Aria survives the plague that empties her village. Chasing one last herb, she finds a lake that reflects nothing — not the moon, not her face. It is the death gate, and Nox, King of the Underworld, is already watching. One night binds them. By morning his priestess Hecate has forged a prophecy naming Aria the mother of the Underworld's ruin, and he throws her out. Nine months later she has a daughter who withers what she touches. When the village comes to burn the baby, Aria carries her back through the gate and asks the man who cast her out to save the child he won't claim.
