My conversation with my mother still echoed in my head when the door opened again.This time it wasn't a servant nor a guard.
It was Selene Draemyr, one of my betrothed.
Her footsteps were so quiet I barely heard the whisper of her sandals across the marble. She wore a gown in shades of gray with dark embroidery—simple, almost humble compared to the castle's luxury. But her eyes—two deep blue orbs with a silver sheen—shone with a mix of curiosity and wariness.
"Nyx…" she said my name as if it weighed on her, as if she didn't know whether to approach or flee.
I tensed. I had long avoided Selene, just as I had avoided the other betrothed they'd imposed on me. There was no love between us, only the cold chain of a forced engagement. Until now, our relationship had amounted to polite nods and sidelong looks in the corridors.
But now, with my transformation still fresh, the way she looked at me was different.
"You came…" I murmured, barely finding my voice.
Selene closed the door behind her and advanced cautiously, as if each step were a dare."Everyone is talking about you. They say you screamed like you were dying… and that the shadows answered your pain."
Her words cut through me. So the whole castle already knew.
She stopped a few paces away. I could see how her gaze fixed on my eyes—first the left, violet with silver sparks, then the right, red and throbbing. She didn't look away, though the tension in her jaw betrayed her.
"Are you afraid?" I asked, more a challenge than a question.
Selene drew a steady breath, straightening her back."Yes," she answered without hesitation. "But… I can't stop looking at you."
I froze. There was more than fear in her voice. There was fascination.
"I always thought this engagement was a sentence. That I'd been given someone useless, a burden for my clan. But now…" Her voice fell to almost a whisper. "What I saw in you today… is power. Dark, dangerous… but real. And it draws me more than it should."
The hunger inside me stirred at her proximity. I could feel the warmth of her blood, the quickening beat of her heart, the metallic scent that rose from her. I swallowed hard.
"Selene… you don't know what you're saying. If you let me get too close, I could lose control."
She offered a shaky smile."Then control yourself. Because I'm not stepping away."
The silence between us was a razor's edge, charged with tension. I could reach out and claim her, or pull back to keep her safe. Both options burned in my chest.
For the first time in a long while, what I saw in someone's eyes was more than fear. It was something else. Something that could be the beginning of my downfall… or my salvation.