By dawn, the dungeon was a mess.
Zarek's breathing was ragged, his body drenched in sweat as he regained consciousness.
The silver chains glowed faintly where they bit into his skin, still hot from restraining a creature far stronger than any ordinary metal could ever withstand.
A beast guard stepped forward and offered him a thick towel.
"Your Majesty."
Zarek ran the cloth across his face, jaw clenched. "How many this time?"
Commander Aldric answered with a bored bluntness, as if reporting livestock failures.
"Four dead."
Zarek shut his eyes briefly. "And the injured?"
Maelina exhaled, visibly tired. "Many."
The king's fingers tightened around the towel. "See to their families. Give them the best we have."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
And just like that, as if this was simply routine, the room shifted back to the usual efficiency.
The seers checked their wounds. The guards moved to clear the mess. Maelina pressed her palm to her temple, recovering from the power she'd spent stabilizing him.
But Zarek wasn't himself.
Because the scent was still there.
Sweet. Unfamiliar and impossible to ignore.
It clung to his senses like snowfall on skin, cold, soft, yet electrifying.
He rose, the chains falling away now that he had regained control. The seers stepped back instinctively.
Aldric cleared his throat. "My king… about Ravehaven."
He brought out a scroll. "The new servants have been brought in. They've already begun their duties."
"Good." Zarek nodded, distracted.
The smell grew stronger. Pulling him. Calling him.
Even after nights of the full moon, his beast had never behaved like this. But now?
His chest tingled, right over the place where a bond mark should appear when a beast found his soulmate.
It pulsed.
They walked down the corridor, boots echoing in the quiet hall. The closer he got to his wing, the sharper the scent grew.
Aldric hurried to catch up. "Your Majesty? Are you..."
Zarek raised one hand, silencing him.
Because there, ahead of them, stood a small human figure, bowing so low her forehead nearly brushed the tray in her hands.
She held herself perfectly still, waiting for them to pass.
The moment he stepped closer, the scent slammed into him like a storm.
His heart lurched. His breath stopped. His beast pushed violently beneath his skin.
His chest burned, the bond mark trying to form.
But just as he tried to look back at her face,
just as the heat tore through his ribs,
just as his soul violently recognized what his mind had not yet grasped...she hurried away, gone around the corner before he could say a word.
Zarek froze.
Aldric looked confused. "Your Majesty? What happened?"
"My soulmate."
Aldric paused.
He said nothing, not while Zarek was rigid as stone, staring at the empty hallway where the human had disappeared.
Not while his aura, still unstable from the full moon, pulsed dangerously.
He only followed silently until they reached the king's chamber.
The moment Zarek entered, every servant scrambled backward like frightened birds.
They drew his bath at record speed, set the steaming tub in place, bowed so low their hair brushed the floor, and fled the instant he dismissed them.
The door shut.
Only then did Aldric finally speak.
"Your Majesty." His voice was low but his eyes were wide. "Did you say…"
He swallowed.
"…your soulmate?"
Zarek did not answer.
He stood with his back to Aldric, shoulders tense, breathing uneven.
The silence itself was a confession.
Aldric stepped closer, disbelief cracking through his composure.
"That servant? The one bowing in the corridor?"
Still no response.
Zarek exhaled slowly, too slowly and finally turned.
His eyes were cold, burning, and unsettled all at once.
"Yes."
Aldric just stared, stunned into silence.
The Beast king's soulmate...a human?!!!
.
.
That night, Eliora could barely feel her legs by the time she dragged herself into the tiny servant room. Her whole body ached.
Kira, her roommate, looked up from her bed, smiling softly. "Eliora, long day?"
Eliora nodded, letting out a shaky breath. "Very long."
"Well… welcome," Kira said kindly. "Bathroom's free. You should wash up. You look frozen."
"Thank you," Eliora whispered and stepped inside.
The moment she removed the palace uniform, she froze.
"What… what is that?" she whispered to herself.
On her shoulder, through the mirror, right where her neck curved, was a mark. Faint, incomplete but shaped like some kind of animal.
A beast? She couldn't even tell.
"No, no… this...this wasn't here," she panicked, touching it with trembling fingers.
It tingled, almost burned.
She'd been feeling strange since entering the palace, but she'd blamed it on nerves. Now terror crawled up her spine.
She bathed quickly, almost frantically, scrubbing at the mark but it didn't fade.
When she stepped back into the room, Kira glanced at her.
"You okay?"
Eliora forced a nod. "Just tired."
She slipped into her bed. The sheets were warm, but she couldn't stop shaking.
That aura she'd felt earlier, those beasts she'd encountered in the hallway...she remembered them clearly, two huge figures, but one was much larger, he seemed more powerful, terrifying, yet something about his aura had pulled at her instead of pushing her away.
Her hands had fidgeted around the tray so badly she'd almost dropped it.
"Why did it feel like that?" she whispered into the pillow.
The mark tingled again.
Her throat tightened.
"What is happening to me?"