Rosaline’s scream cut through the midnight air like glass shattering.

It was not the kind of cry born from fear.

It was pain.

Pure, raw, unbearable pain.

The sound tore itself from her throat so violently that even Xandros...who had faced battlefields without blinking...felt his entire body lock.

"Rosaline!"

He caught her just as her knees gave out.

One second before, she had been smiling at the moon, her pale face glowing with innocent delight as she announced her eighteenth birthday.

The next....her entire body started convulsed.

Her fingers clawed at his sleeve so tightly the fabric bunched beneath her nails.

Her head fell backward.

Another scream ripped out of her.

"Make it stop...!"

Her voice broke on the last word.

Xandros’ jaw clenched.

He had no idea what was happening.

But for the first time in years...

he felt panic.

Real panic.

Her body folded inward, her hands clutching her chest as if something inside her were tearing itself apart.

Her white hair spilled over his arm like moonlight as he lowered her carefully to the grass.

"Rosaline." His voice dropped, rougher now. "Look at me."

She couldn’t.

Her eyes were squeezed shut, tears slipping from beneath her lashes.

"It hurts," she gasped.

The words came out broken.

"It hurts so much..."

"I know."

No.

He didn’t know.

But he needed her to hear calm in his voice.

Even if it was a lie.

Her entire body began trembling.

Then...

the air changed.

Xandros stilled.

He felt it immediately.

Magic.

Ancient.

Wild.

It rose around them like a storm.

The wind sharpened.

The grass bent outward in circles around Rosaline’s body.

Her white hair lifted from the ground as though unseen hands had touched it.

And then...

light.

A silver glow burst from beneath her skin.

Xandros recoiled a bit

Not from fear.

From shock.

The light poured from her chest first.

Then her hands.

Then her eyes.

Her entire body illuminated the dark courtyard.

"What in the gods..."

He had seen many forms of magic.

Blood magic.

Shadow magic.

Ancient imperial seals.

None looked like this.

This was alive.

Rosaline screamed again, and suddenly her back arched violently.

Then....something moved beneath her skin.

Xandros saw it.

A raised line pushing beneath her shoulder blades.

His eyes narrowed.

No.

Impossible.

Her dress tore.

Not much.

Just enough.

And from beneath the torn silk....

something emerged.

A sharp inhale left him.

Feathers.

White.

Pure white.

They pushed through her back in trembling bursts.

One feather.

Then ten.

Then hundreds.

Rosaline cried out louder.

"Xandros...!"

Her hand reached blindly for him.

He took it instantly.

Her fingers crushed his.

He did not let go.

"It’s alright."

A lie again.

Nothing about this was alright.

But he kept speaking anyway.

"I’m here."

Her breathing became erratic.

The wings kept growing.

Slowly at first.

Then all at once.

They unfurled violently.

Massive.

Glowing silver beneath the full moon.

White feathers spread wider and wider until they surrounded them both.

The wind exploded outward.

Dust rose.

Nearby guards shouted.

Some stumbled backward.

One fell to his knees.....and soon all of them became dazed as they stood there with a focus.

Xandros ignored all of them.

His eyes never left her.

Rosaline’s entire body trembled.

Her lips parted in shock.

She could feel it now.

Behind her.

Attached to her.

"No..."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

"No..."

She twisted her neck.

Saw them.

And froze.

Her own scream died in her throat.

Her face drained of all color.

"What... is that?"

Her voice cracked.

Her eyes lifted slowly toward him.

Terrified.

"What is happening to me?"

For once...

Xandros had no answer.

He stared at her.

At the glowing wings.

At the silver aura surrounding her body.

At the impossible beauty of it.

And then...

memory struck him.

A sentence.

Ancient and long buried.

Something his father once said when he was a child.

When the moon chooses her... the sleeping blood awakens.

His eyes widened.

No.

It couldn’t be.

But then...

a second voice interrupted.

"Step away from her."

The voice was cold.

Sharp.

Known.

Xandros turned instantly.

Kiel.

The white-haired man stood at the far edge of the courtyard.

His gray eyes were fixed entirely on Rosaline.

And for the first time since meeting him...

Xandros saw fear on his face.

Not anger.

Fear.

Kiel stepped closer.

Slowly.

His gaze never leaving the wings.

"She awakened."

Xandros moved immediately.

He shifted in front of Rosaline.

Blocking Kiel’s view.

"She is my wife."

Kiel laughed.

But there was no humor in it.

"You think that matters?"

His pale eyes sharpened.

"You have no idea what she is."

"I know enough."

"No." Kiel’s jaw tightened. "You know nothing."

Behind Xandros, Rosaline gasped softly.

The pain had begun to lessen.

But the wings remained.

Heavy.

Real.

Her hands trembled as she touched one feather.

It was soft.

Warm.

Attached.

Her breath hitched.

"This can’t be real..."

"It is," Kiel said.

Rosaline looked up.

His gaze softened when it landed on her.

A dramatic contrast to the hostility he usually carried.

"You’ve awakened," he said quietly.

"And now they’ll come for you."

"Who?"

Before he could answer...

Xandros spoke.

"Enough."

His voice carried command.

The kind that ended wars.

Kiel met his stare.

The air between them thickened.

"If you care about her," Kiel said slowly, "you’ll stop pretending this is normal."

"I never said it was."

"Then protect her."

Xandros’ eyes narrowed.

"That I always will?"

Kiel looked at Rosaline.

Then at the sky.

Then back to him.

"From what she is becoming."

And then...

he disappeared.

Not dramatically.

Not in smoke.

Simply gone.

As if the night had swallowed him.

Rosaline stared after him.

Her breathing remained uneven.

Her wings trembled behind her.

"Xandros..."

He turned back immediately.

She looked smaller now.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

Her courage had cracked.

"What is happening to me?" she whispered.

That question hit him harder than it should have.

Because she trusted him enough to ask it.

And he didn’t know.

He crouched in front of her.

Carefully.

Slowly.

Then lifted his hand toward her face.

She flinched.

Not from him.

From everything.

His palm rested gently against her cheek.

Warm and Steady.

"You’re safe."

Her eyes filled.

"That doesn’t answer anything."

"No."

"It doesn’t."

A tear escaped.

"What if I’m a monster like they said ?"

The words came out so quietly they nearly disappeared.

Xandros stared at her.

Then his thumb brushed the tear away.

"You’re not."

"How do you know?"

Because monsters didn’t look like frightened girls trying not to cry.

Because monsters didn’t worry about what they were becoming.

Because monsters didn’t ask permission before breaking.

But he said none of that.

Instead....

he answered simply.

"Because I’ve met monsters."

His eyes darkened.

"You’re nothing like them."

Her breathing steadied.

Only a little.

But enough.

Then she asked the question that truly mattered.

"Do the others know?"

His gaze shifted toward the guards.

Most had looked away as if lost.

"They won’t know something happened."

"And the Emperor?"

Xandros’ expression hardened.

"The Emperor is dead."

That silenced her.

Right.

She had forgotten.

The arrest.

The dungeon.

Everything that had happened before midnight.

It all returned at once.

Her shoulders sagged.

"What happens now?"

He stood.

Then bent down.

And lifted her into his arms.

She startled.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you home."

"My wings..."

"We’ll handle them."

"You say that like it’s normal."

"It isn’t."

His voice remained maddeningly calm.

"But standing in the courtyard discussing it won’t help."

Despite everything...

she laughed.

A tiny, breathless laugh.

And somehow that pleased him.

She curled instinctively into his chest.

Exhaustion hit her suddenly.

Hard.

Her eyes began closing.

"Xandros..."

"Yes?"

"Don’t let them see me."

His steps slowed. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He looked down at her.

Her lashes fluttered.

Her voice was almost gone.

"I don’t want them to fear me."

Something in his chest tightened.

"They won’t."

"You don’t know that."

"No."

He adjusted her more securely in his arms.

"But they’ll fear me more." He told her.

That earned the smallest smile from her.

Then she slept.

Just like that.

Her body surrendered to exhaustion.

Her head rested beneath his chin.

Her wings slowly folded inward around them both like a living cocoon.

Silver feathers wrapped around his shoulders.

Protective.

Instinctive.

As though even asleep...

some part of her had chosen him.

And that realization...terrified him more than the wings.

Because now he understood something dangerous.

He had been trying to protect her because she was his wife.

Because she was his responsibility.

Because politics demanded it.

That had been the lie.

The truth?

He could no longer bear the thought of losing her.

And that...was going to be a total change.

As the mansion doors opened and the butler gasped at the sight of their glowing duchess asleep in his arms...

Xandros stepped inside.

His voice was ice.

"Do not speaks of this."

He understood immediately.

"Prepare her chamber."

Then, after a beat...

"No."

He looked down at Rosaline.

At the wings wrapped around them.

"At mine."

And carried her upstairs.