Chapter 1: The Nightmare
"No... please don't..."
The words left my lips in a whisper as I tossed restlessly on my bed.
The screams came first.
They always did.
Men, women, and children cried out in terror, their voices echoing through the darkness. Some begged for mercy. Others screamed in pain.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to cover my ears.
But my feet refused to move.
The same dream.
The same nightmare.
The same castle.
A giant blood-red moon hung over the dark sky, casting an eerie glow over the towering castle before me.
Cold wind brushed against my skin.
The smell of smoke and blood filled the air.
People were kneeling on the ground.
Their faces were pale with fear.
Some were crying.
Some were praying.
And all of them were looking toward the throne.
Toward him.
The king.
Even after thirteen years of seeing this dream, I had never been able to look directly at his face.
Fear always stopped me.
A fear so deep it felt carved into my soul.
The king slowly rose from his throne.
The crowd trembled.
I could hear chains dragging across the floor.
Then I saw her.
A little girl.
She couldn't have been older than five.
Her silver eyes were filled with tears.
"Grandmother!" she cried.
The old woman beside her held her tightly.
"It's okay," the woman whispered.
But it wasn't okay.
Nothing about this dream was ever okay.
The king lifted a hand.
The entire courtyard fell silent.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
I tried to see his face.
For the first time, I wanted to know who he was.
The king slowly turned.
Our eyes met.
My breath caught.
He was looking directly at me.
Not the little girl.
Not the crowd.
Me.
A cold smile appeared on his lips.
Then he pointed.
"You."
My heart nearly stopped.
The little girl screamed.
The sky turned red.
Everything dissolved into darkness.
"Aria!"
Splash!
Ice-cold water hit my face.
I gasped and sat upright.
Water dripped from my hair onto my worn blanket.
Standing beside my bed was my stepmother.
Her arms were folded across her chest.
Her expression was filled with disgust.
"Are you planning to sleep all day?" she snapped.
I blinked several times, trying to catch my breath.
The dream.
It felt so real.
Again.
Always the same dream.
Always the same castle.
Always the same king.
"Get up!" my stepmother barked.
"The dishes aren't going to wash themselves."
I lowered my gaze.
Arguing with her was pointless.
It had been pointless for years.
Ever since my father died.
Ever since she decided I was nothing more than a servant in my own home.
"Yes."
I climbed out of bed.
The room I called mine was barely larger than a storage closet.
The walls were cracked.
The mattress was thin.
The old wooden window barely closed properly.
Not exactly the kind of place people imagined when they pictured the life of a bestselling author.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
If the millions of readers who loved my books knew where I lived, they would probably think it was a joke.
Nobody knew.
Not my stepmother.
Not my stepsister.
Not even my neighbors.
To the world, I was nobody.
Just another struggling woman trying to survive.
Only one person knew the truth.
My best friend.
The only person who had stayed by my side when everyone else walked away.
I grabbed the bucket and headed toward the kitchen.
As usual, dirty dishes were piled high.
My stepsister was already sitting at the table scrolling through her phone.
She looked up briefly.
A smirk crossed her face.
"Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up."
I ignored her.
That only made her smirk wider.
She loved seeing me miserable.
The strange thing was, she had everything.
The expensive clothes.
The fancy lifestyle.
The attention.
Yet somehow she still wasn't satisfied.
Nothing was ever enough for her.
My hands moved automatically as I began washing dishes.
The dream lingered in my mind.
The castle.
The blood moon.
The king.
And those eyes.
For thirteen years I had seen fragments of that nightmare.
But last night had been different.
For the first time...
The king had seen me.
And somehow...
I couldn't shake the feeling that it meant something.
Something terrible.
Something that was about to change my life forever.
