Night had fallen like curtain over the ravaged land.
The battlefield reeked of iron and blood.
The moonlight danced over bloodied steel and fallen soldiers.
The silence was heavy - until Seraphine walks through it, not as a survivor but as a warning.
She strode across the corpses , her boots sinking on the bloodied earth.
She knelt only once - to claim her sword from the chest of the dying general.
They had named her monster. Cursed her with titles forged in fear - Widow of War, The Crimsom Curse.
But monsters don't bleed for their people. Queens do.
And Seraphine?
She was both.
Her armor was cracked, her hands stained. Her braid hung loose, soaked in blood that wasn't hers.
Around her, men who once doubted her knelt in silence, offering no cheers. Not for her. Not for a princess they feared more than the enemies they fought.
A soft shuffle broke the air.
A messenger, trembling, approached her with shaky hands.
She took the scroll, didn't blink as she read the seal- House Thorne.
Seraphine's jaw clenched.
The words sliced deeper than any blood could.
"Your highness.... Your engagement has been formally announced. "
Engaged.
To the crown prince of a peace-treaty nation. A fragile promise wrapped in politics. Not love. Not loyalty. Not even respect.
No one spoke of the battlefield she just survived.
No one sang of the blood she spilled.
She crushed the scroll in her fist, "Let them rejoice,"she wisphered to the wind.
In the dim glow of her tent, the fire danced weakly.
"Alone, finally. " She breathed, but it sounded hollow.
The campfire flickered low in her tent. She stared at the crushed scroll - mocking her with it's pristine gold lettering.
Outside, wind whistled like a whispered promise.
Unseen, unheard, he stood on the ridge above, watching the fire in her eyes, weight on her shoulders.
"Not yet, "he murmured, voice low and dark, " But soon. "
In the dark, where monsters watched and kings bled.
She ruled alone - and yet, she was not alone.
And the one who would burn down the world for her had already begun to move.