🏆 ONC 2026 Honorable Mention 🏆 ''Nothing is what it seems in dreams.'' In the depths of a dark and twisted forest, Aris, crown prince of Lancaster, is tormented by recurring nightmares of the Tainted--monstrous creations of the black fae, a corrupting force that seeps into all who live within its woods. Relentlessly hunted in the dreams, he finds unexpected aid from a mysterious girl named Elara, and with her help he is able to elude the creatures each time, breaking free from the nightmare's clutches. But when Aris is wounded by one of the Tainted, the line between dream and reality begins to blur. When a weapon deadly to the black fae appears in his grasp from the dream, Aris and his sisters--Tamryn, Maeve, Maeril, and Aine--must race against time and his failing health to uncover the ancient truth behind the forest's curse, or face the imminent threat of the black fae and its vengeful master, the guardian of the dark forest, Erebus Nocturne. ✧☽ ✧ ☼ ✧ ☽ ✧ Cover design by Aravis Brightspell ✧☽ ✧ ☼ ✧ ☽ ✧ If you are reading this story on any platform other than Wattpad, you are very likely to be at risk of a malware attack and reading a plagiarized copy of my work. If you wish to read this story in its original, safe form, please go to https://www.wattpad.com/user/Aravis-Brightspell.

For six years, Simon Riley has been the princess's shadow. As her personal guard, his job is simple: protect her, obey the crown, and never cross the line between duty and desire. He's spent six years doing exactly that. Until something changes. The princess is no longer the girl he was assigned to protect. She's a woman who knows him better than anyone should, and Simon is beginning to realize that the feelings he's spent years burying aren't going away. But the closer they become, the harder it becomes to remember where duty ends and something far more dangerous begins. Because someone is watching the crown. And when the princess disappears, Simon realizes the greatest threat wasn't waiting outside the palace. It was already inside. • Status: Completed Word count: 205,115

9 promises...6 fates...3 great empires and 1 big romantic mess

✨️COMPLETE✨️ Charlotte Valence had almost everything one could want. She was taught if you smile enough for the camera, people won't see through you. However, they didn't warn her that when her father would be in risk to loose his seat in the Senate, she would find herself tied to a dangerous man. Francesco Monroe is next in line to Vesuvius Syndicate. Being tied to a Political Princess is not part of his plan.. ....being either is losing.