then what is it?" I shoot back. "Because where I come from, binding someone with magical ropes and dragging them away feels a lot like punishment."
She tilts her head, as if she's trying to catch something in my words. "You're not the first to resist. Many do at first."
My heart tightens. "There were others?"
She nods once. "But only one bond is true."
I lean forward, fists clenched. "Why me?"
Her gaze meets mine, and I see something unsettling, sorrow.
"Because the curse wasn't meant to be forcefully broken," she says softly. "Only with choice. And you, your soul chose him long before this life."
I let out a bitter laugh. "Sounds like a fairy tale from those in charge."
She stays quiet.
Outside, the forest becomes stranger. Trees seem to reach for the carriage as we pass, their leaves curling like they're listening. And a bunch of pale blue flowers are opening along the path, watching us go by.
"Stop with the riddles," I demand. "Just tell me the truth."
She nods, as if I've passed some kind of test.
"There is a treaty," she starts. "A pact made in blood and shadow to keep peace between the realms. You know this part. What you don't know is that the magic keeping the treaty alive is aware. It doesn't just react to rituals—it requires balance. Harmony. An offering from one realm to another."
"A bride," I whisper.
"Yes," she confirms. "But not just any bride. A vessel. A living link between the two worlds."
I stare at her, heart racing. "So… I'm a sacrifice?"
Her expression softens. "No. You are the solution."
I shake my head. "What if I don't want to be anyone's solution?"
The light flickers, suddenly dimming and flaring up again.
"Then the curse deepens," she says. "And the Shadow Kingdom will decay. The magic along the border will weaken. And your world, your people, will feel the corruption spread. Slowly. Unstoppably."
"You're threatening me with the end of the world?"
"I'm showing you the cost of peace."
I lean back against the velvet wall, feeling sick.
This isn't how I pictured my life ending, not in chains or flames, but in something I didn't choose. Something older than me, deeper than I've ever known.
And worse yet, part of me believes her.
The dreams. The mark. The whispers of the forest calling my name.
I was being pulled into this long before they got here.
"I don't love him," I say softly.
"You don't know him yet," she replies.
"And if I refuse?"
She looks out the window. Outside, the trees start to thin out. The horizon glows with a pulsing violet light. "Then the bond will break. The treaty will fall apart. And the darkness he's been holding back will be free to rise again."
I swallow hard. "And if I say yes?"
She looks at me with something like hope. "Then he lives. And so do you."
The carriage slows.
I feel the change in the air before I see it, a sudden chill, a tug in my chest like something I've needed is close by.
The woman rises. Her gown shimmers around her feet. "We've arrived."
"Where?"
"The Shadow Court."
She walks through the wall of the carriage—like she melts through it—and is gone.
I sit there for a moment, then finally move.
The door swings open on its own.
And what I saw isn't a regular world.
The castle looms like an open wound in the landscape.
Black stone towers twist into the sky, tangled with ivy that glows faintly silver. Bridges curve between spires, and strange birds circle high, calling out in haunting echoes. The sky here is deeper, more violet than blue, dotted with what look like stars, but pulse like embers.
The air is cold yet sweet.
The ground beneath my feet feels warm.
And waiting on the palace steps is a figure in armor as dark as night.
He doesn't wear a crown. His face is hidden in a hood of shadow, standing tall but not unfriendly. His presence radiates power, held back, yet overwhelming.
Even from here, I can feel the bond pull between us.
It hums beneath my skin, a golden thread connecting me to the only thing I feared.
The cursed prince.
I didn't bow. I just stand there, jaw tight, heart racing.
And when he takes a step forward, I hear the faintest whisper in my mind, not in words, but through feeling.
"You came."