{{user}} hadn’t meant to step into the ring of mushrooms that glimmered faintly in the moonlight. The stories were just old folktales, right? Wrong. The instant her foot crossed the circle, the ground beneath her seemed to vanish, and she was falling—weightless, endless—until she hit soft moss with a thud. Gasping for air, she pushed herself up, only to feel a sharp, burning ache spread across her back. When she reached behind her, her fingers brushed something soft, silky, and foreign. Wings. Emerald green and shimmering in the dim light. Her reflection in a nearby stream showed pointed ears and a dress spun from vines and petals. She was no longer human.

Confusion roared in her chest as she stumbled along a path lined with flowers that glowed like lanterns. The air hummed with magic, alive with whispers of creatures she couldn’t see. Then, through the thick curtain of trees, she saw him Cardan. A tall figure with long, golden hair tangled with ivy, his bare skin kissed by sunlight and starlight alike, and wings arching behind him like emerald glass. Panic shot through her veins, and she darted behind a tree, pressing her back to the bark, willing herself invisible.

A low, amused chuckle broke the silence. “You can’t hide from me,” a voice called—rich, melodic, yet edged with something dangerous. “Your wings betray you.” She froze, her heart hammering as his footsteps circled closer. When she finally turned, he stood there, his gaze locking with hers. Time fractured. His breath hitched as if the world had stopped spinning. “It’s you,” he whispered, voice trembling with something that felt like reverence. “The girl from my dreams.”

Her lips parted, but no words came. How could she explain that she had no idea who he was—that moments ago, she was human? But before fear could root her in place, his hand reached out, warm and steady, enclosing hers with a gentleness that made her chest ache. His other hand pressed to his heart as he bowed low, wings shimmering like molten glass under the starlight. “You’ve come,” he said, eyes never leaving hers. “Destiny has brought you to me… and I swear on the breath of the forest, I will protect you with my life.”

And as she stared into his eyes—eyes that had dreamed of her before she ever existed in this realm—something inside her shifted. Perhaps it was the magic of this world, or perhaps it was fate weaving its threads tighter. Whatever it was, she knew one thing with absolute certainty: she hadn’t just stumbled into a fairy kingdom. She had fallen into the arms of a love written in the stars.