Ashes in Her Wake
629 Words
The ballroom disintegrated into chaos.
Wards burst apart like shattering glass. Fire flashed from detonating runes. Shrieks echoed off marble walls as nobles panicked, their illusions shredding in mid-air.
And at the heart of the chaos, Liora held her ground, sword humming with purple fire, blood blending with spellfire.
Cael ran toward her, fighting through falling curtains and panicking guards.
"You have to move—now!"
Liora's legs were trembling already. She hadn't meant to let that much magic out. The curse that kept her bloodline imprisoned broke, but something else shattered with it.
A door.
A whisper.
A sleeping power beneath her skin.
"I—I can't feel my hands," she gasped.
He caught her when she swayed.
"You just blew a hole in the Queen's throne room. What did you think would happen?"
“I expected a crown of thorns, not a blade to the spine.”
Cael looked at her then—really looked—and something changed in his expression.
Awe.
Fear.
And worse… hope.
He gripped her tighter. “There’s a tunnel beneath the west wing. It leads beyond the palace wall.”
“You’re helping me escape?”
“I’m saving your life,” he growled. “Don’t make me regret it.”
She had no moment to protest. Already, the Queen's voice was mounting—keen as fire, dripping with rage.
"Seal the gates! She does not depart this palace alive!"
Cael pulled Liora through a shattered archway. Walls creaked with decayed magic. They sprinted, darkness following them, smoke uncoiling behind them like serpents. Liora's head pounded with a rhythm not her own.
The spell she'd awakened was stirring.
And it had a hunger.
They arrived at the entrance of the tunnel—a concealed stairway behind a rusty tapestry. He opened it, and cold earth closed around them.
Down.
Down.
Until the firelight was gone, and the palace fell behind them like a nightmare come to life.
They emerged stumbling into the peripheries of the royal woods.
Moonlight filtered through ragged branches. The air was sharp with winter and smoke.
Liora collapsed beside a burnt tree, her gasps ragged.
Cael knelt beside her. “We need to move farther. If they find you—”
“She marked me.”
“What?”
Liora turned her shoulder, pulling the fabric down.
A black crown-shaped burn, glowing faintly beneath her skin.
“Serava left her mark when she cast the duel spell,” Liora said. “She can track me now. Anywhere.”
Cael’s jaw clenched. “Then you’ll need to learn how to hide it.”
"Keep it secret?" She laughed roughly. "I don't even know what I am anymore."
"You're the one who broke the curse. That makes you more than they ever dared to hope for."
He rose to his feet, extending his hand. "But you're not safe. And you're not done. There are more out there—people who still believe in your mother's prophecy."
Liora stared up at him, amazed. "You know it?"
He nodded gravely.
When the blood moon shatters the veil
Ash girl's daughter will be born,
Flame in her blood,
And ruin in her smile.
"I did not think it," Cael said quietly. "Until now."
She took his hand.
And as he assisted her to standing, the wind shifted—and a shadow stepped out of the trees.
A hooded shape. Wearing dark red, face hidden. Magic pounded around them like a drum.
"You are late," stated the figure. "But you burned the correct location."
Liora's hand curled tightly around her knife.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted their head. "A friend of your mother's. And if you want to live long enough to finish what she started—"
They whirled.
"Come on."
- Writer
