Darkness swallowed me whole.
Not the kind shaped by shadows or closed doors.
A deeper, colder dark that pulsed like its own heartbeat.
Silver veins slithered across the blackness like constellations.
The air smelled of frost and flame.
A voice echoed behind it all.
My daughter.
Welcome home.
My stomach twisted violently.
"No," I whispered to the void. "No, no, no—"
Silver light bled outward.
Forming his shape.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Crowned in obsidian and flame.
Eyes like twin silver moons staring through me.
The Beast King stepped toward me with slow, heavy grace, each movement radiating a terrifying calm.
"You know," he murmured.
I backed away instantly—but there was nowhere to go.
Just endless void and him.
"You shouldn't be glad," I choked. "I didn't want to know. I didn't ask—"
"You were never meant to ask," he said simply.
"You were meant to come."
He reached a hand out.
I flinched.
"Don't touch me."
A faint smile curved his mouth—wrong on a face carved from power and war.
"You are stronger than she was," he whispered. "Your mother trembled the first time she saw me."
My breath froze.
"My—my mother?"
Human mother?
Queen blood?
Who—?
He lifted a hand and the darkness shifted.
A vision formed—burning white at the edges.
A Memory: The First Queen
A woman stood in a crystal hall.
The First Queen.
Alive.
Vivid.
Her hair bound in braids of silver.
Eyes fierce and shining.
Facing the Beast King.
He wasn't monstrous then.
Still tall. Still terrifying.
But more man than legend—eyes softer, jaw unclenched, fire dimmed.
She stood inches from him.
"You will never control me," she said.
He touched her cheek gently—far too gently.
"You misunderstand," he had whispered.
"I do not wish to control you."
His voice held warmth.
Almost… devotion.
"I wish to protect you."
She slapped his hand away.
"I don't need your protection."
He stared at her… and something like heartbreak cracked across his expression.
"You do," he whispered.
"More than you know."
The vision shattered.
Back in the Void
I staggered backward, breath ripping from my lungs.
"That wasn't—she wasn't—what does that have to do with me?!"
He stepped closer.
"Everything."
"No."
"You are the last of her line," the Beast King murmured.
"And mine."
My hands shook violently.
"That's impossible," I whispered. "My mother—my human mother—"
"Was not your true mother."
My legs nearly gave out.
"N—no. No, you're lying."
"I do not lie," he said simply.
"You do," I spat, trembling. "All monsters lie."
A flicker—quick, sharp—crossed his features.
Something almost like pain.
But it vanished beneath steel calm.
"I am not a monster to you," he said quietly.
"You kidnapped me—marked me—tried to break me—"
"I claimed what was mine."
"You had no right—"
"I am your father."
The world crumbled under my feet.
My lungs burned.
This was wrong.
This was impossible.
I was human.
I had a human mother.
A human family.
"You're lying," I whispered again, weaker.
He sighed.
"You look like her," he said softly. "Not the human woman. The Queen."
My throat tightened.
"I look nothing like—"
"You have her eyes."
I froze.
"And her stubborn mouth."
My heart stuttered.
"And her spirit."
He lifted a hand as though to touch my face.
I jerked back. "DON'T."
His fingers stilled inches from my cheek.
A slow exhale left him.
A sound full of ancient exhaustion.
"You are the only thing left of her," he murmured.
"The only piece she did not destroy."
"Stop talking like—like I belong to you."
"You do."
"I DON'T."
Silver-fire flared across the void.
He didn't roar.
He didn't rage.
But the air trembled.
"You are the only heir of two bloodlines," he said softly.
"My blood.
Her crown."
His voice lowered.
"You are the key that will end this world or save it."
My breath shook violently.
"I don't want either."
"Your desires were never part of prophecy."
My voice cracked.
"I'm not your daughter."
"You are."
"I'm not."
A long silence.
Then—
"You think being mine makes you tainted," he said quietly.
I froze.
"You think it makes you unworthy of the wolf. Or the dragon. Or the others."
My heart slammed into my chest.
He stepped closer, silver eyes burning.
"You wonder if they will still want you."
His voice dipped lower.
"If they will still touch you."
My knees buckled.
No one was supposed to know that.
NO ONE.
"You protect them," he murmured, "but you fear they will turn from you."
I swallowed hard.
"Stop."
"Why?"
He took another step.
"Because I speak the truth you won't admit?"
I trembled.
He lifted a hand again—
and this time I couldn't back away fast enough.
His thumb brushed my cheek.
Cold.
Burning.
Wrong.
Before he could move further—
A voice screamed into the void.
KANAH!
Owain.
The void trembled.
The Beast King's eyes narrowed.
Another voice cut through:
Kanah, hold on—
(Yllas — furious, desperate)
A calmer voice:
We're coming—
(Gerrin)
And an annoyed one:
If you die, I'm killing you.
(Helion)
The Beast King's grip tightened.
His voice dipped into threat.
"They cannot reach you."
"Wanna bet?" a new voice snarled.
The void cracked.
A blast of wolf-instinct tore sideways, splitting the darkness.
Owain's aura flooded through—raw, violent, biting at the Beast King's silver.
"You stay AWAY from her!" he roared.
Yllas' fire ripped into the crack.
Gerrin's runes followed.
Helion added a sharp slash of golden light.
The void trembled—
The Beast King's silver eyes blazed.
"They dare."
Owain's voice roared again.
"LET HER GO!"
And something inside me responded.
Something violet.
Something deep.
Something the Queen awakened.
I screamed—
The seal exploded.
The Overload
Light tore through the void.
Violet, gold, silver, blue—
fusing into a storm.
The Beast King's form flickered for the first time.
A growl ripped from him.
"You will not escape me."
"I'm not yours!"
The seal's light surged.
He flinched—
subtle, but real.
The void shrieked and split open—
and I fell.
Through darkness.
Through light.
Through worlds.
A voice echoed before the fall ended:
Daughter.
When you awaken—
you will hate me.
And love me.
And fear me.
But you will not escape me.
The world shattered.
Kanah Awakens
I jolted awake with a gasping scream—
—and landed in Owain's arms.
His entire body shook with panic as he crushed me to his chest.
"KANAH—KANAH—KANAH—"
He grabbed my face, kissing my forehead, my cheeks, desperate, frantic.
"Are you here? Are you with me? Look at me—LOOK at me—"
"Owain—"
My voice cracked.
His eyes were red, wild, glowing amber.
"Don't you ever leave like that again," he choked.
Behind him—
Yllas stumbled, sweat running down his jaw, fury etched into every line of his body.
Gerrin collapsed to the floor, staff dimming.
Helion rubbed his temples, muttering curses.
Owain pressed his forehead to mine, voice breaking.
"Kanah. What happened?"
And for the first time—
I was afraid to answer.
Because the truth would break him.
Break all of them.
I swallowed.
"I saw him."
Owain's breath hitched.
"He spoke to me."
Yllas's jaw locked.
"He showed me something."
Gerrin's markings flared.
Helion whispered, "Shit."
I trembled.
"Owain…"
He lifted my face in both hands.
"It's okay," he whispered, voice trembling. "You're safe. Just tell us."
I closed my eyes.
"He said…"
My throat burned.
"He said I'm not just Queen-born."
Owain stiffened.
"He said…"
I couldn't finish.
The words stuck like poison in my throat.
Gerrin whispered, "Kanah… what did he say?"
I forced the words out—
"I'm his daughter."
Silence.
Owain froze—
like his soul ripped out of him.
Yllas closed his eyes, fire dimming.
Gerrin inhaled softly—the air trembling around him.
Helion's tail dropped, ears folding back.
Owain's voice cracked open, raw and broken.
"No."
I swallowed, tears burning.
"I'm sorry."
He shook his head violently, pulling me into the tightest embrace I'd ever felt.
"No. No. NO. I don't care. I don't—Kanah—I don't care—"
He held me like he was terrified I'd vanish again.
"I love you," he whispered fiercely. "I love you. I don't care whose blood flows in you."
I sobbed quietly against him.
Yllas stepped closer, voice soft but shaking.
"Kanah… listen to me. Blood does not determine who you are."
Gerrin added, "You don't become a monster because of lineage."
Helion ran a hand through his hair.
"You can be the Beast King's daughter, the First Queen's descendant, and still be… you."
But Owain—
Owain buried his face in my neck.
"I'm not losing you," he whispered, voice breaking.
"I don't care what he says."
"You're mine."
The seal pulsed inside me.
Violet.
Fierce.
Alive.
And the Beast King's whisper slid through the edges of my mind:
You will choose me in the end.
Blood always does.
I pushed the voice back with everything I had—
but the fear lingered.
Because a part of me wasn't sure if he was wrong.