Chapter 3
1097 Words
“Zach!” I screamed, the smoke choking my throat.
“Violet!” I called again, but my voice vanished into the heavy, ash-thick air.
They were gone the instant I turned to reach for them, before everything around me exploded into chaos.
My eyes locked on Father’s body collapsed in the grass, blood soaking into the earth beneath the moonlight. The moment froze. Everything else faded. I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t hear them.
The garden…the place we had just danced, was now drowning in panic. Smoke twisted into the sky, and the sharp clash of steel rang from every direction.
I stumbled forward, breath ragged, eyes burning. “Zach! Violet!” I screamed again. Still no answer. No trace of Violet’s sweet voice. No sign of Zach’s guarded stare.
Only the scent of blood. The roar of swords. And the rising terror that I had lost them both.
The Sylvarrians.
I recognized them instantly their blood-red uniforms clashing against the silver and navy of Varynthia’s guards in the distance. My heart pounded, each beat a reminder that this was real. They were here.
They hadn’t crossed our borders since the last war since the night my mother died.
Now they were back. And the chaos was all too familiar.
I was pulled between fury and fear, spinning in the smoke that burned mercilessly into my eyes. In a single blink, my siblings had vanished from my sight.
How had the Sylvarrians gotten into Varynthia?
How had they broken the promise made three years ago?
There had been a vow an agreement forged in blood and pain that the Sylvarrians would never set foot within our walls again. A vow they shattered tonight without hesitation.
And now, everything was breaking with it.
Trembling, I ran through the flames, the heat biting at my skin as I ascended the spiraled stairs each step a desperate hope that I wouldn’t be too late. My room.
That was where I had hidden it-my mother’s silver sword, the symbol of Varynthia carved along its edge like a sacred oath.
I had sworn to her to protect Zach and Violet at all costs.
Now my heart pounded with grief and fury. Father was gone. My siblings were missing. And my vow burned heavier than ever in my chest.
Gritting my teeth, I clutched the sword, its familiar weight grounding me as I raced back into the chaos.
I pushed toward the front of the castle, where the once-crystal spring flowed endlessly… only now, it was streaked with blood. The blood of soldiers still fighting… still trying to protect us.
But then I saw him.
A very tall. Broad-shouldered. dark-haired. And those golden eyes sharp and merciless as they scanned the rowdiness and the flames burning from each sides.
My breath hitched.
A Sylvarrian prince. Not just any prince—the marked one, branded with the traitor’s tattoo.
Rhysand Velcaryn.
Even from a distance, I recognized him. Three years ago, I had seen him on the battlefield but he hadn’t looked like this.
Not this built. Not this commanding. His presence was different now. Fiercer. He carried the kind of danger that radiated without needing words.
And in that moment, a sliver of hope in me cracked. Maybe Varynthia couldn’t be saved after all.
But I couldn’t afford to lose all of it… not yet.
Zach. Violet.
I had to find them. If I could, we could take the secret path beneath the gardens. Escape. Far from Varynthia. That was all that echoed through my mind now…find them, escape, survive.
But where were they?
A sudden whistle sliced the air behind me. Instinct pulled me forward.
A soldier in red swung his sword, barely missing my back. I turned sharply, lifting my mother’s blade, but enough to hold him off.
I wasn’t skilled, but I knew how to fight dirty when it mattered.
Fingers tightening around the knife hidden in my sash, I waited. Let him get close. Let him think I was weak.
He would learn how wrong he was.
But before I could react, he caught my neck, his sword pressing cold against my skin. His voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
“The Three Star Bearer is under my blade!”The Sylvarrian soldier shouted, sweat glistening on his brow.
In that moment, I understood. The attack against my kingdom was because of me. Because Father had foolishly announced to the world that his daughter carried the three stars.
A fire flared deep in my bones. I fought with everything I had, even as the sharp edge threatened to end me.
But suddenly, the Sylvarrian prince struck his sword’s edge crashing into the soldier, sending him sprawling away. Then, without hesitation, he grabbed me tightly.
“Get on the horse… or you’ll be lying dead beside your father,” he said, low and hoarse, each word like a blade, quiet but carved with an unshakable, lethal command.
Confusion flickered across my face. Wasn’t that exactly what the soldier intended? To capture me and drag me off to their kingdom? Why had this prince knocked him down only to do the same himself?
“What makes you think I’ll trust you?” I asked, voice quiet but unwavering, as I raised my sword to his neck, my eyes steady and fierce. “Sylvarrians are the last people I’d ever put my faith in,” I added, the words low and firm as my heartbeat quickened.
With a finger tip he pushed the sharp edge of my swords slightly as if it wouldn’t cut him.
“What makes you think I want to be the one saving a Varynthian princess?” Rhysand’s voice was low, edged with steel. His sharp jaw clenched as he stepped closer, close enough that his presence coiled around me like smoke-heavy, dangerous, and impossible to ignore.
His golden eyes locked onto mine, burning with restrained fury. “Just so you know…” he added, voice barely above a whisper, “you’re just as much my enemy as I am yours.”
My fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword not that I could do much with it against him, but I could damn well hold it up like I meant it. Like I wasn’t going to back down.
My breath came ragged as I met his gaze, confused but unwavering. He wasn’t pulling the blade away, even though I knew he could. He could end this standoff in a heartbeat. But he didn’t.
Why was he saving me if he hated me too?
- Writer
