Page 5 of Her Fated Alpha Prince (Royal Dragons of Blackwater Islands #1)

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ARIANA

Sleep didn’t come easily.

The bed was too soft. The sheets, too smooth. Everything smelled like wildflowers and something darker—like the room had been carved out of the earth itself. But that wasn’t why she couldn’t sleep.

It was him.

Kael’s voice still echoed in her head. The way he’d said her name. The way he’d looked at her outside her room—like she was both a threat and something sacred.

And gods, the way her skin had buzzed when he got close.

Ariana shifted under the covers, her body warm despite the cool night air. Her thoughts wouldn’t shut up. Her heart wouldn’t settle.

She was used to chaos—tight schedules, bad dates, her phone lighting up with texts and half-meant promises. But this… this was a different kind of chaos. This world didn’t just move around her. It moved with her. Or maybe because of her.

She didn’t understand it. Not yet. But something inside her was cracking open.

She closed her eyes, tried to breathe deep, slow.

Tried not to think about how Kael had said she was dangerous.

Tried not to want him to say it again.

●

The dream took her by surprise.

She stood in the jungle, barefoot on damp moss. But the air shimmered like heat rising off a fire, though there was no flame in sight.

And she wasn’t alone.

A shadow moved between the trees—too tall, too still to be anything human. It didn’t speak, but she felt its attention like a hand on her skin.

Ariana took a step forward. The jungle didn’t feel threatening. It felt… aware.

Like it had been waiting.

The vines shifted beneath her feet, parting gently, guiding her. In the distance, a flame flickered—not wild, not consuming. It danced. Silver-white.

The same color she’d seen when Kael had looked at her during that meeting.

She walked toward it, drawn by something that wasn’t hers, but lived inside her now.

And when she reached the clearing, there was a pool—clear and still. Moonlight lit its surface, and her reflection looked back at her.

But it wasn’t just her.

Something ancient flickered behind her eyes. Something glowing.

Ariana gasped and stumbled back—but the forest didn’t let her fall. Vines curled around her wrists, not to trap, but to catch. Like they knew her.

The flames flared, silver and sharp, and a voice—not hers—spoke inside her chest.

“Remember who you are.”

She bolted upright in bed, heart pounding, skin damp.

Breathless. Shaking.

Alone.

Or… not quite.

Outside her window, the garden flowers were blooming in the dark.

She sat frozen in the bed, her breath loud in the stillness.

The dream clung to her skin like sweat. It didn’t feel like a normal dream. It felt like something had touched her—whispered into her. Like her bones were trying to tell her something she didn’t speak the language for.

Ariana rubbed her hands down her arms. Her skin was chilled, but the air in the room was warm. Warmer than before. A little too warm.

She swung her legs out of the bed and padded barefoot to the open archway.

The garden beyond shimmered under the moonlight.

And the flowers… gods, the flowers. Blooms that hadn’t been there earlier were now open, wide and pulsing with color—vibrant reds, deep violets, glowing gold at the edges like the tips had been kissed by fire.

She reached toward one, fingers hesitating just above the petals.

They moved. Turned slightly toward her touch, as if recognizing her.

Her stomach twisted.

This wasn’t possible. Plants didn’t just grow overnight. They didn’t respond like that. Not to people. Not to her .

She stepped back, her pulse roaring in her ears.

What the hell was happening to her?

A soft knock pulled her attention toward the door.

She froze.

Another knock—barely a tap.

She crossed the room slowly, not sure whether she wanted it to be him or not be him.

When she opened the door, no one was there.

Just a folded square of parchment on the floor.

She picked it up, fingers trembling slightly as she broke the seal.

The handwriting was sharp and deliberate.

“ If you feel something changing, say nothing. For now. We are being watched.”

Her heart dropped.

She read it again. And again.

Something changing.

They knew. Or at least, someone did.

And not just about her being human.

She folded the parchment and tucked it under the mattress. Her mind spun in loops—half-formed questions chasing shadows of answers.

She didn’t know who “V” was, but she had a sinking feeling it was the silver-haired man who’d introduced her as a noble’s daughter.

Elder Varos.

If he was warning her, that meant someone else was looking. Seryna, maybe. Or worse.

Ariana returned to the bed, but sleep stayed far away.

She lay awake for hours, staring at the ceiling, her body humming with restless heat.

Not just from fear. Not just from the dream.

It was him too.

Kael.

Even when he was gone, he lingered. In the air. In her thoughts. In the phantom place on her skin where his hand had rested.

She hated it.

And maybe, a little… she didn’t. Ariana lay still, eyes tracing the shadows that pooled in the corners of her room. The silence was thick, but her mind was loud—fractured pieces of dreams, warnings, and that haunting presence of Kael weaving through every thought.

She stared at the ceiling, the plaster cracked like the fissures spreading inside her.

What was happening to her wasn’t just a change—it was a fracture in everything she thought she knew about herself.

The garden outside, the silver flame in the dream, the voice that wasn’t hers, the vines catching her fall—all threads pulling her toward something vast and unknowable.

Her fingers curled into the sheets, nails digging in, desperate for something solid to hold onto.

A soft, almost imperceptible rustle came from the garden again. She stiffened, heart jumping.

The flowers moved.

It wasn’t the wind. There was no breeze. The blooms turned toward the moon, their colors deepening, glowing softly in the night like tiny beacons.

Ariana’s breath hitched. She forced herself to look away, to close her eyes and will the magic, or whatever it was, away. But the pulse inside her wouldn’t stop. It thrummed with the rhythm of something ancient—something that felt both terrifying and familiar.

She knew—deep in her bones—that whatever was awakening inside her had roots that ran far beyond this moment, beyond the walls of the house, beyond the very world she thought she lived in.

A knock at the door broke the spell again. This time, it was firmer, more urgent.

She didn’t hesitate.

Ariana crossed the room, bare feet silent on the cold stone floor. The door creaked open, but still, no one waited.

Only a faint shimmer in the air—a ripple, like heat haze.

The letter.

She looked down and saw it lying on the threshold.

Curiosity overcame fear.

She picked it up again, the parchment cool and fragile in her hands. The ink was still sharp, the message clear and sharp as a blade.

“If you feel something changing, say nothing. For now. We are being watched.”

—V

Her mind raced. Who else could know? Who else was watching? Seryna’s name whispered like a shadow in the back of her thoughts. And Kael—his warning was etched deep inside her, even if she didn’t understand what he truly meant.

She folded the letter carefully and tucked it back under her mattress, her fingers trembling.

The air around her seemed to pulse, warm and alive, as if the house itself was breathing alongside her.

She sank onto the bed, pulled the covers tight, but sleep was a stranger.

Her thoughts spun in circles, a vortex of doubt and anticipation.

Kael’s voice echoed again, softer this time, like a caress and a threat all at once.

“You are dangerous.”

The words wrapped around her like a shroud.

And somewhere beneath the fear, beneath the uncertainty, something flickered.

Not quite hope.

Not quite surrender.

But a spark.

A promise.

That she was more than what she’d believed.

That whatever was coming, she wouldn’t face it alone.