The two years had passed like a slow, heavy shadow, and now the village of Ariath was a place of whispers and cold sweat, for the Blood Moon was only one week away. I was twenty years old now, and the time I had spent trying to prepare myself felt small compared to the giant fear that was growing in everyone else's hearts. The iron bell rang again, but this time it was not for a story, but it was to call the fifty of us who were of age to the Great Hall for our final training. We walked through the dusty streets, and I could see mothers weeping in their doorways, while fathers looked at the ground because they could not bear to see their daughters being marched toward a fate that no one understood.

Inside the Great Hall, the air was cold and smelled of old paper and sour incense, and we were told to stand in neat rows like soldiers waiting for a war we were destined to lose. There were fifty of us in total, and as I looked at the girls around me, I saw the same terror in every pair of eyes. But then, the Village Head stepped onto the platform, and he held up his hands to quiet the room, for he had a new announcement that changed everything.

"Listen well," the Village Head said, and his voice was loud and clear. "Because our village is small and we do not have many young women left to work the fields and care for the elderly, we cannot send all fifty of you to the Edge. The King of the beasthas agreed that we will only select thirty girls to stand for the mating ceremony this year, while the remaining twenty will stay behind to serve the community and keep Ariath alive."

A sudden wave of hope washed over me, and for the first time in years, I felt like I could actually breathe. I was a hard worker, and I spent my days helping the farmers and fixing the stone walls of the village, and I was one of the strongest contributors to our community. Surely, they would see that I was more useful here than as a sacrifice to the woods. I looked at the girl next to me and saw her eyes brighten with the same desperate hope, and for a moment, the heavy weight on my chest felt a little lighter. I imagined staying home, staying with my family, and never having to see the red eyes of the beasts.

"However," the Village Head continued, and his voice turned cold as he pulled out a list. "The selection is not based on who is the most useful, but it is based on the purity and the strength of the bloodline. We have already made our choice." He began to read the names, and the room was so quiet that I could hear my own heart thudding against my ribs. Name after name was called, and girls began to sob with relief when they realized they were staying, or they fell to the floor in grief when they were chosen.

"Kiana," the Village Head said, and his eyes met mine for a split second before he looked away.

My heart broke right there in that cold hall. All the hard work I had done, and all the help I had given the village, meant nothing. I was on the list. I was one of the thirty. The tiny spark of happiness I had felt was blown out like a candle in a storm, and I felt a cold, sick feeling spread through my stomach. I was going to the Edge, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Now that the thirty are chosen," Elder Bram said, stepping forward to replace the Village Head. "You must learn the truth of the Vow. You are thirty girls, but not all of you will be taken by the beasts , for the beasts only claim those they find worthy. But those who are taken must know the rules, or you will bring death back to your families. The Beast Legion does not tolerate mistakes, and the  King of the beast expects absolute submission from the human mates that he allows to live in his forest."

He pulled out a thick, black scroll and unrolled it, and the sound of the parchment was like a bone snapping in the quiet room. "Listen well to the Five Laws of the Edge, for these are the rules you must follow from the moment your feet touch the forest grass."

"First," he shouted, and a girl next to me let out a small, choked sob. "You must never look into their eyes when they snatch you, for the red glow of the beast is the last thing many men have seen before they died, and it is said that looking into their gaze will steal your soul.

Second, you must never scream after you cross the boundary line, for the beasts hate the sound of human fear, and if you cry out, they may decide you are too weak and leave you for the wild dogs instead.

Third, you must keep your hands open and empty at all times, for any sign of a weapon or even a closed fist is seen as a declaration of war, and they will kill you where you stand. Fourth, you must never ask them for their names or speak unless you are spoken to, for they are our masters.

Fifth, and most terrifying of all, you must never try to run back once they touch you, for the moment the beasts hand is on your skin, you belong to the forest, and if you try to return, they will burn Ariath to the ground."

The sound of crying in the room was like a soft, miserable wind, and I felt a hot, bubbling anger in my chest that replaced my broken hope. These were not rules for a marriage; they were rules for a prison. The elders then began to give us their "advice" on how to behave once the blur of red eyes snatched us.

"When you feel the wind of their movement," one elder whispered. "Do not fight them, but let your body go limp, for they are stronger than a hundred men and if you resist, they will break your bones. They move faster than the eye can see, so do not blink, and do not try to find your way home. You must learn to be silent, for the King of the beast is a man of iron, and he does not want a girls who asks questions about the past."

I looked around at the girls, and I saw them sinking to their knees, but as I listened to the elders, my stubborn heart only grew harder. They wanted us to be quiet, and they wanted us to be invisible, but I had spent two years learning how to hide a small, sharp blade in my skirt. I didn't care about the red eyes or the soul-stealing gaze, and I didn't care about the speed of the Beast, because I was not a sack of grain to be traded.

"We will spend the next six days in this hall," Elder Bram announced. "You will learn how to walk to the Edge and how to wait for the red eyes without trembling. You should be proud to pay the price that keeps your parents alive, even if it means you never see the sun over this village again."

I watched him, and I realized that the elders were just as afraid as we were. I stayed silent as we practiced our "waiting pose," standing still with our heads bowed, but inside my mind, I was already breaking every law they gave us. I would look into their eyes, and if the beast thinks they are getting a submissive girl, they were wrong. The week would pass, the moon would turn red, and the screaming would begin, but I promised myself that I would be the only one who didn't let the fear take me.

The sun was setting for the last time before I had to leave, and the sky was a deep, bruised purple that made the village feel like it was holding its breath. Tomorrow morning, I would have to pack my small bag and move into the Great Hall for a week of training with the other twenty-nine girls, and the thought of it felt like a heavy stone sitting in the middle of my chest. Inside our small cottage, the air was thick with the smell of vegetable stew and fresh bread, but nobody was smiling, and the only sound was the clinking of wooden spoons against bowls. My mother sat across from me, her eyes red and puffy from crying all day, while my little sister, Mara, sat next to me, clutching my hand so tightly that her knuckles were white. My father sat at the head of the table, his face as hard as a winter frost, and he refused to look at me as he chewed his food with a grim look on his face.

"You must eat, Kiana," my mother whispered, pushing a piece of bread toward me with a trembling hand, and her voice was so soft that it almost broke my heart. "You will need your strength for the training, and I want you to remember the taste of home when you are... when you are gone."

"Why are we acting like this is a normal dinner?" I asked, and I dropped my spoon because I couldn't pretend anymore. "Tomorrow I go to a hall to learn how to be a silent slave, and in a week, I will be standing at the Edge waiting for a beast to snatch me into the dark. We are sitting here eating stew while the village elders are preparing to hand us over like we are nothing but cattle, and I cannot understand why everyone is too cowardly to pick up a pitchfork and fight back against these monsters."

My father slammed his hand down on the table, making the bowls jump and causing Mara to let out a small, frightened cry. "Enough of this talk, Kiana!" he shouted, and his eyes were full of a dark, cold anger that I had seen many times before. "You think you are so smart and so brave, but you are just a girl who doesn't understand the world. We do not fight the beast because the beast cannot be killed by men like us, and if we even tried to resist, the King of the Beast would send his Legion to tear this village to pieces before the sun could rise. Your stubbornness is going to be the death of you, and if you do not learn to control your mouth and follow the rules, you will not even survive the first night in the forest."

"Then let me die!" I shouted back, standing up so fast that my chair fell over backward. "I would rather die fighting for my freedom than live a long life bowing down to a creature I do not even know. You call him the King of the Beast, and you treat him like a god, but he is just a kidnapper who hides in the shadows and steals girls because his own kind is dying out. How can you sit there and tell me to be submissive when you are the one who is supposed to protect me?"

"I am protecting this family!" my father roared, his face turning a deep shade of red as he stood up to face me. "By giving you to the treaty, I am keeping your mother and your sister safe from the invading human armies and from the wrath of the wolves. You are one girl, Kiana, and your life is a small price to pay for the safety of everyone else, but you are too selfish to see that. If you go to the Edge with that angry look on your face, the beast will see it as a challenge, and he will kill you slowly just to show the rest of us who is in charge."

Mara began to sob loudly, her small shoulders shaking as she reached out to grab my skirt, and her voice was a high, thin wail that cut through the room. "Please don't go, Kiana! Please don't let the beast take you! I'm scared, I don't want you to leave us!"

I reached down and pulled her into my arms, hugging her so close that I could feel the frantic beating of her heart against my ribs, and I looked over her head to glare at my father. "Look at what you are doing to her," I said, my voice shaking with a mix of love and fury. "You are teaching her that we are nothing, and you are teaching her that she should be afraid of the dark for the rest of her life. I am not selfish, Father, but I am the only one in this house who still has a soul that hasn't been crushed by fear. I will go to the Hall tomorrow, and I will go to the Edge next week, but I will not bow down to anyone, and I will not be silent just to make the elders feel better about their cowardice."

"Kiana, please," my mother begged, reaching out to touch my arm with her gentle fingers. "Your father is only scared because he loves you, and he doesn't want to see you hurt. The beasts are very fast and very cruel, and the stories say they can hear a heart beating from a mile away. If you keep this fire in your eyes, they will see it, and they will want to break you. Just for one week, try to be quiet, try to follow the rules, and maybe... maybe they will choose someone else and you can come back to us."

"They won't choose someone else, Mother," I said, my voice going flat and cold as I remembered the look the Village Head gave me when he read my name. "I am on the list, and I am a descendant of the royal line that started this whole mess, so the Beasts will want me just to prove they can take what their ancestors took. But they should know one thing before they reach for me in the dark. I am not the princess from the old stories, and I am not a prize to be won. I would rather be torn to pieces than be a willing mate to one of those monster."

My father pointed a shaking finger at the door, his voice low and dangerous. "Go to your room, Kiana. Pack your things and prepare your heart, but do not speak another word of rebellion in this house. If you want to throw your life away because you are too proud to bend your knee, then that is on your head, but do not bring the shadow of the beast down on your mother and sister before you are even gone."

I didn't say another word, but I didn't look down either as I picked up my chair and set it back in its place. I kissed Mara on the top of her head and squeezed my mother's hand one last time, and then I walked toward my small bedroom without looking back at the man who was supposed to be my hero. That night, I didn't sleep, but I sat by the window and watched the moon, which was growing larger and brighter with every passing hour. I thought about the Beasts and their red eyes that was waiting for me at the Edge, and I felt a strange, cold calm settle over me. My father thought my stubbornness would kill me, and maybe he was right, but at least I would die as Kiana, and not as a nameless girl who was too afraid to look a monster in the eye.

The sun had not yet risen when the heavy wooden door of our cottage creaked open, and the morning air was so cold that it felt like tiny needles pricking at my skin as I stepped out into the gray light. My father did not come to the door to say goodbye, for his anger was a wall that he had built between us, but my mother followed me into the yard with tears streaming down her face and a small, trembling hand reaching out to me. Before I could walk away, she pressed a small silk pouch into my palm, whispering that it held a lock of her hair and a dried flower from our garden, and she told me to hide it deep in my dress so the elders would not find it. I hugged her one last time, feeling the fragile shake of her shoulders, and then I turned my back on the only home I had ever known to walk toward the Great Hall where the other twenty-nine girls were already gathering.

When I reached the village square, the heavy iron doors of the Hall were wide open like the mouth of a hungry animal, and as soon as the last girl stepped inside, the guards slammed them shut with a loud thud that echoed through my very bones. The sound of the locks clicking into place made several girls burst into fresh tears, but I only gripped my small bag tighter and glared at the high stone walls, for I hated that we were being treated like prisoners in our own village. We were marched into a side room where the air was freezing, and the elders told us to strip off our warm wool clothes and our colorful skirts, replacing them with thin, white dresses that were made of a silky fabric that felt like ice against my skin. These dresses were meant to show our submission to the beast, but as I pulled the flimsy cloth over my head, I felt only a deep, burning shame that our own people were the ones forcing us into this nakedness.

Once we were dressed in white, we were led into the main room where thirty large, polished silver mirrors had been set up in a long row, and Elder Bram stood at the front with a long wooden cane in his hand. "Look at yourselves," he commanded, his voice echoing off the high ceiling. "Look at the girls you used to be and say goodbye to them, for the King of the Beast does not want a village girl with dirt under her nails and a loud mouth, but he wants those who are silent and beautiful. From this moment on, your old lives are dead, and you are only prizes for the treaty that keeps us alive."

I stood in front of my mirror, but I did not look at my face with sadness, and I certainly did not say goodbye to the girl I was, for I stared into my own dark eyes and promised myself that I would never let them wash the fire out of my soul. Elder Bram walked behind us, his cane clicking on the stone floor, and he stopped behind me to tilt my head back with the cold tip of his stick. "Lower your gaze, Kiana," he hissed, his breath smelling like sour wine and old age. "A beast likes a girl who knows her place, and if you keep looking at the world like you want to burn it down, you will not even survive the first night in the forest."

"Then let them try to break me," I spat back, refusing to look down even as the other girls gasped in terror. "If the beasts are so powerful, why are they afraid of a girl who can look them in the eye, and why do you spend so much time trying to make us look like dolls instead of humans?"

His face turned a deep, angry red, and he pointed his cane toward the dirty stone floor at the back of the hall. "Since you have so much energy for talking, you can spend the rest of the morning on your knees," he shouted. "You will scrub every inch of this floor until it shines, and while the other girls eat their morning bread, you will taste only the dust of your own pride."

I didn't argue, for I would rather work until my hands bled than sit and listen to his lies, so I spent the next few hours scrubbing the cold stone while the other girls watched me with pity and fear. My knees ached and my back felt like it was breaking, but every time I dipped the brush into the soapy water, I imagined I was washing away the cowardice of the elders. After the floor was clean, we were all gathered again for the "Blindfold Training," which was the most terrifying thing I had ever experienced in my twenty years of life. They tied thick black cloths over our eyes until we were trapped in total darkness, and then the elders began to move around us, making loud, sudden crashing noises or brushing against our skin with pieces of rough fur and cold leather to act like the speed of the beast.

The girls around me were sobbing and screaming as they felt the invisible touches, but I forced my heart to slow down and I opened my ears as wide as they would go, for I wanted to learn the sound of the air moving. I realized that if I could hear the rustle of a robe or the scuff of a boot, I could predict where the "beast" was coming from, and soon I was the only girl who didn't flinch when a cold piece of fur swiped across my neck. This made the elders even angrier, for they wanted us to be terrified and helpless, but I was using their own training to become a hunter instead of a prey.

When evening finally came, we were exhausted and hungry, and the elders brought out a large silver pot filled with a dark, bitter-smelling tea. "Drink this," Elder Bram ordered, handing a cup to each girl. "It is a special drink that will calm your hearts and stop your trembling, for it is better to be a quiet lamb when the beast reaches for you than a struggling rabbit that might get its neck snapped."

I took my cup and brought it to my lips, but as soon as the bitter steam hit my nose, I knew it was a drug meant to make us sleepy and weak so we wouldn't have the strength to fight back. I watched as the other girls began to drink, their eyes growing heavy and their movements becoming slow and clumsy like they were walking through deep water, and my heart filled with a fresh wave of rage. I waited until the elders were busy helping a girl who had fainted, and then I quickly dumped my tea into a large potted plant near the wall, pretending to wipe my mouth as if I had finished it. I had to stay sharp, and I had to stay awake, because I refused to be a sleepy doll for the beasts.

Late that night, as we lay on thin mats on the hard floor, the Hall was filled with the sound of the other girls' deep, drugged breathing, but I remained wide awake with my eyes fixed on the high, barred windows. Suddenly, a heavy silence fell over the village, a silence so deep that even the crickets seemed to stop chirping, and I felt a strange, heavy weight in the air that made the hair on my arms stand up. I heard a soft thud on the roof above us, followed by the sound of something heavy dragging across the shingles, and then I saw a pair of glowing red eyes flash for a split second behind the iron bars of the window.

The beasts were already here. The King of the Beast was not waiting for the Blood Moon to watch us, for his legion was already circling the Hall like wolves around a sheepfold, and I could feel their predatory gaze pressing against the stone walls. My heart hammered against my ribs, not with the drugged peace the elders wanted, but with a fierce, hot anger that made me want to grab my hidden knife. I realized then that the elders were no longer the ones in charge of our lives, for we were already in the shadow of the forest, and as I stared back at the window where the red eyes had been, I whispered a silent promise to the dark. You can watch me all you want, I thought, but you will find that I am the only girl in this room who is still awake, and I am the only one who is ready to fight for her soul.