Starlit Throne - Chapter 3: The Man by the Sea
English Version
Rating: M/E
Genres: Romantasy | Sci-Fi | Slow Burn | Space Opera | Fated Mates
Summary:
Cassia Harper thought her biggest struggles were making rent, keeping up with Brighton’s fashion scene, and selling enough handmade crafts to help her family. But when a mysterious, brooding soldier-for-hire with pointed ears crashes into her life, everything changes.
Her past isn’t what she thought. The father she barely remembers wasn’t just some distant traveler and the pin she wears every day? Not just an antique!
Now, with assassins on her trail and a protector who refuses to claim her (even though the tension between them is scorching), Cassia has to decide: will she run from her destiny or rise to it?
Expect:
🔥 Slow-burn with intense tension (and several many very hot payoffs 😏)
🐺 Cosmic pointed-eared protector (who knows she’s his mate but refuses to act on it... at first)
👑 Galactic politics
🌌 A space opera filled with action, smut & drama
🛸 Brighton, UK meets the stars
The wind howled as I stepped onto the pebble-strewn beach, my trainers crunching against the damp stones. The sky was painted in hues of deep orange and purple, the last traces of the sun dipping below the horizon. The salty breeze hit my face, stinging my cheeks, but I welcomed the cold. Anything was better than the suffocating weight in my chest.
I was furious. Furious!
Furious at James for being an absolute idiot, furious at myself for even considering that clinic, and furious at the gnawing fear that wouldn’t leave me alone.
I pulled my coat tighter around myself, shoving my hands into my pockets. Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe it was just a dodgy clinic and James was an idiot, but nothing more. But the picture on my phone—those people, those things—
I shook my head. Get a grip, Cass.
I focused on the rhythm of my breathing and the crashing of the waves against the shore. The beach was mostly empty, with just a few stragglers walking in the distance, their figures silhouetted against the dimming light. It was peaceful—almost.
Until the prickling sensation at the back of my neck started.
A creeping unease settled in, like the quiet just before a storm. My instincts, the ones I usually ignored, screamed at me.
Someone was watching me.
I slowed my steps, glancing over my shoulder casually, as if stretching. Nothing. The streetlights lining the promenade flickered, their dim glow barely illuminating the area. No one was there.
But the feeling wouldn’t go away.
Was I delulu?
No… There was definitely something dangerous in the air.
I picked up my pace, my heartbeat drumming faster. Maybe it was just my nerves playing tricks on me. Maybe it was James making me paranoid. Maybe.
And then I saw them.
Dark figures moving between the gaps in the buildings near the promenade. Quick. Deliberate.
My stomach lurched. No. No, no, no.
I turned sharply, walking faster, pretending I hadn’t seen them. The damp air clung to my skin as I hurried down the shoreline, my pulse hammering in my throat. I should have gone home. I should have stayed inside. I should not have come here alone.
Footsteps. More than one.
I picked up my pace, but so did they.
A flash of movement in my peripheral vision—too fast.
Panic surged through me. I bolted.
My feet pounded against the damp pebbles, slipping slightly as I ran towards the wooden pier in the distance. I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t care. I just needed to get away.
The wind howled around me, the sea stretching endlessly to my right, a dark void under the night sky. My breath burned in my lungs as I ran, stealing a glance behind me.
Shit. They were closing in.
And then—
I slammed into something solid.
A pair of hands gripped my arms, steadying me before I could stumble backward. My heart leaped into my throat as I looked up—
Into piercing blue eyes.
The man standing before me was tall, broad-shouldered, his short blond hair messed by the wind. His face was sharp, almost too perfect, like he’d been carved from something otherworldly. But it was his eyes that made my stomach twist—a shade of blue so intense, it almost glowed in the dim light.
My brain stalled.
Not human.
I stared for a short moment at the pointed ears, and I screamed.
"Let go of me!" I yanked my arm back, but his grip held firm—strong, unyielding, yet not painful.
"Stay quiet," he murmured, his voice low, commanding, but weirdly… familiar. "They’re coming."
I didn’t get a chance to ask who they were because I heard it—the rush of footsteps, fast and inhumanly precise.
The figures chasing me had closed the distance. Three of them, moving like shadows, their steps eerily soundless against the sand.
A chill ran down my spine.
"Who the hell are you?" I whispered, my fingers curling into fists.
The man’s eyes flickered towards the approaching figures. Then, in one smooth movement, he stepped in front of me.
"Stay behind me."
My stomach dropped. "How do you—"
Then they attacked.
One of them lunged unnaturally fast, their arm slicing through the air toward the man in front of me. But he was faster.
I barely saw him move. One second he was standing there, the next—
A sickening crack.
The attacker crumpled to the ground. The second figure lunged, but the man was already moving.
His body twisted in a blur of motion, his boot connecting with the second attacker’s chest, sending them skidding backward. The third hesitated, sensing something dangerous.
"You should leave," the man warned, his voice calm. Too calm.
The remaining figure didn’t.
They rushed him.
I barely had time to process what happened next.
The man—my rescuer, my captor, whatever he was—moved with unnatural precision, a mix of lethal grace and raw power. His hands grabbed his attacker and, with a single fluid motion, he sent them flying backward into the sand.
For a heartbeat, the beach was silent except for the crashing waves and my ragged breathing.
The man turned back to me, his blue gaze intense. "We need to go. Now."
My body refused to move. My brain was still catching up. "Who—what—what the hell was that?"
He exhaled sharply, as if annoyed. "I’ll explain later. But if we don’t leave now, more will come."
Something in his voice snapped me out of my daze. The urgency. The certainty.
He wasn’t lying.
I swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay."
I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know if I could trust him. But I knew one thing.
He had just saved my life.
And right now, he was my only chance at surviving whatever the hell I’d just stumbled into thanks to the idiot of my cousin.
Glossary - Chapter 3
Prickling – A tingling or stinging sensation. (Hormigueo o sensación de picazón.)
Unease – A feeling of anxiety or discomfort. (Inquietud o malestar.)
Peripheral vision – The ability to see things outside of your direct line of sight. (Visión periférica.)
Lunged – Made a sudden forward movement, often aggressively. (Arremetió, se lanzó hacia adelante.)
Blur of motion – Something moving so fast it appears unclear or smeared. (Borrosa por el movimiento.)
Eerily – In a strange and frightening way. (De manera inquietante o escalofriante.)
Glowed – Emitted a steady light. (Brillaba, emitía luz tenue.)