The forest became deathly still.
The assassin's body lay motionless on the ground, his lifeless eyes staring toward the sky.
His final words echoed through everyone's mind.
"Trust the king with scars."
Aria slowly turned toward Darius.
"You know who he is?"
The Blood Emperor didn't answer immediately.
His crimson eyes remained fixed on the dead assassin as though he were looking twenty years into the past.
Marcus stepped closer.
"Darius."
"Who is the Forgotten King?"
Darius finally looked up.
His face had become unusually pale.
"The last time I saw him..."
"...he wasn't a king."
Silence settled over the clearing.
"He was a prince."
Twenty Years Earlier
Darius closed his eyes.
The memories he had buried for two decades returned with painful clarity.
"I was barely twenty-
