Captive By The Curse

Name: Captive By The Curse
Rating: 5.0 (1 reviews)

Jade Rhodes

Romance | Ongoing

5.0

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On the day of her wedding, Princess Elara's future is shattered by a single prophecy from a bitter, uninvited guest. Fear spreads through the kingdom, and magic is swiftly outlawed. Anyone caught practicing it faces the harshest punishment. But when Elara's life is saved by someone using the very thing that's been banned, everything changes.Now, with the curse creeping closer to coming true, Elara is forced to work with the Prince Kaelos - her new husband. Together, they must uncover the truth behind the prophecy before it destroys everything they were meant to protect. What begins as cold duty and cooperation, slowly turns into something more. As their feelings for one another begins to deepen. But they soon realise that breaking the curse might come at a cost - a blooded sacrifice only one of them can pay.

Fantasy Revenge Curse Attractive Prince Royalty Drama Noble Mediaeval Romance

Chapter 10 A Royal Ruckus

Today 10:51

Chapter 1 Prologue

Kingdom of Aldovia

14th Day of the Frost Moon

Year 823, Month of Nareth

The scent of damp earth and iron filled the air. Beneath the pale light of the moon, a girl knelt on the cold forest ground, cradling the lifeless body of her father. "Father... Father, wake up." Her voice trembled as she shook him gently, her gentle hands stained red with his blood. Thick, dark liquid seeped from the gaping wound in his chest, soaking into the soil beneath him. As though the earth itself mourned with her.

His eyes-once warm, filled with laughter-were dull now, staring at nothing. His lips, always ready with a kind word or a story, were slightly parted, but no breath came from them. A choked sob escaped her. She pressed her forehead against his still-warm face, as if the touch alone could bring him back.

Her tears dripped onto his skin, tracing a path down his bloodied cheek, mingling with the filth and the silence of death. She couldn't understand it. One moment, he was standing proud, head held high as the king's guards surrounded him. He had not begged. He had not wept. He had looked up toward the heavens and whispered something she could not hear. And then the noose. The snap. And then nothing.

They had not even allowed her to hold him until it was over. They cast him into the woods like a dog. Then suddenly she heard it-the distant sound of horses' hooves pounding against the palace grounds. The murmurs between the air. The rustling of leaves disturbed by approaching figures.

They were still here. Panic flared in her chest, but beneath it burned something deeper, something colder. Slowly, she lifted her head, her tear-streaked face turning toward the trees. Shadows moved beyond the treeline, their silhouettes cast against the silver glow of the moon. It was them. The men who did this. The men who took everything from her.

Then she heard shouts. The crunch of boots. The snap of branches. "This way!" a voice barked through the trees. She froze. "Over there!" another man shouted, and a beam of torchlight cut through the darkness, landing on her kneeling form. "After her!" someone hissed. A soldier surged forward, his sword drawn.

She looked at her father's body, she didn't want to leave him. Not like this. Not alone in the dark. But if she stayed, she would die. "Stop! In the name of the crown." They yelled. Panic exploded through her. With a strangled cry, she forced herself to move.

Stumbling backward, she tore her gaze away from his still form and ran. The trees closed in around her as she plunged into the forest, the darkness swallowing her whole. She ran until her legs gave out. Until her lungs burned and her vision blurred. Until there was nothing left but the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.

She kept running until she finally reached a place she had never been. It was quiet. Cold. She could feel the presence of something eerie, something.....dark. Then the whispers began. Soft at first, rustling through the leaves, curling around her like smoke. They came from the forest itself, from the unseen depths where the light could not reach. She had heard of this place before. The cursed woods.

A place where no sane soul would dare tread. A place abandoned by gods and men alike. But she was not sane. Not anymore. She staggered forward, her mind hazy, her thoughts unraveling. She had nothing left. No home. No family. No future. Only the weight of his death. Pressing down on her shoulders like chains.

Before she knew it, her legs gave out and she fell to the door. He sobs echoing through the forest. Loud. Pitiful. heartbreaking. And then came a voice. One she recognised all too well. "What do you seek my dear?" The girl jolted up. Her heart began to race. "Do not fret, please. Calm yourself. I am here to help." "There is no way you can help me."

She said. Cleaning her tears. "I have been told you were born to ruin."

A woman cloaked in shadow, standing beneath the twisted limbs of an ancient tree emerged. Her eyes gleamed like embers in the dark, watching and waiting. "Ruin? Oh child no. What you hear is from the very lips of the ones who have brought you here today." "What do you want?" The girl asked, her voice cracking. "I only wish to help you." The woman said. "For how they cast me out, is how they have now cast you out and together, we can get what we truly want."

The woman smiled a devilish smile. "So I ask you again...what do you seek?" The girl swallowed the lump in her throat. "I seek....I seek justice." "Tsk tsk tsk." A slow smile curled the woman's lips. "No," she said softly. "You seek vengeance." She did not deny it. The woman reached out, brushing cold fingers against the girl's cheek, tilting her chin upward. "Then you have come to the right place."

The wind howled through the trees, carrying the scent of something ancient, something forbidden. The girl closed her eyes tightly as a loud shriek echoed throughout the forest. A sound made by neither human or beast. And then darkness swallowed her whole.