The Night Before Death
1229 Words
The black envelope remained clenched in Veyra's hand long after the footsteps outside disappeared.
“If you want to know why they fear you, survive tomorrow.”
She read the sentence again.
Then again.
The strange symbol on the envelope bothered her more than the message itself.
A crescent moon surrounded by three claw marks.
She had never seen it before, yet something about it felt strangely familiar.
Veyra turned the envelope over.
Nothing.
No name.
No royal seal.
No explanation of how it had reached a locked prison cell.
She looked toward the corridor.
The guards were still outside.
“Who sent this?”
No answer came.
Veyra crouched beside the stone floor and examined the gap where the envelope had appeared.
The opening was far too narrow for a person's hand.
There was no hidden passage she could see.
Her fingers brushed against the cold stone.
Then she noticed something.
A thin black line ran beneath the floor.
It looked almost like a crack.
But the crack was shaped like a crescent moon.
Veyra pulled her hand away.
The Black Moon on her skin suddenly burned.
She gasped.
The mark glowed faintly.
The crack beneath the floor answered with the same dark light.
Veyra stared.
“What are you?”
The glow disappeared.
Before she could investigate further, the prison door opened.
A guard entered carrying a tray of food.
“Eat.”
Veyra looked at the tray.
She wasn't hungry.
“What is this?”
“Your final meal.”
The words were delivered without emotion.
Veyra's gaze hardened.
“Already?”
“The execution is at sunrise.”
He placed the tray down.
Veyra noticed something strange.
The guard's hands were shaking.
She looked at him carefully.
“You don't believe I'm guilty.”
He froze.
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't have to.”
The guard glanced toward the corridor before lowering his voice.
“My brother was one of the soldiers you saved during the northern rebellion.”
Veyra's expression softened.
“I remember that battle.”
“My brother said you stayed on the battlefield after the royal army withdrew.”
Veyra looked down.
“He was injured. I couldn't leave him.”
The guard swallowed.
“He said you carried him back yourself.”
Veyra remembered the young soldier.
She had never known his name.
“You're his brother?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you letting them execute me?”
The guard's face tightened.
“Because I have a family too.”
Veyra understood immediately.
If he opposed the king, he could lose everything.
She nodded.
“I won't ask you to risk them.”
The guard looked surprised.
“You're not angry?”
“I've learned today that fear makes people do terrible things.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he quietly said, “There may still be someone willing to help you.”
Veyra stepped closer.
“Who?”
The guard shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because whoever left that envelope isn't the only person watching this prison.”
Veyra's heart quickened.
Before she could ask anything else, the guard straightened.
“Eat.”
He left.
The door locked.
Veyra stared at the food.
Then she noticed something beneath the plate.
A small metal key.
Her eyes widened.
She immediately picked it up.
It was old.
Blackened.
And engraved with the same three-clawed crescent symbol from the envelope.
Veyra closed her fingers around it.
Someone inside the palace was helping her.
But why?
And how did they know about the symbol?
She walked toward the cell door and examined the lock.
The key didn't fit.
Veyra frowned.
She tried the nearby storage cabinet.
The key turned.
Inside was nothing except an old bundle of papers.
She pulled them out.
The first page was almost completely destroyed by age.
But one line remained readable.
The bearer of the Black Moon must never be crowned.
Veyra's breathing stopped.
Another page contained a list of names.
Most had been scratched out.
Only one remained visible.
Seraphina Lunareth.
Veyra stared at the name.
Her mother's name.
“No…”
She turned the page quickly.
There was a drawing of a woman wearing a crescent-shaped pendant.
The face was damaged, but Veyra recognized the eyes.
They were unmistakably her mother's.
At the bottom of the page was another sentence.
The Moon Child will inherit what the queen could not destroy.
Veyra's fingers trembled.
“What does this mean?”
A sudden sound came from behind her.
Veyra spun around.
The cell was empty.
But the black crack beneath the floor had appeared again.
This time, it was wider.
Dark light leaked through the stones.
Then a voice whispered from below.
“Veyra…”
She stepped backward.
Her heart hammered.
“Who are you?”
The voice came again.
“Do not trust the king.”
Veyra's eyes widened.
“Who are you?”
Silence.
Then—
“Your mother knew.”
Veyra froze.
“My mother?”
The darkness beneath the floor suddenly vanished.
The crack closed.
Veyra rushed toward it.
“Wait!”
Nothing.
She looked down at the papers in her hands.
Her mother had known about the Black Moon.
Her father had ordered her execution.
Celestia had lied.
Cassian had betrayed her.
And someone was secretly helping her survive.
But there was another question that frightened her more than all the others.
Why had her mother never told her?
A loud horn sounded from outside.
Veyra walked toward the window.
The Royal Square below was already being prepared.
Guards surrounded the execution platform.
Workers were building barricades.
Crowds were beginning to gather despite the darkness.
They had come to watch her die.
Veyra stared at them.
The girl who had once dreamed of standing before those people as their queen was now going to stand before them as a condemned criminal.
She should have been terrified.
Instead, she felt something unfamiliar rising inside her.
Anger.
Veyra returned to the table and looked at the crown she had been allowed to keep from her coronation belongings.
She picked it up.
The gold was cold against her fingers.
Tomorrow, they expected her to kneel.
Tomorrow, they expected her to beg.
Tomorrow, they expected the Black Moon to disappear with her life.
Veyra slowly placed the crown back on the table.
“No.”
Her voice was quiet.
“If I survive tomorrow, I will find every person who did this.”
She looked toward the palace.
“I'll uncover every lie.”
Her hand closed around the strange key.
“And I'll find out what my mother was hiding.”
The prison suddenly went silent.
Then Veyra heard something outside.
A guard screamed.
Metal crashed against stone.
Another shout followed.
“Open the gates!”
Veyra rushed toward the bars.
“What is happening?”
No one answered.
Then the entire prison shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Veyra grabbed the bars.
A deep roar echoed through the palace grounds.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't an animal she recognized.
And somewhere beyond the prison walls, something had just entered the royal capital.
Veyra's Black Moon suddenly began to glow.
This time, the voice inside her mind didn't whisper.
It commanded.
“Run.”
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