Diary Entry My eighteenth autumn
I can always tell when it’s him. His steps have a rhythm I know all too well. Steady. Sure. My own heart always stumbles at his approach.
Tonight I met him at the doorway. I wasn’t afraid of him. I was afraid of what might happen if I let him in.
Nearly a year has passed since he brought me here. I’ve been given space to heal, an entire wing of the manor. But this solitude has sharpened my curiosity. I’ve listened at doorways, lingered in shadowed halls.
Supernaturals have come to see him. Strange, powerful beings who speak in riddles or poetry. The fae queen, with a lilting voice I could listen to forever. A forest lord, more bark than skin. Even humans, bold and curious, who know magic lives in Stella Rune.
None of them believed him. Not about what he wanted. Not about what he imagined this town could become. A haven. A place where humans and supernaturals might live side by side without hiding or harm.
I didn’t believe it either, not at first. His bloodline is full of monsters. Usurpers who wanted to rule and keep humans beneath them.
He stood in front of me tonight, only moments ago, perfectly still.
“Are you well?”
I nodded.
“You look stronger,” he said, and there was warmth in his voice that matched the heat in my cheeks. When he added, “Good,” my knees nearly buckled.
“I’ve come to give you news. The Videt elders are gone.
” I flinched as memories flashed, harsh and unwanted.
He saw it in my face, because he added, “I considered blood. It would’ve been simpler.
But I can’t build a better world from bones.
So I found others. New leaders. Ones who understand that power is a responsibility, not a right.
” He paused. “They’re not perfect. But I will keep watch. ”
“And if they fail?” I asked.
His mouth curved. Not quite a smile. “Then I’ll find others. Again and again, until this place becomes something worth belonging to.”
There was steel in his words. But also hope.
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing at all. I watched him instead. The way he held himself, tired but resolute: a man carrying the weight of a broken legacy and refusing to let it crush him.
I wanted to believe him. I think I did, even then. But belief is fragile, and I’ve spent so long trapped in fear that I don’t know how to hold onto it.
Still, as he turned to leave, I felt the faintest flicker of something unfamiliar.
Hope.
It will take time to grow. But it’s here. Sparked by the beast who is already more than that to me, though I am afraid to admit it. Even to myself.