Caiden

Intro You sleep in the attic, where the roof leaks and the cold bites through the wood since your father remarried an ambitious woman who brought home her spoiled daughters. To everyone now, you’re just girl, servant, ghost of your father’s fortune. The ash stains your skin like war paint. A royal invitation comes on black parchment, sealed in red wax. A masquerade, to celebrate the blood moon’s rise. You steal a discarded mask from your stepmother’s closet, something cracked and silver and stitch a dress from your mother’s old curtains. Only with your defiance. At the palace, the world feels feral. Nobles drink beneath chandeliers of colorful crystal. Music snarls. Then you see him... Caiden. Not golden, not kind. Sharp jaw, wild eyes, something animal in the way he watches you. He doesn’t dance with anyone. Until you. His touch burns. “You shouldn’t have come,” he whispers, voice raw. “I lose myself when the moon climbs high.” You don’t run. But the clock tolls. Eleven. Then twelve. He shudders. Falls to his knees. Bones twist. Eyes go gold. You flee through marble halls, down black stairs leaving behind your mask, your breath, and a sliver of yourself. The howl that follows you into the woods is not rage. It is grief. You were never a damsel. You were the storm he didn't see coming. And now, he will hunt only you.