Chapter 2 FOUND

CASSAIN

I never dream, kings like me do not dream.

Monsters like me cannot dream.

Yet for years, every time I shut my eyes, all I ever saw... was her.

Evelessa.

The child with silver eyes and fire-lit limbs.

The only being alive who wasn't afraid of me.

The one fate carved for me.

The one I lost.

Not by choice.

Not by desire.

Not by fate being kind.

On the night I was meant to meet her , as always...

I fell.

A coma.

A fucking coma.

The King of Shadows, Master of Realms, brought down by an illness no one could understand.

Her laughter in the clearing was the last sound I heard.

Her small hands throwing wildflowers at me.

Her smile, bright and fearless.

Then blackness.

Nothing.

I always wake from the memory choking on the same fear that has stalked me for years.

"Your Majesty," someone warns quietly, "your eyes-"

"I know."

They're burning.

Molten gold.

My soldiers stiffen immediately. They've been trained for this.

When my eyes shift like this, it means only one thing:

She is near.

Or at least... my mind believes she is.

I run a hand through my hair and lean against the cold metal wall of the Athletics Centre.

This campus.

This building.

This air.

It carries her.

"How many years now?" Lucian, my deputy, murmurs.

"Six," I breathe. "Six years without her voice. Six years without her scent."

"Six years of outbursts," he mutters.

I glare. He wisely shuts up.

The truth stays the same.

When I woke from the coma, she was gone.

Her father vanished with her and her brothers.

Their scent erased. Their trail removed.

As if they had never existed.

And I-

I tore the world apart searching for her.

I remember waking as if it happened moments ago.

I rose upright in bed, chest heaving, fingers clawing the headboard.

"Where is she?" I growled.

Even my council , warriors who commanded thousands , recoiled from me.

"Your Majesty," the healer stammered, "you've been unconscious for three months-"

"Where. Is. She?"

Pity filled the healer's eyes.

I nearly ripped out his throat.

"She's gone," Lucian whispered. "Her father took her. Even the royal trackers couldn't follow."

Something inside me shattered.

I burned villages.

Demanded answers.

Threatened elders.

Interrogated seers.

I even begged the Ancient Oracle , a woman I despise.

Her words:

"You will not find her until the world decides you are ready."

I hit her.

She only laughed.

Years.

I searched for years.

Every realm.

Every town.

Every coven.

Nothing.

"Cassain," Lucian's voice pulls me back. "Your heart is racing."

Then,

The gym doors open.

Students walk in laughing, talking, oblivious.

Humans.

I've been hiding among them, wearing masks:

Ice hockey star.

Billionaire heir.

Third-year student.

All lies.

Until the one scent that can break me fills the air.

Warm. Soft.

Jasmine dipped in fire.

My whole body goes rigid.

Lucian notices. "What is it?"

My voice is barely a breath.

"Her."

And then she walks in.

Evelessa.

My mate.

My curse.

My salvation.

My obsession.

My tiny spark,

now grown into something dangerous and devastatingly beautiful.

She steps into the gym and the entire world stumbles.

Sound fades.

Time slows.

My vision fractures.

Dark hair in a messy bun.

A sweatshirt clinging to curves that make my teeth ache.

Pink lips.

Silver eyes , still bright, still sharp, still mine.

My gaze follows her brothers guiding her inside.

Overprotective idiots.

But I barely see them.

I see her.

"Cassain," Lucian warns. "Your eyes."

I don't care.

She looks at me.

Directly at me.

Electricity rips down my spine.

Her lips part.

Her heartbeat stutters.

She remembers.

My mate.

Found.

Finally.

My men murmur:

"Is it truly her?"

"She's... stunning."

A roar explodes out of me, shaking the wall.

They all fall back instantly.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

She jolts and quickly looks away.

Good.

Be afraid.

Run if you want.

It changes nothing.

She's here now.

I'm never letting her vanish again.

Then some blonde cheer captain starts tormenting her.

A Barbie-looking parasite with a death wish.

"I'm going to tear that girl in half," I growl.

"Cass," Lucian hisses, "humans are fragile. Please delay murder until after midterms."

I breathe. Barely.

Then the coach calls her name.

"Evelessa, you're up."

She walks to the middle of the gym and every man in the room stares.

Idiots.

"She's incredible-"

"Who is she-"

The sound I make is not human.

My soldiers immediately form a shield behind me.

"Look away if you want to live," Lucian warns them.

Then she dances.

And gods,

the universe bows.

Her body bends, rolls, snaps into shapes that make my bones shake.

Hair flying like dark fire.

Legs slicing the air.

Hips moving like molten honey.

I grip the railing so hard the metal bends.

"Holy hell..." Lucian breathes.

One hockey player whispers, "Cass, are you-"

I turn my head.

He runs.

Good.

No one watches her like that but me.

She finishes her move, breathless and divine,

and I forget to breathe entirely.

Then,

She runs out.

Straight to the locker room.

Panic slices through me.

I follow.

"Cassain!" Lucian hisses. "Not in public-!"

Too late.

A King retrieves what is his.

The moment I step inside, her scent slams into me.

Water.

Jasmine.

Heat.

I'm undone.

She leans over the sink, water dripping down her neck.

I take one step.

Then another.

Until I'm right behind her.

Her breath falters.

Good.

I lower my face, brushing her neck with my nose.

Her pulse flutters like wings.

I breathe her in.

Long. Deep.

Something ancient inside me awakens.

Mine.

Mine.

MINE.

"Evelessa," I whisper. "I've found you at last."

She freezes.

"You, you shouldn't be here," she whispers.

I smile.

"My love... I go wherever you are."

My hand slides to her hip.

She trembles.

"I will not lose sight of you again."

She turns, palms pressed to my chest, silver eyes burning with old hurt.

"You left me," she whispers.

The words gut me.

"I never left you," I breathe. "I was in a coma."

She blinks, stunned.

"When I woke... you were gone. I searched every world. Every day. For years."

My chest burns.

"I nearly lost my mind."

Her voice cracks. "My father, my brothers, they don't want-"

"I don't care," I hiss. "Because you're mine."

Her breath shatters.

I almost kiss her.

Almost.

But the door swings open.

"Eve? You okay?" her brother calls.

She gasps.

I disappear.

But I leave something behind.

A soft bite on her neck.

A promise.

A claim.

Found you.

And I'm never losing you again.