THE CURSED BLOODLINE

Chapter 6

: The Ruins of Forgotten Kings

The note trembled between my fingers as midnight approached.

Come alone, or the prince will die.

I read the words again, hoping they would somehow change. They did not. Across the library, Adrian struggled to sit upright while Mara pressed a hand against his shoulder, urging him to remain still. His silver eyes searched for mine, and I quickly folded the note before he could see it.

Too late.

“What does it say?” he demanded.

“Nothing important.”

“Evelina, I nearly lost control of myself, and now you're lying to me?”

His accusation struck a nerve. I wanted to tell him everything, but the threat was clear. Whoever had written that message knew about his curse and intended to use him against me.

“I need to find my mother,” I whispered.

Adrian's expression softened. “Then we will find her together.”

“No.”

He stared at me.

“You cannot come.”

“After everything that has happened, you expect me to let you walk into danger alone?”

“I expect you to stay alive.”

The words escaped before I could hide their meaning. For a moment, neither of us moved. Adrian reached for my hand, stopping just before our fingers touched.

“Whatever this bond is,” he murmured, “I feel it too.”

My heart betrayed me with a painful flutter.

“Then you should understand why I cannot risk losing you.”

His eyes widened, and I immediately regretted my confession. I turned away before he could answer, gathering my cloak and the silver pendant Mara had given me.

The old woman blocked the doorway.

“If you go to those ruins, take this.”

She pressed a small crystal into my palm. Blue light shimmered inside it like trapped moonlight.

“What is it?”

“A memory stone. Your mother entrusted it to me before the attack. I was supposed to give it to you when your powers awakened.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because I was afraid of what you would discover.”

I closed my fingers around the crystal. “I am tired of being protected by lies.”

Mara lowered her head. “Then may the truth be kinder than the silence was.”

I left the palace through a servants' passage, wearing a hood that concealed my face. The city streets were deserted, and rain silvered the cobblestones beneath my boots. Above the rooftops, the royal banners hung motionless despite the wind.

As I approached the northern gates, a shadow detached itself from an alley.

Adrian.

I stopped so abruptly that my cloak swung around me.

“You followed me?”

“Of course.”

“I told you to stay behind.”

“And I ignored you.”

Despite everything, a laugh escaped me. It was small and nervous, but genuine. Adrian smiled, and for one precious second, he looked like an ordinary young man rather than a cursed prince.

Then the darkness flickered beneath his skin.

His smile disappeared.

“If I lose control again, promise me you'll run.”

“I won't make that promise.”

“Evelina—”

“I will fight for you, Adrian. But you must fight for yourself.”

He looked at me as though I had given him something more valuable than a kingdom. Together, we slipped beyond the northern gates.

The ruins stood beyond a forest of ancient trees, where twisted branches blocked the moonlight. Broken statues lined the path, their faces worn away by centuries of rain. At the center stood a ruined palace, its towers collapsed and its walls covered in black vines.

The moment I crossed the entrance, my birthmark began to burn.

“Stay close,” Adrian whispered.

A woman's voice floated through the darkness.

“My darling girl.”

I froze.

A figure stood beneath the broken archway, dressed in a pale gown that shimmered like mist. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders, and her violet eyes were identical to mine.

“Mother?”

Tears blurred my vision as I ran toward her. She opened her arms, and I fell against her, trembling with eighteen years of unanswered questions.

She smelled of lavender and rain. Her embrace felt impossibly familiar, as though some part of me had remembered her even when my mind could not.

“I thought you were dead,” I sobbed.

“I know, my heart.”

She kissed my forehead, then pulled back to study my face.

“You have grown so much.”

I wanted to ask everything at once. Why had she left me? Who had imprisoned her? Why had our family been destroyed?

But her gaze shifted toward Adrian, and her expression changed.

“You brought him.”

“He refused to stay behind.”

My mother stepped away from me.

“Then we have very little time.”

She reached beneath her collar and withdrew a golden key. Its shape matched the symbol on my birthmark.

“Your father is not dead,” she whispered. “He is the one who placed the curse upon Adrian's bloodline.”

Adrian staggered backward.

“No. My father died before I was crowned.”

My mother shook her head.

“The man buried beneath the royal tomb was only a body.”

Before I could speak, the ruins began to shake. Stone cracked beneath our feet, and black vines burst through the walls.

My mother seized my hand.

“He knows you are here.”

A deep voice thundered from the darkness.

“Welcome home, my daughter.”

The shadows parted, revealing a man wearing the broken crown of Eldoria.

Adrian's face drained of color.

“Father?”

The king smiled.

And his eyes were the same terrible black as Adrian's had been.

“Run!” my mother screamed.

But the king raised one hand, and the ground split between us. A wall of black fire erupted, separating Adrian from me.

I reached for him, screaming his name.

His father laughed.

“Now, Evelina, you must choose. Save the prince you love, or save the mother you have just found.”

And beneath the flames, I saw two figures chained to opposite sides of the ruined throne.

One was Adrian.

The other was me.