Flashback
The halls of the Castielle fortress were cold and quiet. Every step echoed softly across the smooth marble floors. The air always smelled like old stone, rose oil, and the memory of something long forgotten. Candles flickered in their iron sconces along the walls, but their light felt distant and pale. It did not warm the air. It only cast shadows that moved like ghosts.
Deep inside the highest tower, hidden behind velvet curtains and thick stone walls, lived a girl that no one spoke about in public.
Her name was Selene.
To the nobles of the vampire courts, she was nothing more than a rumor. Some said she was cursed from birth. Others whispered that she had died long ago, and what remained was only a ghost or illusion. Few had seen her face. Fewer still remembered her voice. They called her the glass doll princess. Too delicate to be real. Too strange to be trusted.
Selene was never allowed to attend court meetings. She was not present at blood feasts or the formal gatherings held in the grand ballroom. She was not seen standing beside her father at war councils or family banquets. She did not walk the halls like the other noble daughters. Instead, she lived in quiet rooms and lonely gardens, separated from the rest of the world by silver gates, high windows, and heavy curtains.
Her food was always left at the door. Her books were passed through a small slot in the wall. The guards who watched her hallway never spoke. The maids who came to clean her room moved silently and left without looking at her. Selene often wondered if she was even real. Sometimes, she would stare at her reflection in the tall mirror and ask, "Am I a person? Or just a story someone made up?"
But she was real.
She had warm skin and soft hair the color of ash silver. Her eyes were bright, like morning light on a winter pond. She was not cursed. She was simply different. That difference was what made the world afraid of her.
Her only true comfort came from her family. Her father, Lord Castielle, was a man feared across the vampire courts. But to Selene, he was kind. He brought her books filled with stories about ancient lands. He sat with her on rainy days, reading poetry in a soft voice. Her brothers, Lucien and Mathias, were her closest friends. Lucien, the older one, was quiet and serious, but he protected her like a knight. Mathias, younger and full of energy, made her laugh with silly games and whispered secrets.
When she felt sad, they would come to cheer her. When she was lonely, they would sit with her and remind her that she was never forgotten. Even their kindness, though, could not stop the fear that grew in the hearts of others.
"She is cursed," the servants whispered when they thought she could not hear. "She cannot drink blood. She walks in the sun. That's not natural. She is not one of us."
Selene did not understand why her body did not work the same as theirs. She tried once to drink blood like the others, but it made her ill. It burned her throat and left her shaking. What made her feel alive was something else.
Sunlight.
When the first rays of morning came through her window, her skin stopped aching. Her thoughts cleared. The heavy feeling in her chest lifted. The cold that sat in her bones melted away. She would sit for hours by the tall windows, wrapped in blankets, her face tilted toward the golden light. It was the only time she felt like herself.
One morning, when Selene was still small, her brother Mathias knocked on her door with bright eyes and a mischievous smile.
"Come with me," he whispered. "I want to show you something."
She followed him without question. He held her hand and led her down hidden staircases and quiet halls she had never seen before. The path twisted and turned, always out of view from the guards. Lucien was waiting for them near an old wooden door, close to the outer garden wall. He held out a thick black cloak.
"You have to wear this," he said. "Just until we get outside. The guards must not see you."
Selene nodded and pulled the cloak over her head. It felt strange, walking through forbidden doors. Her heart pounded in her chest, but it was not fear. It was excitement.
They slipped through the gate. On the other side, a secret garden stretched wild and free. This garden was not clean and perfect like the ones inside the fortress. Here, the trees grew tall and twisted. Vines wrapped around old statues, and flowers bloomed in strange shapes and bright colors. Everything was overgrown, yet beautiful. And above it all, the sun poured golden light across the earth.
Lucien helped her step onto a stone ledge. Mathias held her hand tightly. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Selene nodded.
She stepped into the sunlight.
The change was instant. The warmth sank into her skin. The pain in her limbs vanished. Her breathing slowed. A soft light shimmered across her arms. She looked down and saw her skin glowing faintly, like pearls kissed by the sun. She felt awake. She felt alive. She felt whole.
Mathias clapped with joy. "You're glowing!"
Lucien looked at her, eyes wide with wonder. "You look… right."
Selene smiled. She tilted her head to the sky. Light touched her cheeks, and tears came to her eyes. But they were not tears of sorrow. They were tears of peace.
From that day forward, her brothers did everything they could to give her more time in the sun. They built a small hidden sunroom behind the library tower. There, curtains could be pulled shut, and no one would see. In that secret place, Selene would sit each morning as the sun rose. The light would spill over her like water. Her body would heal. Her mind would rest. The pain would go away.
She began to understand. The sun did not harm her. It saved her. It was not the enemy. It was part of her.
But the secret had to stay hidden.
The vampire world was built on ancient rules. Sunlight meant death. Blood was the only source of power. That was the law. That was the order. Selene's very existence broke those laws. She did not need blood. She needed light.
Her father warned her again and again. "If the Council hears of this, they will come. They will not ask questions. They will not try to understand. They will see you as a threat. You must be careful. You must stay hidden."
Selene listened. She obeyed.
But deep inside, she began to wonder.
Was she really cursed?
Or was she something else?
Something new.
Something the world was not ready to see.
And somewhere far away, in the shadows of the vampire courts, old eyes were beginning to turn toward the house of Castielle. Whispers began to rise again. Whispers of the glass doll princess.
The girl who did not burn.
The girl who glowed in the sun.
The girl who might change everything.