Radiance

Radiance, a character in the The Cursed Heart series, is the Day Prince/Princess and head of the Sun Court. He/She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Radiance's gender is determined by Kieran's. Male Radiance has curly short red to yellow ombre hair, golden eyes and fair skin. He wears a red and yellow eyeshadow, and he has yellow glitter on his face and neck. He also wears a white transparent shirt with golden flowers and embroideries and a yellow sun pendant.

Female Radiance has medium-length wavy red to yellow ombre hair, golden eyes and fair skin. She has yellow glitter on her face, eyes and upper body, and she wears an orange lipstick, a yellow sun pendant, and a golden dress.

Personality
Radiance can be described as friendly, kind and flirty. He/She seems to care about you, while Kieran believes that Radiance only sees mortals as playthings. In Chapter 12, it is revealed that his/her niceness is all an act, as this was part of his/her plan to separate you and Kieran, so that he/she can destroy the Moon Court once and for all.

Background
When Radiance was born to the Sun Court, his/her great-great uncles Lords Blaze and Brightness immediately saw his/her potential. The lords took Radiance into their care at a young age, teaching him/her all the skills they believed would be vital in an heir. Under their tutelage, Radiance grew twisted, like a strangling vine. His/her innate cruelty was nurtured, praised, and refined. All signs of kindness and mercy were extinguished, leaving only a calculating, cold-blooded heart. `Radiance became their masterfully crafted sword: Honed, deceptively sharp, and poised to strike the killing blow. There was one problem however, and that was that Radiance was not the heir to the Sun Court. Radiance's older sister, Gleam, was firstborn. Try as they might, Blaze and Brightness were never able to turn her against the Moon Court. They considered her soft, too weak, too sentimental to lead, but they could not strike against their own openly. So, they tasked Radiance with his/her first mission, to find a way to curse his/her sister and make it look like an accident. For all his/her precociousness, Radiance was but a child, eager for the approval of his/her mentors and their promises of power unimaginable. Gleam doted upon her, and perhaps he/she even loved her back. In the end however, that was not enough. Gleam fell unknowingly into Radiance's trap and was never seen again. Thus, the plan was set into motion.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: The Fae Forest
 * Chapter 4: Flight (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 6: The Grand Hunt
 * Chapter 7: Invulnerable (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 10: Mountain of Beasts (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 11: The Palace of the Sun
 * Chapter 12: Enlightenment
 * Chapter 13: A Nest of Vipers
 * Chapter 14: A Dream Within A Dream
 * Chapter 15: A War of Hearts
 * Chapter 16: Unbroken

Book 2

 * Chapter 1: The Last Stroke of Midnight (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 2: The Raven and the Sword (Mentioned; Determinant)
 * Chapter 4: The Frolic (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 5: The Fallen (Mentioned; Determinant)
 * Chapter 6: The Trials of the Moon (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: The Cruel Sun
 * Chapter 8: When Stars Fall

Your Character
Amidst fleeing the Winged Beast, you encounter Radiance in the woods, offering refuge among the Faes to shield you from the beast's attacks. Your meeting sparks curiosity in Radiance about the gem that went into your chest, and upon your decision to depart, he/she extends an invitation to the Sun Palace, halted only by Kieran's claim over you. Later, during the Grand Hunt, Radiance expresses admiration for your resilience, pledging protection and friendship, urging you to seek him/her after your tenure with Kieran concludes. As your attempt to aid Kieran fails, seeking asylum at the Sun Court reunites you with Radiance, who promises assistance, suggesting the palace's library for answers to break Kieran's curse. With Radiance's aid, you navigate palace politics to access the library and bond further, discovering a way to aid Kieran. However, Radiance reveals a sinister agenda, claiming ownership over you and intending to dismantle Kieran and the Moon Court. In a crucial moment at the Moon Ball, Radiance conspires against you by instructing a curse to target Kieran, divulging a twisted interest since your first encounter. In a daring rescue attempt for Kieran, Radiance, aiming to eliminate you, unleashes the Winged Beast. Ultimately, Kieran intervenes, defeating Radiance, prompting a showdown where you confront Radiance's manipulations, denounce his/her actions, and take a stand.

Kieran
Not much is known about their relationship, but deep down they seem to have a mutual dislike for one another. Kieran on the one hand says that Radiance sees humans only as playthings, and Radiance on the other hand thinks that Kieran is dangerous because of his/her curse. In Chapter 12, you find out that Radiance hates Kieran, and that he/she plans to destroy him/her and the entire Moon Court. In Chapter 14 after Lustre's curse takes place and transforms Kieran into the Winged Beast, Radiance snatches up his/her crown, crowns himself/herself King/Queen of All Fae, and orders for the Sun Court Guards to lock Kieran in a cage until he/she can deal with him/her. When the rest of the Fae wonder how this happened and what will happen now, Radiance claims that supposedly Kieran's curse has taken ahold of him/her entirely, and from now on, he/she will be the sole ruler of all Fae. Radiance then proceeds to chain Longclaw and Sir Montgomery, and destroy the Moon Palace.

Gleam
As a child, Radiance adored his/her older sister, and it is believed that Radiance's affection was genuine. However, Gleam did not harbor the same animosity towards the Moon Court that Brightness and Blaze did, and so Radiance needed to take the throne. While Radiance had much affection for Gleam, he/she was also quite precocious as a child and eager to please Brightness and Blaze, and so, hatched a scheme to make Gleam disappear. When Radiance is beaten and Longclaw is crowned Leader of the Sun Court in Chapter 16, Longclaw decides to sentence him/her to 300 years in the dungeons along with her two uncles and Lustre. She says that the Radiance she knew is gone, but perhaps in a few hundred years that might change.

Lustre
Radiance tolerates Lustre and considers her to be an embarrassment. However, Lustre is permitted to assist Radiance in schemes.

Other Looks

 * -|Male=

Trivia

 * The male character model resembles Peter Graves from The Heist: Monaco and the female character model resembles Zaira Castell from Foreign Affairs.
 * Radiance inherited the throne from his/her mother. Blaze and Brightness served Radiance's mother as an advisor. According to the Sun Court, Radiance is doted upon.
 * In Chapter 16, his/her title is revoked and he/she is sentenced to 300 years in the dungeon along with Lustre, Blaze and Brightness.
 * As of Book 2, Chapter 8, he/she has been turned into a mouse after eating the same berries that cursed Longclaw into a Bear.