Chapter 1 THE GIRL IN THE SHADOWS
The forest was too quiet.
Raine noticed it before he even opened his eyes fully—an unsettling stillness pressing against the air like a held breath. The night creatures, usually restless and shrill at this hour, had fallen silent. No rustle of wings, no distant hoot, not even the hum of insects. Only the gentle hiss of the river outside his cabin dared to move.
Magic, he thought instantly.
But not his.
He pushed himself upright from the narrow cot, rubbing the fading sleep from his eyes. The wooden walls around him creaked, reacting to a shift in the air that wasn’t physical but something deeper—something threaded with power.
He exhaled slowly, fingertips brushing the worn tattoo of runes along his wrist. They pulsed faintly in response, as if waking.
“Not now,” he muttered to the dark. “I didn’t call for you.”
But the magic wasn’t listening. It curled around the cabin like a fog, thick, sour, and trembling with desperation. Raine stood, reaching for his cloak and the staff leaning against the corner. He didn’t need it to channel—his power flowed whether he wanted it or not—but the staff helped him focus when the magic grew hungry.
And lately, his magic was always hungry.
As he stepped outside, cold night air swept over him, sharpening the edges of the world. The moon hung low, muted by drifting clouds. But beyond the river, beyond the darkened pines, something glowed—faint, flickering, unnatural.
A pulse of light.
Then another.
Then a cold wave of energy slammed through the air so forcefully Raine staggered a step backward, gripping his staff as shadows rippled at his feet. His runes flared bright enough to burn.
“What in the gods’ names…?”
This wasn’t ordinary magic. This was magic unraveling.
No—this was someone dying.
Raine’s jaw tightened. He could ignore it. He should ignore it. The last thing he needed was another problem, another stranger looking at him with fear—or worse, recognition. He was already on the run from the Guild, already battling the corruption poisoning his spells. Saving someone else would only complicate an already doomed existence.
But the magic trembled again, desperate, calling. Not to all wizards—no.
Only to him.
And he hated that he recognized it.
A curse.
A powerful one.
With a hiss of frustration, Raine strode down the dirt path leading away from his cabin. His boots sank into the damp soil, and the forest closed in around him with branches twisting like gnarled hands. He moved quickly, guided by instinct and the unstable magic leaking from the source.
As he walked, pressure built behind his skull. His own spells tried to surface, wild and unrestrained. The curse’s aura was feeding his darkness, stirring the hunger he spent years trying to suppress.
“Great,” he muttered, tightening his grip on the staff. “Exactly what I needed.”
The glow ahead intensified—cold, silver, shimmering between the trees. He slowed as the forest floor dipped into a shallow ravine, the air thick with the scent of pine and something sharper… something metallic.
Blood.
Raine descended carefully, every sense tuned to the strange magic trembling in the air. Shadows pooled unnaturally between the roots of the ancient trees. The glow flickered again, bright enough to reveal a figure lying on the forest floor.
A girl.
No—an elf.
Her long hair fanned out around her like spilled moonlight, though streaks of black threaded through the silver as if corruption was carving itself into her blood. Her skin was pale—not the gentle ivory of her race, but a fading, sickly pallor. She trembled violently, fingers clawed into the dirt, breath coming in shallow, broken gasps.
Raine didn’t recognize her, but he recognized her condition instantly.
She was cursed. Not by human magic, not by any wizard’s hand—this was ancient, primal, the kind that came from the earth itself, from something older than spells and runes.
Her eyes fluttered open.
For a moment, Raine froze. Elven eyes were usually clear, crystalline, unsettling in their beauty. But hers were fractured—one shimmering silver, the other veiled in swirling dark veins. She stared at him without truly seeing.
“Help…” Her voice cracked like thin ice. “Please…”
Raine exhaled, tension loosening just enough to move. He knelt beside her, inspecting the dark veins climbing up her arms like living ink. Her magic was fighting the curse but losing rapidly.
“Don’t touch me—” she gasped suddenly, panicked. “It spreads—”
“I know what I’m doing,” Raine said through clenched teeth.
He wasn’t sure he did, but turning back wasn’t an option. He placed two fingers on her wrist. A jolt shot through him—so strong he nearly pulled away as his runes exploded with light.
His magic surged to meet hers.
Chaos met chaos.
The curse met his darkness.
And for a heartbeat—just one—everything stilled.
His unstable power, which usually clawed and raged inside him, quieted. Completely.
Like her presence soothed it.
Her curse, which had been spiraling toward her heart, halted its advance.
They were stabilizing each other.
Raine sucked in a breath, stunned.
“Well… that’s new,” he muttered.
Her fingers trembled as she gripped his sleeve. “Who are you?”
“Someone you’re very lucky stumbled across you,” he said. “Can you move?”
She shook her head weakly. “I was… banished. They said I would contaminate the forest. They said I would… destroy everything I touched.” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to—”
“Save it,” Raine said, though not unkindly. “You’re dying. We’ll talk later.”
But the girl’s eyes fluttered again, focus slipping.
“No,” she whispered. “Listen. They’re coming.”
Raine stiffened. “Who?”
“My people.” Her breath hitched. “To finish what they started.”
Of course. Elves handled their problems quietly. A cursed princess wasn’t a tragedy—it was a threat.
Raine’s mind raced. If elves were hunting her, and the Guild tracked him as always, staying here meant suicide.
“Alright,” he said firmly. “You’re coming with me.”
She blinked at him, confused and half-conscious. “Why?”
Raine hesitated.
He couldn’t tell her the truth—not yet.
Not that her presence was stabilizing the very darkness consuming him.
Not that touching her felt like breathing clean air after years of drowning.
Not that saving her might be the only way to save himself.
Instead, he said:
“Because you asked for help.”
Her body relaxed in his arms as he lifted her effortlessly, her head resting against his shoulder. Her magic pulsed weakly, threads of shadow curling around him but not harming him.
For the first time in years, Raine’s power didn’t lash out.
It settled.
As if recognizing her.
As if choosing her.
He glanced toward the trees, senses sharpening. Leaves rustled unnaturally, distant footsteps whispering across the soil. The hunters weren’t far.
Raine tightened his hold on the girl.
“Looks like trouble found us both,” he murmured. “And something tells me this is just the beginning.”
He stepped into the shadows of the forest, the cursed princess trembling in his arms, and walked back toward the one place his past couldn’t reach him fast enough—
Home.
Where fate had already begun rewriting itself.
