The Shadow Tithe

He didn't just take her life. He took her soul.

My life was spent in silence, with books as my only companions. But a single touch of a cursed artifact changed everything. I woke a power inside me I never knew I had—and it screamed my name across the realms.

Something answered.

He is Lord Malachi, the Ashen King. A creature of shadow and dust, whose dying kingdom needs a sacrifice. And I am the Tithe.

He dragged me from my world of reason and into his, a fortress of cold stone and endless twilight built to break the mind. He says he only needs my life force, a payment to save his people. He harvests my soul in a ritual so intimate it feels like a violation, a cold, clinical touch that should be terrifying.

But there’s a curse woven into the Tithe. My body betrays me. It answers his cruel, calculated touch with a fire I can’t control, a pleasure so sharp it feels like pain. I hate him with every fiber of my being, but my body... my body wants him.

He was supposed to be my tormentor, a monster feeding on my soul. 

But the way he watches me now, with an obsession that burns colder and brighter than any star, feels like a different kind of cage. I would never surrender to a monster... 

But what if the monster is the only one who can make me feel alive?