THE DEVIL'S BRIDE
Episode 4: The Devil's Memory
By Rapwizzy Debaron
The Midnight Palace never slept.
Its walls pulsed with ancient breath. Its floors echoed footsteps from souls long turned to ash. And yet… for the first time, Evelyn felt alone.
Lucien had vanished.
No warning. No whisper.
Only a black rose left on her bed—its petals bleeding red at the edges, its stem thorned with silver. She touched it. It burned her fingertip… and opened a door in the floor.
She followed it.
Downward.
Through spiral staircases carved from obsidian bones. Past mirrors that didn't reflect her face—but her fears. Until she reached a chamber sealed with a whisper.
She didn't knock.
She entered.
The room was made of glass.
Floating shards held memories like droplets—suspended, shifting, glowing. And in the center of it all, stood Lucien.
Back turned.
Motionless.
"Where did you go?" she asked softly.
His voice was a murmur. "To remember what I was before I became what I am."
She stepped closer. "And what were you?"
Lucien turned. His eyes weren't silver. They were… human.
"A prince," he said. "Loved. Lied to. Left behind."
He waved his hand, and the glass around them shimmered. A memory unfolded like smoke:
A boy, golden-haired, standing before a father with a crown of cruelty. A kingdom built on sacrifice. A betrayal from a woman he trusted—his bride.
"They offered me to the dark gods to save their thrones," Lucien whispered. "They fed me to fire."
"And you survived," Evelyn said.
"I didn't." His voice cracked. "I was reborn."
He turned away again. "That's why I choose a bride every hundred years. To remember that once, someone was promised to love me—and didn't."
Evelyn swallowed the ache in her throat.
"You want revenge."
"I want to forget."
She touched his hand.
Cold. Trembling.
Not as a prisoner.
Not as his equal.
As something else entirely.
"You chose the wrong bride," she said.
Lucien looked at her, heartbroken and hopeful.
"I think," he whispered, "I finally chose right."
But love never comes without a price.
And somewhere in the realm, the cursed bride who betrayed Lucien a century ago…
was coming back.
Alive.
And vengeful.
—
To be continued…
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isode 5 — where past and present collide… and Evelyn faces the first threat to her life.