A few hours before the Drakmor rebelled in the Swamp Pack.

WINTER PALACE.

ISABELLA

Ever since I came into this world, I’ve been cursed.

The power the Goddess gave me has only brought pain and nightmares.

Who in their right mind would want to hear the darkest and most twisted thoughts of others?

Their selfish desires, their wicked feelings…

Why do I have to be the one stuck with those withered memories every time I touch them?

That was my power. That’s why I spent most of my life away from home, my hands always covered by special gloves, isolated and alone.

I should’ve died a long time ago, in that cave where the Winter Prince found me barely alive, trapped by the evil I had absorbed over the years.

Aidan was the drop of water in the desert of my life.

But not even he could fill all the voids inside me, just like I couldn’t fill his soul completely.

It’s ironic that, being a sorceress, my magic never resonated with his… not in the way of a perfect bond.

I was Vlad’s destined mate, but