Prologue

P.S - You can skip this part. This is a teaser for the book. Timeline: Chapter 01–05 - Sage's Childhood, Chapter 06–07 - Sage's Oracle and Consort Lesson, Chapter 08 - Sage's Life in Angentha Land, where she will meet Damien - her destined mate.

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Sage

I had never been wanted.

Not when I was thirteen, kneeling in the ashes of our home, my mother’s lifeless body in my arms as flames swallowed what little life we had left.

Not when I was fifteen, shackled and bruised, another nameless slave among hundreds, learning that begging for mercy only earned more pain.

And certainly not now.

Not as I stood beneath the golden chandeliers of Angentha’s grand ballroom, wrapped in silks that felt like chains, waiting for a mate who had already chosen someone else.

The moment I entered, the whispers started.

“The slave’s daughter.”

“A half-blood future luna? What a joke.”

“She will just be the stain of the pure bloodline of our royalty. She’s always been nothing.”

They did not even try to lower their voices. I was meant to hear them.

I kept my chin high, my face unreadable, even as their words sliced through me like rusted daggers. I had long since mastered the art of enduring cruelty in silence.

But nothing could prepare me for this.

For him.

Damien Tobias Angentha.

My mate. My supposed fate. The man the moon goddess herself had bound me to.

The man who wasn’t even looking at me.

His attention—his everything—was fixated on someone else.

Rosana Florencia Drottghes.

She clung to his arm as if she had always belonged there, and perhaps she had. She was the daughter of the Drottghes Empire, a beautiful, perfect bloodline, and powerful—everything I was not. The way Damien leaned into her, the way his lips curved in the softest smile as she whispered into his ear—it was effortless.

It was devastating.

I was the unwanted bond.

She was the chosen one.

And I had never felt so small.

A cold shiver crawled down my spine, but I did not react. I refused to let them see how deeply it cut.

“You must make him accept you.”

My father’s words echoed in my mind, sharp as a blade against my throat.

“If he resists, offer him something no man would refuse.”

“Your purity.”

“Your body.”

“An heir.”

“Do not fail me, Sage.”

But I already did.

Because Damien had chosen her.

Because Rosana had won before I had even stepped into this cursed empire.

And they wanted me to watch.

They wanted me to stand there, in my fine silks and hollow title, and witness my own ruin.

The weight of it all was suffocating. The walls of the ballroom seemed to close in around me. I turned away, my vision blurring, and walked straight into the hands of a predator.

A touch too familiar. A grip too tight. A breath too close.

“Let’s see if Damien will still want you once you’re impure.”

Theoden Drottghes.

The moment I met his gaze, I already knew.

This was planned.

Rosana had set the stage. And Theoden . . . he was here to deliver the final blow.

“You will never escape, Sage. This is the only way to make you mine,” he murmured.

I yanked my hand back, but his grip only tightened.

“Let go,” I hissed under my breath, careful to keep my expression composed.

He leaned in closer, his lips brushing against my ear as he murmured, “Why rush? We should get to know each other, don’t you think?”

His fingers trailed along my arm, light but possessive.

Revulsion surged in my stomach. I had spent years as a slave, enduring the touch of those who saw me as property. I had fought my way out of the dirt and into a title, only to find myself here— a prey once more.

Not again.

I moved on instinct—sharp and desperate—sinking my teeth into his lip.

Theoden hissed, jerking back as blood welled from the wound. His grip loosened just enough for me to run.

I had one thought. One hope.

Find Damien.

He was my mate. My destined one. Surely. surely, he wouldn’t allow this.

“Damien—”

I crashed into him, my hands gripping his sleeves as if he were a lifeline. As if he were salvation.

For one foolish, desperate second, relief swelled in my chest. And then I saw his eyes. There was no concern in them, not even anger.

But disgust.

Cold. Unforgiving.

Behind me, Theoden stumbled forward, pressing a hand to his bloodied mouth, his expression a masterful mix of pain and innocence.

“She’s lying,” he said smoothly. “She’s trying to ruin my family.”

My breath stopped.

No.

I turned back to Damien, my pulse roaring in my ears.

“He’s the one who—”

The slap came before I could finish.

Fast. Hard. Final.

The sting barely registered. It wasn’t the pain of flesh meeting flesh that shattered me—it was the truth of it.

He didn’t believe me.

No.

He never did.

My knees threatened to give out, but I would not fall. Not here. Not before them.

Theoden smirked just like when Rosana bumped into me earlier. I had never been meant to succeed. And Greyson—the only one who had tried to defend me—was being dragged away in chains, punished for daring to stand by my side.

A soft laugh bubbled up my throat, but it wasn’t humor.

It was madness.

This was never about fate. It was a game. And I was the piece they had decided to break.

The air in the ballroom was suffocating. The walls blurred together. I had to leave. I had to get out. So I ran in the cold night air until I reached the lake.

Dark. Endless.

I stepped forward, but a hand yanked me back.

A force unrelenting. A grip strong enough to ground me.

I gasped, struggling, twisting—until I met his eyes.

Burning crimson. A face from a memory. A dance. A whispered warning. A handkerchief pressed into trembling fingers.

“Do you really want to die?”

I knew him.

My breath hitched. His grip tightened.

“Wait for me,” he murmured, voice low, steady. “I will get you out of here.”

And just like that, the night that broke me shifted.

This night was not an ending anymore.

But a beginning.

A beginning.