The capital city of Aelaris shimmered beneath its mirrored domes and sky lanterns, but Serai couldn't feel any of its warmth.
She sat on the highest tower of the Solari Citadel, her booted legs dangling dangerously over the edge. Below her, the city glowed like starlight bottled in glass twisting canals, domed temples, and bridges carved from pure crystal. Music rose in the wind, soft and distant.
She used to love the capital.
Now it felt like a cage.
"You're going to fall," a voice warned.
She didn't turn. "Then let me."
Calia, her childhood friend and the High Seer's apprentice, stepped closer. Her robes fluttered in the breeze like falling petals.
"Everyone's talking about your return. The Court wants to question you."
"Let them."
"You brought something back from the Rift."
Serai's jaw tightened. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the mark." Calia's voice dropped. "I saw it. The way it glows. That isn't Dawn magic."
Serai finally looked at her. "It's not a curse. It's a… connection."
"With him?"
She didn't answer.
Calia stepped closer, worry creasing her brow. "Serai. You touched the cursed prince of Dusk. You survived. That's not nothing."
"I didn't just survive," she whispered. "I saw him. I felt him. And it didn't feel evil."
Calia's expression turned sharp. "It's not about evil or good. It's about balance. Light and shadow. If you carry his mark, then you're bound to him. That's what the myths say."
Serai rose to her feet. "Then maybe the myths are wrong."
"No." Calia shook her head. "The myths are never wrong."
That evening, the Empress summoned her.
The Throne Hall of Solara gleamed like a sun-gilded storm. Pillars of golden quartz rose around the room, and the Empress of Light sat draped in white flame, her expression unreadable beneath a mask of gold.
Serai kneeled.
"You were not authorized to enter the Rift ruins," the Empress said calmly.
"I didn't cross the line."
"You did return marked."
Silence fell like a blade between them.
"What did you see?" the Empress asked.
Serai's hands clenched. "A man."
"Describe him."
"He was cloaked. Pale. Powerful. But… sad."
The Empress's hand twitched. Just once. "You saw Auren Rael, the Moonbound. The heir to the Dusk Throne. Cursed by the gods. Banished from time."
Serai raised her head. "He saved me."
"Out of pity?"
"I don't know. But he could've let me die."
The Empress leaned forward, the fire around her flaring slightly. "And if this was a trap? If he marked you to lure us into Dusk's hands?"
Serai swallowed. "Then let me find out. Let me go back."
"No."
Her voice rang like a closed gate.
"You will not return to the Rift," the Empress continued. "You will remain under watch until your mark fades."
"It won't fade."
"Then we'll learn to seal it."
Serai felt the fury rise like a flame in her chest. "You're afraid of what I've become."
The Empress's silence said everything.
That night, the sky split again.
This time not in a dream but in truth.
It began as a storm.
Black clouds over the western horizon. Winds that screamed without warning. Birds flew backward. Lakes stilled. The moons trembled.
Then the eclipse.
A rare phenomenon. One moon eclipsed the other.
The people called it an omen.
Serai called it a summons.
Her mark burned. Her body moved before thought.
She climbed the outer walls of the Citadel, ignoring the guards' shouts. She scaled the observatory and stood on the tallest spire, her arms outstretched to the fractured moonlight.
And there he was.
On the far edge of the palace bridge.
Cloaked. Barefoot. Eyes glowing silver in the dark.
Auren.
"You shouldn't have come here," she whispered.
"You called me," he said.
"I didn't."
"You did," he said softly, "when you touched me. Our marks are bound now. I feel what you feel."
Serai's breath caught. "So you… know."
"I know everything."
He stepped forward. No one else saw him. No one else could.
"You're not just marked," he said. "You're awakening."
"Awakening what?"
"Your dusk-born blood."
She stepped back. "That's not possible."
"Isn't it?" he said quietly. "Why do you think your magic is fading in the light but awakening in the dark?"
She couldn't answer.
He raised his hand slowly, a glow of soft silver curling around his fingertips. "You're not what they think you are."
"And you?" she asked. "Are you still what the legends say?"
He looked away. "I was never what they said. Just a boy cursed for a crime he never chose."
Silence hung between them.
"Come with me," he said suddenly.
Her heart skipped.
"What?"
"Just for one night. Just to see the truth for yourself."
She hesitated.
The wind shifted. The eclipse deepened. Her heart pulsed with that strange rhythm again the same rhythm his mark followed.
"I can't," she said. "They'll hunt me."
"They already are."
He held out his hand.
No glow this time. No power.
Just fingers, trembling slightly. Human.
"I won't ask again."
She stepped forward.
Their hands touched.
This time, there was no pain.
Only light.
And the world changed.
When she opened her eyes, they stood on a floating island above a sea of clouds, bathed in moonlight and crystal vines. Stars drifted between trees. Ancient structures gleamed like forgotten memories. It was haunting. Beautiful.
"The Dusk Court," Auren said. "Once home to kings. Now just memory."
Serai walked slowly, in awe. "It's… not what I expected."
"I was born here," he said. "Before the curse. Before the war."
"What happened?"
"The gods demanded balance. My father broke that balance. He tried to merge light and dark. To forge a new age. They cursed him. Then me."
"And now?"
"Now I wait," he said. "For someone who can touch both sides of the moon."
Serai turned to him. "You think that's me."
"I know it is."
Their marks pulsed in sync. Silver and gold. Light and shadow.
He looked at her like she was prophecy. Like she was the thing he'd stopped believing in centuries ago.
"Do you trust me?" he asked.
"I don't know," she whispered.
"Do you fear me?"
"…No."
He smiled barely. But it softened something deep in him.
She stepped closer.
He did the same.
Their marks flared.
And then—
A blade of flame exploded between them.
Serai screamed.
Auren shoved her back.
Guards of the Dawn Court flame-robed and glowing descended from the sky.
"By order of the Solari Empire," one boomed, "you are under arrest for consorting with a cursed being."
Serai rose, panting. "No—stop—!"
Auren turned to her. "Go."
"I won't leave you!"
"GO!"
The sky ripped.
He vanished into shadows.
She was alone.
Again.
They chained her with runes.
Dragged her through the city.
Tried to burn the mark from her skin.
But it didn't fade.
It grew brighter.
Because the curse wasn't a curse.
It was a bond.
And it had only just begun.