Kieran

Kieran, a character in the The Cursed Heart series, is the Winged Beast, the head of the Moon Court and your love interest. He/She is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
Kieran's gender and looks are determined by the player. Kieran's height is determinant on his/her gender and your character's body type. If Kieran is female, she is "a full head taller" than your character (Body Type 1) or "stand[s] a little lower" than your character (Body Type 2). If Kieran is male, he is a "considerable height" taller than you (Body Type 1) or is a "full head" taller than you (Body Type 2).

For about an hour between sunset and moonrise, Kieran has an intermediate appearance. He/she has dark eyes, feathers on his/her shoulders, appendages, and head, and wings. Kieran also has full faculty of his/her thoughts before full transformation.

Personality
According to Sir Montgomery, Kieran used to be a kind, gentle soul who always liked to laugh. He/She was also a very spirited child in his/her youth. However, currently Kieran feels little emotion and is considered to be a cold, broken shadow of what he/she once was. Over the years, the more family Kieran lost, the more bitter he/she became. Kieran spent decades alone, crafting defenses around him/herself, not allowing anyone close enough to hurt him/her. When he/she fell in love and that love betrayed him/her, that love shattered Kieran's heart both literally and figuratively, cursing Kieran to become the Winged Beast every night fall.

According to Longclaw, the curse took away his/her ability to feel, and all that's left at the moment is anger and sorrow. Since the curse took hold, his/her life has been devoid of happiness, excitement and love. However, Longclaw still believes that Kieran is a good person, and not nearly as monstrous as he/she might seem. Towards most, Kieran has the reputation of being frigid.

As the Winged Beast, Kieran states he/she loses control of his/her mind and body to that creature and doesn't remember everything the Winged Beast does. Kieran likens his/her transformed state to that of a nightmare, the memories of which fade the moment he/she awakes. Every time he/she gets back a piece of his/her heart on the other hand, Kieran briefly becomes overwhelmed with emotions and sensations.

Background
In the twilight days of the Moon Court, the rulers gave birth to Kieran, their first and only child. In his/her childhood, he/she decided that all animals would be better if they had wings. As such, he/she whipped up a bit of magic and set to work, giving wings to mice, rabbits, and everything else he/she came across in the garden. At first Kieran managed to evade detection, until he/she set upon the cook's favorite cat, and got scolded. As a result, the cook refused to make his/her favorite dessert for a year.

As young Kieran grew, he/she watched his/her family succumb to strange illnesses, tragic accidents, and strange magics. Eventually his/her parents died as well, leaving him/her as the sole heir to face the dangerous world of Fae politics alone. Kieran suspected that there was a foul play afoot, but the laws of the Fae would not allow him/her to act upon these suspicions without proof. And so, he/she dove into the study of protective magics, and his/her sole obsession was to not fall prey to the same fate as the rest of the Moon Court. Kieran then fell in love with a Princess from the Sun Court, but after many years together, she betrayed him/her by crafting a spell and cursing him/her into becoming the winged beast. The curse also took Kieran's ability to feel, and to this day, he/she is cursed to wander the moonlight woods in search of the pieces of his/her broken heart, unable to rest and no longer able to feel anything at all.

The Cursed Heart, Book 1

 * Chapter 1: The Fae Forest
 * Chapter 2: The Moon Court
 * Chapter 3: Palace of the Moon
 * Chapter 4: Flight
 * Chapter 5: Accursed
 * Chapter 6: The Grand Hunt
 * Chapter 7: Invulnerable
 * Chapter 8: The Magpie's Lair
 * Chapter 9: Flower Festival
 * Chapter 10: Mountain of Beasts
 * 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

Your Character
Since he/she saved you from the wolf, you owe him/her a debt and he/she claims you. Kieran says that once Spring comes you'll be able to leave, but because you are not willing to accept being a prisoner, you try to escape the Moon Palace at every turn. You also have the choice to challenge Kieran with your attitude, leading to a dysfunctional relationship between the two of you. At the same time however, you feel an attraction and a connection to Kieran, and you even have a vision of you two sleeping together. When you try to escape in Chapter 4, the winged beast swoops in and carries you back to the Moon Palace, shortly before it's revealed that Kieran and the winged beast are one and the same. At first Kieran is angry that you tried to leave, but then explains that he/she is cursed, and that every night when the moon rises, he/she becomes that creature and has no control, meaning that he/she could hurt you unintentionally. Once you find out the truth about his/her curse, you vow to help Kieran break it. Kieran then in return, invites you on the Grand Hunt.

During the Grand Hunt, you stick close to Kieran, and he/she in return protect you from any unknown dangers in the woods, such as Fae creatures and traps from the Sun Court. You eventually win the hunt by finding the Winged Fox and putting it down. Later, you have the chance to bathe with Kieran and get closer to him/her, and claim him/her as yours. In Chapter 7, when Kieran returns wounded after trying to retrieve a piece of his/her heart, you can help treat his/her wounds. Once you do, he/she tells you that Magpie was the one who attacked him/her and the one that has his/her missing heart piece, and you both device a plan to get it back. The plan involves trading a precious artifact with Kieran's heart piece. You can also pose as Kieran's fiance(é) by dressing up and pretending to be a couple in front of Magpie. However, this fails and Magpie refuses to sell the heart piece, which prompts you to steal it from her vault. When you bring it back to Kieran, he/she thanks you and puts it back in his/her chest. This leads to Kieran having uncontrollable positive emotions for a short amount of time, and you can choose to kiss and touch each other until this feeling subsides and Kieran returns to his/her normal self.

In Chapter 9, you attend the Flower Festival with Kieran to obtain a charm to protect you against the mountain beasts. There, you see him/her talking to Lustre and feel self-conscious about your status and what you could offer Kieran. Kieran is distraught by your distress, and removes a spell from your choker, allowing you to be able to remove it at will. He/she tells you the choker is imbued with the most potent protective spells he/she knows and as long as you wear it, you will be safe from all curses and enchantments that are within his/her power to oppose. Kieran frees you from your life debt, telling you that he/she can no longer live with the pain he/she brings to you and would like to see you happy. Afterwards, you have the chance to sleep with Kieran for the first time, and get more intimate together. When you leave the Flower Festival, you realise that the red gemstone you have in your chest is in fact Kieran's heart, and that you need to find a way to tell him/her about it, before he/she attacks and kills you after becoming the Winged Beast.

In Chapter 10, you have the opportunity to invite Kieran to stay and have breakfast with you. If you do, Kieran tells you that he/she has never seen anyone prepare food without magic before. If you ask Kieran to chop onions and he/she begins to cry from doing so, Kieran accuses you of enchanting the onions to poison him/her. When you explain to him/her about onions, Kieran says it's no wonder that mortal lives are so short as they are full of toil. After having breakfast, Kieran informs you that he/she has located another piece of his/heart heart at the Mountain of Beasts. However, in order to retrieve it and escape unscathed, you need to execute the plan flawlessly at the right time before Kieran transforms into the beast. Meanwhile, the thought of Kieran hunting you down and killing you to get his/her heart piece is still troubling you, but you decide not to tell him/her about it yet. Once you are both ready, you set the plan in motion, and Kieran takes you into his/her arms and flies you there. While being in the air, you finally come to the realisation that you care and love Kieran with all your being. After arriving at the Mountain of Beasts, the plan to get Kieran's heart piece fails, and he/she transforms into the Winged Beast and chases you down. In order to escape, you decide to leave Kieran, and find shelter at the Sun Court until you find a way to break his/her curse.

In Chapter 12, you find yourself once again having a lucid dream with Kieran. However, this time you realise that the dream and Kieran are real, and that Kieran was having the same ones as well all this time. He/She then tells you that he/she understands why you decided to leave, and in the same dream, you have the chance to hook-up with him/her. You meet again during the Moon Ball in Chapter 13 after Lustre puts a curse on you that's meant to take Kieran down. At first you try to remain unseen, but no matter how hard you try, Kieran finds you and says that he/she wants to talk to you. You have the chance to either stay at the ballroom, or go outside in the gardens. Either way, Kieran confesses his/her love to you, and despite your best efforts to reject him/her, you tell him/her that you feel the same, which leads to Kieran hugging you and activating the curse and turning him/her into the Winged Beast.

Kieran's Mother
When Kieran and his/her mother were on a hunting expedition, a strange creature caught them off guard. Their magic had no effect on it, and when it went for Kieran, his/her mother took the blow, and was torn to pieces right in front of him/her. The servant that was with them feared that someone else might try to take the throne, so he took it from Kieran's mother dead body, and placed it on Kieran's head. At first he/she didn't notice the crown, but when Longclaw asked about it, Kieran tore the crown from his/her head, hurled it away, and vowed to never wear it again.

Lustre
One day Kieran fell in love with a beautiful princess of the Sun Court, a bright and laughing girl with eyes of gold. The girl urged him/her to open him/herself up to joy and happiness again, and to put down the books and be in the world once more. And Kieran did do it, because he/she loved her more than anyone previously with his/her entire heart. The two spend many blissful years together, but one night, Kieran awoke to find his/her true love looming over his/her sleeping form, her beautiful face twisted in malice, her hands crafting some terrible enchantment. Kieran's love, having studied his/her defenses over the course of their years together, deftly unravelled once ward after another, stripping him/her bare. However, Kieran had not spend decades of study in vain, and he/she brought terrible and ancient magics to bear against his/her betrayer. Unfortunately though, the princess's curse seized Kieran's heart and shattered it into a thousand pieces, twisting his/her fair form into that of a mindless beast. The Princess, her true nature and intentions revealed, fled back to the Sun Court where she was sentenced to a hundred years in the Sun Palace dungeon as a punishment for her crimes.

In Chapter 9, said princess is revealed to be Lustre, Radiance's cousin.

Radiance
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.

Longclaw
Longclaw has been a servant of the Moon Court for many years, and knows Kieran's secret about his/her curse. She is very loyal to him/her, and believes that Kieran is a good person despite his/her curse and his/her monstrous appearance. Longclaw also hopes that one day Kieran might return to his/her old self.

Powers and Abilities

 * Immortality: In Chapter 7, Kieran states that as long as his/her heart is incomplete, he/she cannot be killed.
 * Transformation: Kieran can transform into a Winged Beast in whole or in part.

Male

 * -|Face 1=

Female

 * -|Face 1=

Miscellaneous

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Trivia

 * A male version of Kieran is shown on the cover of The Cursed Heart.
 * He/She is the forty-first
 * He/She is the twenty-fifth
 * The name Kieran is of Irish and Gaelic origin and means "black, dark", "black-haired, dark-haired", "little dark one" and "little dark-haired one". It's the anglicized form of the Irish name Ciarán, which is from the Gaelic word "ciar" and a diminutive suffix.
 * He/She shares the same name as Kieran Hale from the High School Story series.
 * Kieran is the first Gender of Choice love interest and one of the very few characters in the Choices universe to be canonically bisexual and not playersexual. This is proven when Kieran (regardless of main character's gender) says that he/she had a crush on a guy, and when it's revealed that Kieran's former beloved is by default a woman.
 * He/She shares this title with Zig Ortega from The Freshman, Emma Hawkins from High School Story, Will Jackson from The Crown and the Flame, Lily Spencer and Kamilah Sayeed from Bloodbound, Seth Levine from Red Carpet Diaries, Alana Kusuma from Perfect Match, and Kate O'Malley from Veil of Secrets.
 * According to him/herself, Kieran won nearly seventy Grand Hunts.
 * In Chapter 7, Longclaw says that because Kieran is cursed, he/she cannot be killed and heals faster than most Fae.
 * In Chapter 7, Longclaw says that because Kieran is cursed, he/she cannot be killed and heals faster than most Fae.