THE CURSED BLOODLINE

The Last Heir The bells began ringing before the sun rose, and every ring meant someone in the palace had died. sun rose, and every ring meant someone in the palace had died. I stood beneath the kitchen stairs with a basket of black roses pressed against my chest, listening as the sound rolled across the capital. One. Two. Three. By the seventh bell, my hands were shaking. The palace servants crossed themselves. Outside, the city woke in whispers. A king had died. King Aldric had been ill for months, but no one had expected his final breath tonight, on the eve of the Moon Festival. By sunrise, the royal banners would be lowered, the gates sealed, and every noble in the kingdom summoned to swear loyalty to his heir, Prince Adrian. I should have felt sorrow. Instead, a strange warmth spread through my palms. The roses in my basket turned silver. I dropped them. Their petals glimmered against the stone floor, each one shining like a tiny moon. I stared, utterly unable to breathe. Then the silver faded, leaving ordinary black flowers behind. I snatched them up before anyone could notice and hurried toward the servants' courtyard. For eighteen years, I had hidden the things that happened around me. Candles flared when I was angry. Locks opened beneath my fingers. Once, when a stable boy pushed me into the river, the water had risen around me like a wall and thrown him safely onto the bank. My guardian, Mara, had made me promise never to speak of it. “Magic is a crime when it frightens the powerful,” she always said. “And your magic would frighten them all.” Mara had found me as a baby on the steps of an abandoned chapel, wrapped in a cloak embroidered with a golden crown split by lightning. She had never told me who left me there. The only clue was a birthmark beneath my left shoulder: a red star surrounded by a ring of black. Today, I felt that mark burning. I reached the courtyard just as the royal procession appeared on the balcony above. Prince Adrian stood beside his father’s coffin, dressed in midnight blue, his dark hair stirred by the cold wind. He was twenty-four, handsome in the severe way of statues, with a face that rarely revealed what he felt. I had seen him from a distance many times, but never this close. Then his gaze found mine. The world stopped. A gust swept through the courtyard, though the air had been still. Every lantern burst into blue flame. The prince gripped the balcony rail, and for one moment, I saw a golden light beneath his skin. His eyes widened. My chest tightened as a voice—not mine, not anyone’s—whispered inside my head. The blood remembers. I stumbled backward, knocking into a maid. The basket fell again, scattering roses across the stones. Around me, people cried out as the blue flames turned black. The prince looked away first, but not before I saw fear in his expression. By noon, the palace had become a fortress of mourning. Guards searched the servant quarters, asking whether anyone had witnessed sorcery. I kept my head bowed and my hands folded, though my heart pounded like a trapped bird. Mara found me in the laundry room and pulled me behind a wall of linen sheets. “What happened?” she demanded. “I don’t know.” She seized my wrist. Her face went pale as she saw the faint red glow beneath my skin. “You must leave the palace tonight.” “Why? What am I?” Before she could answer, footsteps sounded outside. Mara pushed a small iron key into my palm. “Find the old chapel beneath the eastern tower. There is a door behind the altar. Whatever happens, do not let the prince touch your blood.” The door opened. Two royal guards entered, followed by Prince Adrian himself. His gaze moved from Mara to me. “Everyone else, leave.” No one dared disobey. When we were alone, Adrian approached slowly. Up close, I could see a scar crossing his lower lip, and exhaustion shadowing his eyes. He looked less like a prince than a man carrying a secret. “I saw what happened in the courtyard,” he said. “The flames answered you.” “I did nothing.” “Then why does the royal seal burn whenever you’re near?” He lifted his hand. The gold ring on his finger glowed crimson, matching the mark hidden beneath my dress. His expression changed as if he had recognized a nightmare. “My father told me your bloodline was extinct,” he whispered. Before I could ask what he meant, the palace doors thundered shut. A horn sounded from the city walls. Adrian caught my hand, and the instant our skin touched, every window shattered at once. A furious voice filled the room. “The last heir has awakened. Kill her before the crown chooses its queen.”