Blood & Moonlight

Elysia's blade was poised at the girl's throat, her breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps. The moon cast its silver light over the clearing, illuminating the delicate curve of her enemy's jaw, the gleam of her inhuman silver eyes. Moonborn. A creature of darkness. A thing she was meant to kill.

And yet-

Seraphine did not look like a monster.

She did not snarl or bare her fangs, did not summon shadows to strike. She only stared at Elysia with something unreadable in her gaze-something that unsettled her more than fear or hatred ever could.

"I should kill you," Elysia whispered, gripping her sword tighter.

Seraphine tilted her head, the moonlight making her silver blood shimmer where it trickled from a cut on her collarbone. She reached up slowly, her fingers ghosting over Elysia's wrist, not in defiance, but something softer.

"I know," Seraphine murmured. "So why haven't you?"

Elysia's pulse pounded. She didn't know the answer.

Because the moment their eyes met, something inside her shifted. Something she wasn't sure she could ever take back.

And in that instant, she knew-

Killing Seraphine wasn't the problem.

It was letting her live.