Whispers of the crimson rose
In the deadly city of Elysara, secrets don't just kill they destroy kingdoms.
Seraphina was never meant to wield the Crimson Rose, an ancient power capable of saving her people... or burning the entire city to ashes. But when the ruthless Black Veil rises from the shadows to claim it, she becomes their next target.
Hunted, betrayed, and forced into a dangerous alliance, Seraphina finds herself bound to Cassian a cold, mysterious warrior with secrets darker than the war itself.
He's dangerous. Unpredictable. And the only one who can keep her alive.
But as enemies close in and the truth about the Crimson Rose begins to unravel, Seraphina realizes something far more terrifying:
The real threat isn't the war.
It's what she's becoming.
And if she loses control...
Elysara won't survive her.
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Chapter 13
The wind had changed.
Seraphina felt it before she even reached the palace gates.
The Thornblade was hidden beneath her cloak, strapped against her thigh, but it pulsed faintly warm, alive.
Watching.
Cassian stepped from the shadows as she approached the corridor entrance.
"You went," he said quietly.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
His eyes searched her face, lingering too long.
"And?"
She hesitated.
Then, softly, "We're running out of time."
They moved through the silent halls together. The palace slept or pretended to. Servants avoided eye contact. Guards stood too stiffly
Fear was spreading.
"The Queen Mother has called for you at first light," Cassian said. "Private audience."
Seraphina's stomach tightened.
"She knows."
"She suspects."
"That's worse."
They stopped outside her chamber door.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Cassian finally broke the silence. "Did she give you something?"
Seraphina studied him.
He always saw too much.
She reached beneath her cloak and drew the Thornblade halfway free.
It glimmered faintly in the dark corridor.
Cassian's breath caught.
"That's not ordinary steel."
"No," she whispered. "It isn't."
He didn't reach for it. Didn't recoil either.
Instead, he asked, "What will it cost you?"
Her throat tightened.
"Everything, probably."
Silence stretched between them.
Then
Footsteps echoed from the far end of the hall
Not guards.
Heavier.
Armored.
Royal armor.
Cassian's expression hardened instantly.
"Inside," he muttered.
They slipped into her chamber just as three palace sentinels marched past.
And at their center
The High Inquisitor.
Seraphina's blood ran cold.
"He hasn't been summoned in years," she whispered.
Cassian's jaw clenched. "The Queen is no longer investigating. She's preparing."
"For what?"
His eyes met hers.
"For you."
At dawn, the throne room felt like a battlefield disguised in gold.
The Queen Mother sat poised, her silver crown gleaming beneath stained light. Beautiful. Untouchable.
Deadly.
Seraphina stepped forward alone.
Cassian was forced to remain behind the marble line reserved for guards.
The Queen's gaze was sharp.
"You were absent from your chambers last night."
It wasn't accusation.
It was confirmation.
"I couldn't sleep," Seraphina replied evenly.
"Strange," the Queen murmured. "The veil thinned at midnight."
The words struck like a blade.
Seraphina did not react.
The Queen rose slowly.
"You've always been special, child. But special things require control."
She descended the steps toward Seraphina.
"The relic inside you - it is unstable."
"You don't know that."
A faint smile curved the Queen's lips.
"I know more than you think."
Her voice dropped to a whisper only Seraphina could hear.
"You met her."
Not a question.
A statement.
Ice flooded Seraphina's veins.
The Queen leaned closer.
"She always chooses wrong."
Before Seraphina could respond-
The massive throne behind them groaned
A crack split down its center.
Gasps filled the chamber.
The marble fractured.
A faint red glow seeped from within.
The Thornblade burned against Seraphina's skin.
The throne.
It was feeding the curse.
Exactly as Rhiannon said.
The Queen turned slowly toward it.
Her expression did not show fear.
It showed irritation.
"Seal it," she ordered coldly.
The High Inquisitor stepped forward, raising a staff carved with runes.
Seraphina felt it instantly
A suppression spell.
To bind her.
To cage the Rose.
The runes ignited.
Chains of light shot toward her.
Cassian moved before anyone else.
Steel flashed.
He intercepted the first chain.
The throne exploded.
Not outward
Inward.
A shockwave knocked everyone to the floor.
Smoke swallowed the chamber.
When it cleared-
The throne was cracked in two.
And beneath it
Roots.
Black, twisted roots pulsing with red light.
The entire hall fell silent.
The Queen Mother stared at the exposed roots.
For the first time
She looked afraid.
Seraphina slowly rose to her feet.
The Thornblade slid into her hand like it had always belonged there.
"The curse doesn't live in me," she said quietly.
"It lives in the crown."
Every noble in the chamber gasped.
The Queen's gaze sharpened into something lethal.
"You dare."
Seraphina stepped forward.
The blade glowed brighter.
"I don't dare."
Her voice echoed unnaturally.
"I remember."
The roots beneath the throne began to writhe.
Outside
War horns sounded from beyond the city walls.
Cassian looked toward the distant gates.
"They're here."
The rival kingdom.
The enemy long silent.
Drawn by the Rose's awakening.
The Queen Mother's lips curved into something dark.
"Good," she whispered.
Seraphina felt her stomach drop.
"You wanted this," she breathed.
The Queen's eyes burned.
"I built this kingdom on blood. I will not let you unravel it."
The roots burst upward.
Crimson light filled the throne room.
And the war began.
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8.2
Overwhelmed by hatred and distress, the young Alpha Kaiden swears to make his brother pay the price of his betrayal...
When her lover defected the King without any warning, the vengeful new Alpha had already come to the poor human girl Ophelia , claiming that she should pay the debt.
***
"You will beg me to fuck you if you want your lover to live," Alpha King Kaiden had lost all his humanity.
"How dare you do this? I'm your brother's mate!" Ophelia whimpered, holding her hands to her breasts.
"That brother who wanted my crown and my life? Fuck him and fuck you!" The furious Alpha didn't care about it anymore.
He wanted revenge!
He grasped her hands and pinned them over her head. Her beautiful body appeared as the silk cloth quickly slid down.
She's damn gorgeous when she was completely naked!
"Well, no wonder my brother wanted to fuck you," Kaiden taunted with a smirk, "but now it's I who will be the one to steal your virginity." Kaiden claimed as he tighten her waist, making her approaching to his d*ck.
"Pl----ease do------nt," her voice was drowned out while his wild kiss fell on her lips.
At this moment, Ophelia knew her life now became a disaster...
8.2
For three years, nineteen-year-old Ella Campbell rotted in a freezing psychiatric isolation room.
Her billionaire family didn't visit her once, only pulling her out today to force her to publicly apologize to Ashlyn, the perfect sister who had framed her.
At Ashlyn's glamorous engagement gala, Ella was treated worse than a stray dog and forced to watch her childhood sweetheart propose to her sister.
When Ella showed no jealousy, her brother Ivan dragged her onto a dark balcony and nearly choked her to death.
Her mother didn't even check if Ella was breathing, merely ordering a makeup artist to paint thick concealer over the dark purple handprints on Ella's neck so the family's stock price wouldn't drop.
Standing under the blinding stage lights in a shapeless gray dress, facing three hundred mocking Wall Street executives, Ella was supposed to be the broken, obedient psycho the Campbells needed.
"I am deeply sorry for the pain I caused."
She was supposed to end the apology there and bow to her abusers, but Ella didn't shed a single tear.
"My only regret is that I didn't insist on waiting for the police to arrive that night. I deeply regret that I didn't demand a full, legal toxicology report to prove to everyone exactly what happened."
As the ballroom erupted into suspicious whispers and her paralyzed twin brother finally saw the violent bruises hidden beneath her makeup, Ella's counterattack against the Campbell family officially began.
7.9
He tilted her chin up, his touch deceptively gentle.
"You're trembling," he whispered, brushing his thumb over her lips, slow enough to make her shiver.
"Is it fear..." His gaze lingered on her mouth. "Or me?"
Her pulse stuttered, betraying her. He was too close, and her body didn't seem to remember which feeling came first, terror or desire.
****
Elena Castellano never thought her father would trade her freedom to keep her safe. But after a violent attack changes everything, she is forced to marry the one man she has every reason to be afraid of, Stefano Bernardo, the ruthless heir to one of Milan's most dangerous families.
To the world, it's a union between two powerful families.
To Stefano, it's the sweetest revenge.
Stuck in a marriage built on deceit and danger, Elena must fight not only for her freedom but also for her life, because Stefano's revenge runs deeper than she ever imagined.
And if she truly wants to live, she must face the truth: the real danger isn't her husband's revenge; it's falling for him.
He married her to destroy her family.
But she might become the death of him - literally.
8.4
"How can you smile like that when neither of your fathers are here at your own wedding reception?" Pond asked, eyeing Dunk, who stood in the gallery, smiling towards his newly-wedded husband.
Dunk's smile didn't waver, but his eyes darkened. He turned to Pond, voice sharp, "Do you think I don't care? That I'd go against them on purpose?"
Pond responded without hesitation, "Aren't you doing exactly that?"
"No, I'm not," Dunk snapped. His voice dropped lower, colder. "I'm standing here for my pride-the same pride he crushed. I'm not a child who goes crying to his parents. He destroyed me, P'Pond. Now it's my turn. I'm going to destroy his life-completely."
Pond looked shaken. "You can't marry someone for revenge, Dunk. I told you-I'm here for you. I'll never let anyone from the Guthithanan family hurt you again."
Dunk's voice cracked as he exploded, "But he crossed the line that night!" He scanned the room and quickly pulled Pond into a quieter corner.
His voice was low and furious. "He shattered everything I had. And now, with this marriage, I'm going to make him live with the consequences. He's trapped with me now-forever. I won't let him walk away so easily."
His gaze flicked across the room-directly to Joong, who stood beside Sarawat, calmly speaking to a business partner. Joong caught Dunk's stare and instinctively looked his way.
Dunk raised his champagne glass with a mocking smile. A toast to war.
Joong clenched his jaw, returning the gesture coolly-but his burning eyes slid to Pond, full of rage and warning.
9.6
Nelson Smith has been struggling for survival due to kidney failure. Without a transplant, he has less than four months to live.
No one in his family matched after tests were done. Not even his siblings, parents or cousins, except for one person, Janice Capuno, his wife.
Janice used to be the darling of a wealthy Dynasty, until she hid her identity and married the man she loves, Nelson Smith, against her parent's wishes.
Instead of getting love, she was treated like a servant by her mother-in-law, mocked as a gold-digger by her sister in-law, but for her husband, his love towards her remained unshakable. He'd never ceased defending and protecting her from his family, that's why when the doctors confirmed her to be a match, she didn't hesitate to get herself cut open to save Nelson's life.
****
There was barely thirty minutes to the surgery, and Janice was already in her hospital gown, waiting to get cut and her kidney given out to save her husband's life, when the reality of everything she had believed in came changing in her eyes.
"Babe....my phone...switch it off...battery." Nelson pointed to his bag weakly before the sedative took full action on him. Just before she'll put the phone off, a WhatsApp notification suddenly popped up. It was from Tricia, his University ex-girlfriend.
"Baby, has the fool gone into the theatre yet? I can't wait for this to be over. Once you get the kidney, we're done with her." The message read.
8.8
Fleeing shadows in the hallway, Adrian Vale knew betrayal came from those closest. A fortune inherited meant little when blood turned cold. Last breaths tasted of lies whispered at dinner. Trust shattered like glass underfoot. Murder arrived wearing a familiar smile.
Yet his eyes opened somewhere beyond belief.
Beneath the quiet of her body.
Everything still there inside his head - Adrian suddenly sees it clearly, a deep dread rising
Some who killed him walk free today, holding influence, their plans against his kin far from finished.
This moment changes everything - he'll learn each hidden truth as he gets older.
Right away, life unfolds differently for Adrian - quietly shifting odds, pulling people close, growing stronger where no one sees. A fight without sound starts at his first breath.
Becoming clear to everyone, that moment shifts everything...
By then, chances are gone.