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 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.

The Cursed Heart, 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

Your Character
You meet Radiance for the first time in the woods when you're trying to escape the Winged Beast. He/She assures you that as long as you are with him/her and the other Faes, the Winged Beast won't attack you. Shen then asks how you found them, and when you tell Radiance about the gem, he/she seems intrigued and asks you where it went. When you decide to leave, Radiance invites you to come and stay with him/her at the Sun Palace, until Kieran interrupts him/her and claims you first. You see Radiance again during the Grand Hunt in Chapter 6, and you can join him/her in the lake, and flirt with him/her. He/She says that you have brightened his/her day, and that you have a very gentle heart. He/She then admires the strength you've shown during the Grand Hunt and in surviving in Kieran's household, and it pains him/her to think that you have suffered these past few days, and says that nothing will harm you as long as he/she is there. What's more, Radiance mentions that he/she wants to be friends with you, and that when your service with Kieran ends, you should go find him/her.

When your plan to help Kieran break his/her curse fails and he/she transforms into a beast and chases you, you seek shelter at the Sun Court. Radiance is happy to see you and offers to help you by destroying Kieran's collar, and by inviting you to stay with him/her at the palace. When you tell Radiance that you want to break Kieran's curse, he/she tells you that the palace's library might have the answers. However, first you have to go through his/her two great-great-uncles, and convince them to give you permission. Once you do, you return to the library and search for a way to break the curse with Radiance. You also have the chance to take a stroll in the gardens with him/her, learn more about his/her life, and kiss him/her. Later, you return to the library alone and discover how you can help Kieran break his/her curse once and for all. Shortly after, Radiance shows up and when you tell him/her what you've found, he/she exposes his/her true nature, saying that you are his/hers now, and that they can finally proceed in destroying Kieran and the Moon Court once and for all.

In Chapter 13, Radiance carries you with magic to the throne room, where Lustre, Brightness and Blaze expose their true colors. If you flirted with Radiance and kissed him/her, Radiance admits he/she did have genuine feelings towards you. However, given that you are a mortal, it's nothing more than a dalliance never meant to last. Radiance also says that he/she had her eye on you ever since you first met him/her and told her about the heart piece. According to him/her, had Kieran not shown up and claimed you, he/she would had taken you back to the Sun Court and cut the heart piece right out of your chest the same night. Radiance then instructs Lustre to put a curse on your heart to take Kieran down, and sends you back to your room to prepare for the Moon Ball. There, you have the chance to wear either a Sun Court outfit or a Moon Court one. If you go with the second, Radiance is angry and says that he/she will punish you for disobeying him/her. When you storm the Sun Court Palace to free Kieran in Chapter 16, Lustre drags you to the throne room, and Radiance sets loose the Winged Beast in order to have you killed. However, Kieran ends up transforming back to his/her Fae form and beats Radiance, and you have the chance to confront him/her once and for all, call him/her out about his/her actions, and slap him/her.

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 female character model could be considered as a variation of 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.