The Devil Bowed To Her

Chapter Five: The Crown Beneath the Roots

The crown was bleeding.

Seraphina couldn't explain what she was seeing.

Deep beneath the ancient trees, half-buried among twisted roots, stood a stone altar.

And resting on top of it was a crown.

It was beautiful.

Terrifyingly beautiful.

Black metal twisted around deep crimson stones, with tiny silver markings carved into its edges.

Blood dripped from the crown.

Not onto it.

From it.

Drop.

Drop.

Drop.

Each crimson drop struck the stone altar and disappeared.

Seraphina took another step forward.

Lucien caught her wrist.

"No."

She looked at him.

"You said that already."

"And I'm saying it again."

"I need to know what that is."

"You don't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know what happens when someone wears it."

"What?"

Lucien's grip tightened.

"They die."

Seraphina stared at the crown.

"Then why is it calling me?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

His jaw tightened.

"You keep saying that."

"Because you keep doing it."

Lucien released her wrist.

Seraphina walked toward the altar.

The moment she stepped beneath the branches, the forest went silent.

No insects.

No wind.

Not even the distant sound of the burning village.

Nothing.

Then the crown stopped bleeding.

The red stones began to glow.

Seraphina's heart pounded.

A voice whispered through the trees.

Come closer.

She swallowed.

"Did you hear that?"

Lucien looked at her strangely.

"Hear what?"

"The voice."

"There is no voice."

Seraphina slowly turned toward the altar.

"Yes, there is."

She reached for the crown.

Lucien moved instantly.

"Seraphina!"

His hand caught hers.

Their fingers touched.

The world exploded.

Seraphina gasped.

Suddenly, she wasn't in the forest anymore.

She was standing inside a castle.

A massive hall surrounded her.

Hundreds of people knelt along both sides of a crimson carpet.

At the end stood a throne.

And sitting on it was a woman.

Seraphina's breath caught.

The woman looked exactly like her.

Same brown eyes.

Same lips.

Same crescent-shaped birthmark beneath her collarbone.

But she wore a crown.

The bleeding crown.

"Mother?"

The woman looked up.

Her eyes filled with tears.

"My little star."

Seraphina's heart shattered.

"Mother!"

She ran toward her.

But before she could reach her, the scene changed.

Fire.

Screaming.

Blood.

The castle was burning.

The woman who looked like Seraphina stood in front of an infant.

A baby wrapped in white cloth.

Seraphina.

Her mother was crying.

"No."

A familiar voice came from behind her.

The Devil.

"You cannot hide her forever, Isolde."

Seraphina watched as her mother turned.

"You will never have her."

The Devil stepped forward.

"You know what she is."

"She is my daughter."

"She is more than that."

Her mother held the baby closer.

"She is innocent."

"Not forever."

The Devil's eyes moved toward the infant.

"When she turns nineteen, the seal will break."

Seraphina's heart pounded.

Nineteen.

Her mother shook her head.

"Then I will make sure she never remembers."

"You cannot erase what she was born to become."

"I can hide her."

"For a time."

The Devil smiled.

"Then I will wait."

The vision suddenly shattered.

Seraphina screamed.

She fell to her knees.

Lucien caught her before her head struck the ground.

"Seraphina!"

She gasped for air.

Her entire body was shaking.

"My mother..."

"What did you see?"

"She knew you."

Lucien froze.

"What?"

"She knew your father."

His expression changed.

"Tell me."

"She said she would hide me."

Lucien's face went pale.

"From him."

Seraphina nodded.

Then she looked toward the altar.

"The seal."

Lucien went still.

"What seal?"

"He said the seal would break when I turned nineteen."

Lucien stared at her.

"You're nineteen."

"Exactly."

Neither spoke.

Then the crown moved.

It lifted from the altar by itself.

Lucien immediately drew his sword.

"Step away."

The crown floated toward Seraphina.

She couldn't move.

It stopped inches from her head.

Then a voice echoed through the forest.

My queen.

Seraphina whispered,

"I don't want to be a queen."

The crown pulsed.

You already are.

It dropped onto her head.

Lucien shouted her name.

A wave of crimson energy exploded from her body.

Trees bent.

The ground cracked.

The sky turned red.

Lucien was thrown backward.

"Seraphina!"

She couldn't hear him.

She was somewhere else.

Inside her own mind.

A vast darkness stretched before her.

And standing in the middle of it was a little girl.

Five years old.

Seraphina stared at her.

The girl smiled.

"You finally came."

"Who are you?"

The little girl tilted her head.

"You."

Seraphina's blood ran cold.

"No."

"Yes."

The girl stepped closer.

"I'm the part of you they buried."

Seraphina backed away.

"What does that mean?"

The girl smiled.

"It means your mother didn't erase your memories."

She leaned closer.

"She erased me."

Seraphina's breathing stopped.

"What are you?"

The girl's eyes suddenly turned crimson.

"The queen."

The darkness trembled.

Then the girl whispered:

"And you need to wake up."

Seraphina opened her eyes.

She was lying on the forest floor.

Lucien was beside her.

His hand was pressed against her cheek.

"Seraphina."

She blinked.

"Where am I?"

"You're back."

He sounded relieved.

She slowly sat up.

Then she felt something on her head.

Her fingers touched metal.

The crown.

She pulled it off.

Lucien stared at it.

"That's impossible."

"What?"

"That crown hasn't answered to anyone in centuries."

Seraphina looked at him.

"It answered to me."

Lucien nodded.

"Yes."

She studied his face.

"You knew about it."

He looked away.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing."

"Lucien."

"I'm serious."

She stood.

"So am I."

He rose too.

"You need to leave this place."

"Why?"

"Because now that you've awakened the crown..."

He looked toward the sky.

"Everyone will know where you are."

A distant horn sounded.

Lucien's expression changed.

Another horn answered.

Then another.

Seraphina looked around.

"What is that?"

"An army."

Her stomach dropped.

"Whose?"

Lucien drew his sword.

"Everyone's."

Through the trees came thousands of footsteps.

Demons.

Witches.

Werewolves.

Fae.

Vampires.

Creatures Seraphina couldn't even identify.

They surrounded the forest.

But none attacked.

Instead, every creature slowly lowered themselves to the ground.

One by one.

Knee after knee.

Head after head.

Until the entire forest was filled with bowed figures.

Seraphina stared.

A woman wearing a white cloak stepped forward.

She was old, but her eyes were strangely familiar.

She looked directly at Seraphina.

Then she whispered,

"After nineteen years..."

Her voice broke.

"Our queen has returned."

Seraphina looked at Lucien.

He wasn't kneeling.

He was staring at her.

Then something happened that made her heart stop.

Lucien slowly lowered himself to one knee.

The Devil's son.

The heir to Hell.

The man who had refused to bow before anyone.

He bowed his head before her.

Seraphina whispered,

"Lucien..."

He looked up at her.

His golden eyes held something she had never seen there before.

Fear.

Reverence.

And something far more dangerous.

Devotion.

"My queen."

Seraphina's breath caught.

Then a scream came from the edge of the forest.

Everyone turned.

A figure stood among the trees.

A man wearing a black mask.

He held a sword dripping with blood.

The old woman gasped.

"No..."

The masked man laughed.

"You're too late."

He removed the mask.

Seraphina stared at the face beneath it.

She didn't recognize him.

But Lucien did.

His sword lowered.

"Father..."

The Devil stood before them.

But this time, he wasn't smiling.

He was looking at the crown in Seraphina's hand.

And for the first time...

the Devil looked afraid.