Forbidden Curiosity
372 Words
The whispers wouldn’t leave her alone.
Even as Aria sat in the garden courtyard later that evening, surrounded by ivy-covered walls and the perfume of dying roses, her thoughts twisted like smoke. Words like prophecy, bloodline, and chosen echoed in her mind.
She had to know more — and no one was going to hand her the truth.
After dinner, while the halls quieted and the moon climbed higher into the sky, Aria slipped from her chamber, a candle in hand. She had memorized the turns from earlier: the corridor behind the east wing, the door left slightly ajar near the library, the narrow spiral stairs the servants never used.
The castle had secrets, and she intended to find them.
As she descended, the air grew colder. The stone walls whispered with age, and cobwebs brushed against her arms. Her candle flickered violently, as if something unseen stirred in the shadows.
She reached a long hallway lined with paintings — but not of kings or battles. These were portraits of women. Elegant. Ethereal. And each one had eyes that seemed to follow her.
But it was the last portrait that made her freeze.
A woman with dark curls and pale skin… and eyes identical to Aria’s.
She stepped closer, heart racing. The plaque beneath the painting had been scratched off, but the resemblance was undeniable.
Who was she?
The room at the end of the hall drew her forward like a magnetic pull. She found a large door — old, creaking — and pushed it open to reveal a forgotten chamber filled with dust and parchment.
Books. Scrolls. Old manuscripts. She grabbed the nearest leather-bound volume, brushing off years of grime. The title was faded, but the symbol on the cover matched the embroidery she’d seen on Damien’s robe.
She opened it slowly… and the first line made her blood run cold.
"When the blood of fire joins the cursed one, the Flameborn shall rise and decide the fate of the immortal kind."
Flameborn.
She read it again. Her hands trembled.
Was that what they thought she was?
Was that why Damien had chosen her?
A sudden creak behind her snapped her out of the trance.
Someone else was there.
Watching her.
- Writer
