The Princess They Tried to Kill

The first thing I noticed was how quiet everyone had become. The courtyard had never been quiet before. Not during royal celebrations. Not during executions. Not even during the funerals of kings. There were always whispers. Someone always laughed when they shouldn’t. Someone always cried. Children were usually pulled behind their mothers, and the old women always had something to say about the weather, the king, or whoever was unfortunate enough to be standing on the execution platform. Today, there was nothing. Just silence. I stood in the middle of the stone platform with my hands tied behind my back and stared at the crowd. Hundreds of faces stared back. Some were familiar. Some weren’t. Most looked afraid. A few looked satisfied. I couldn’t blame them. If I’d spent my whole life hearing that the king’s only daughter was a useless disappointment, I probably would have been curious to see how she died too. The rope around my wrists was too tight. I had stopped feeling my fingers ten minutes ago. “Stop moving.” The soldier behind me tightened it again. I winced. “I’m not moving.” “You were.” “I was breathing.” He said nothing. Of course. Nobody wanted to speak to me. Not today. The executioner stood a few feet away, sharpening his sword. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Each sound went straight through me. I looked toward the castle. My home. At least, it had been my home. The enormous golden doors were open, and the royal family stood on the balcony above the courtyard. My father stood in the center. King Aldric Vale. My king. My father. He wore his ceremonial black coat, the one embroidered with gold thread and the royal crest over his chest. He looked exactly as he always did when he addressed the kingdom. Calm. Controlled. Untouchable. Except he wasn’t looking at me. That hurt more than I wanted to admit. I searched the balcony anyway. My mother wasn’t there. She had been sick for months. Or that’s what I’d been told. My older cousin, Lord Marcus, stood beside the king. And beside him was my father’s most trusted adviser, Chancellor Rowan. Both men were watching me. Neither looked surprised. That was strange. Everything about this morning was strange. I had been dragged from my bedroom before sunrise. No explanation. No trial. No chance to defend myself. They had simply entered my room, pulled me out of bed and told me I was being arrested for treason. Treason. I almost laughed when I first heard it. Me? I couldn’t even sneak out of the castle without being caught. How exactly was I supposed to betray an entire kingdom? Apparently, I had passed information to the enemy. Apparently, I’d helped assassins enter the palace. Apparently, I’d been working with the Draven kingdom for months. And apparently, they had proof. I still hadn’t seen it. I doubted I ever would. “Princess.” I looked to my right. The executioner was walking toward me. He was older than I expected. Maybe fifty. Gray beard. Scar across his cheek. His sword was clean. Too clean. My stomach turned. He stopped in front of me. “Do you have any final words?” I stared at him. “You really want to hear them?” His expression didn’t change. “Yes.” I looked at the crowd. Then back at him. “I want my father.” The courtyard became even quieter. The executioner looked toward the balcony. The king didn’t move. I laughed bitterly. “That’s it?” No answer. “I don’t get a final meal? A priest? Someone to tell me what I actually did?” Still nothing. I raised my voice. “I want my father.” This time, he looked at me. Our eyes met across the courtyard. For one second, I thought I saw something. Regret. Then it disappeared. He turned away. “Proceed.” My heart dropped. The executioner lifted his sword. I closed my eyes. This was it. Nineteen years. That was all I got. Nineteen years of being unwanted. Nineteen years of being compared to everyone else. Nineteen years of hearing the same sentence from people who didn’t even bother lowering their voices. The princess has no magic. In Aetheria, that was worse than being ugly. Magic was everything. Every child born in the kingdom was tested when they turned eighteen. Some could control fire. Some water. Some earth. Some air. A few had rare abilities—healing, illusion, mind-reading. The stronger the magic, the higher your position in society. And then there was me. Nothing. When I was eighteen, the royal mage placed his hands over mine and waited. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. The whole ceremony lasted less than five minutes. I remember the silence afterward. I remember my father’s face. I remember Chancellor Rowan whispering something into his ear. And I remember the royal mage saying: “She has no affinity.” No affinity. A prettier way of saying useless. My father had tried to hide it at first. Then he stopped trying. I became a secret embarrassment. I wasn’t allowed to attend certain royal gatherings. I wasn’t introduced to foreign rulers. I wasn’t permitted to represent the crown. And whenever people asked about the king’s daughter, the answer was always the same. “Princess Elara is… delicate.” I hated that word. Delicate. It made me sound like a glass ornament. Something pretty enough to keep on a shelf but too useless to touch. I opened my eyes. The sword was above me. I could see the sunlight reflecting off the blade. For some reason, I suddenly thought about the first time I’d seen snow. I had been eight. My mother had taken me outside after a rare winter storm, and I’d tried to catch snowflakes with my tongue. She had laughed. A real laugh. Not the polite smile she wore around court. I hadn’t heard that laugh in years. I wondered if she’d ever know what happened to me. I wondered if she’d even been told. The executioner moved. I screamed. Not because of the sword. Because the ground beneath my feet cracked. A deep rumble rolled through the courtyard. Everyone froze. The executioner stumbled. I looked down. A thin line had appeared between the stones beneath me. Then another. Then another. The cracks spread outward. “What is happening?” someone shouted. I didn’t know. The ground shook harder. The soldiers backed away. The ropes around my wrists suddenly burned. I cried out. Something moved inside my chest. Not my heart. Something deeper. Something I had never felt before. Heat rushed through my body. My knees buckled. I fell. The courtyard erupted into chaos. People screamed. Someone shouted for the guards. The executioner dropped his sword. And then the fountain behind me exploded. Water shot into the air. I stared at it. The water hung there. Suspended. For a second, nobody moved. Then it came rushing toward me. I threw my arms up instinctively. The ropes around my wrists snapped. The water stopped inches from my face. I stared at it. It floated there. Waiting. My breathing became shallow. “What…” The water moved. It wrapped around my arm. I screamed and stumbled backward. It followed me. “No. No, no, no.” I shook my arm violently. The water fell to the ground. Then the flames from the torches around the courtyard suddenly grew. One. Two. Ten. Every flame bent toward me. My mouth went dry. The crowd began running. “Get away from her!” “She’s cursed!” “Call the mages!” “Protect the king!” I barely heard them. I was staring at my hands. There was a faint golden light beneath my skin. It pulsed with every beat of my heart. My father had stood up. For the first time that morning, he looked terrified. Not surprised. Not confused. Terrified. “Father?” He took one step backward. I stared at him. “What’s wrong?” He didn’t answer. “Father?” Chancellor Rowan grabbed his arm. “Your Majesty, we have to leave.” My father didn’t move. His eyes were fixed on me. “That’s impossible,” he whispered. I heard him. “What is?” He looked at Rowan. “She wasn’t supposed to have it.” My stomach twisted. “Have what?” Nobody answered. The ground shook again. This time, stones lifted from the courtyard. They floated around me. I stared at them in horror. I wasn’t doing anything. At least, I didn’t think I was. One of the stones shot across the courtyard and smashed into a pillar. The crowd screamed. Guards drew their swords. “Don’t!” My voice cracked. “I don’t know what’s happening!” Nobody listened. A guard rushed toward me. The moment he got close, a gust of wind threw him across the courtyard. He landed hard. I covered my mouth. “Oh my God.” My hands were shaking. I had never hurt anyone in my life. I had never even been in a real fight. Now people were running from me. And I didn’t know how to stop it. “Elara!” I looked toward the balcony. My father’s voice. I almost cried from relief. He was looking at me. Really looking at me. “Come here.” I stared at him. “Come here!” he shouted again. I took a step. The ground beneath my foot cracked. I stopped. My father went pale. Then he said something I never expected to hear. “Kill her.” I couldn’t breathe. “What?” He turned toward the guards. “Kill her now!” Everything inside me went cold. My own father had just ordered my death. Again. Except this time, he wasn’t hiding behind a legal accusation. He was afraid of me. And suddenly, the strange feeling inside my chest made sense. He knew. He had always known. “Why?” I whispered. No one answered. A dozen soldiers surrounded me. I backed away. “Please.” One raised his sword. “I don’t want to hurt you.” “Then don’t.” He charged. I lifted my hands. The air exploded. The soldier flew backward. Another came from my left. I ducked. His sword passed over my head. I grabbed his arm. I didn’t even know what I was doing. The moment I touched him, the ground beneath us turned red. Fire erupted. He screamed and jumped away. I screamed too. “Stop!” Another attack came. I ran. I didn’t know where I was going. I just ran. People scattered in front of me. Guards shouted. Someone rang the palace alarm. The huge bell above the eastern tower began to ring. Once. Twice. Three times. The sound shook through my bones. I reached the edge of the courtyard. A wall of soldiers blocked the gate. There were too many. I turned around. The king was still on the balcony. Watching. I looked at him one last time. “Why?” He didn’t answer. Then a voice came from behind me. “Because your existence threatens everything he built.” I spun around. A man stood between the soldiers. I had never seen him before. He was tall. Maybe twenty-three or twenty-four. Black hair fell messily across his forehead. He wore dark armor beneath a long black coat. A silver emblem rested against his chest. A wolf surrounded by flames. I knew that symbol. Everyone did. The Draven kingdom. Our enemy. My heart stopped. The enemy prince. Kael Draven. I’d seen paintings of him. Everyone had. The crown prince of Draven. The boy who had supposedly killed thirty soldiers when he was sixteen. The prince who had survived three assassination attempts. The man people said would eventually become one of the most dangerous rulers in the continent. He was standing twenty feet away from me. Inside my father’s palace. Nobody was attacking him. I looked around. “How did you get in here?” His eyes stayed on me. “That isn’t important.” “It is to me.” He almost smiled. Almost. “You have bigger problems.” I looked behind me. The soldiers were closing in again. Kael glanced at them. Then back at me. “Come with me.” I stared at him. “You want me to go with you?” “Yes.” “You’re the enemy.” “I know.” “My father wants me dead.” “I know.” “You broke into the royal palace.” “I did.” “And you’re asking me to trust you?” “No.” His answer came so quickly that I actually blinked. “I don’t expect you to trust me.” “Then why would I come with you?” His expression changed. For the first time, I saw something in his eyes. Concern. “Because if you stay here, they’ll kill you.” A sword came flying toward us. Kael moved before I could. He caught it. Just caught it. The blade stopped in his hand. I stared. He threw it aside. “Now.” A soldier charged. Kael drew his own sword. The fight happened so quickly I barely followed it. One second he was standing beside me. The next, he had disarmed two soldiers. He moved like he had been born with a sword in his hand. I backed away. “Who are you?” He looked at me. “I told you.” “You’re Prince Kael.” “Yes.” “The prince who’s supposed to hate me.” He paused. “That’s complicated.” Before I could respond, an arrow flew toward us. Kael shoved me aside. The arrow hit his shoulder. He stumbled. “Kael!” He looked down at the arrow. Then at me. “Run.” Blood was already soaking through his coat. “You’ve been shot.” “I noticed.” “You need a healer.” “I need you to run.” Three more arrows flew toward us. I raised my hands. I didn’t think. The wind changed direction. All three arrows dropped harmlessly to the ground. Kael stared at me. I stared back. Neither of us spoke. Then he laughed. It was quiet. Almost disbelieving. “What?” He shook his head. “Nothing.” “What?” “You really don’t know what you are.” I swallowed. “No.” His expression became serious. “Then we need to leave.” He grabbed my hand. The moment our skin touched, something happened. A flash of light exploded between us. Kael jerked backward. I gasped. For one strange second, I saw something that wasn’t the courtyard. A dark forest. Blood on snow. A little boy kneeling beside a burning house. A woman screaming. Then the image disappeared. Kael was staring at me. His face had gone completely pale. “You saw it too,” he said. “Saw what?” He didn’t answer. He looked at my hand. Then at his own. “Nothing.” “Don’t lie to me.” His jaw tightened. “Later.” “You’re bleeding.” “I’ll survive.” “How do you know?” “Because I always do.” I rolled my eyes despite everything. “You’re unbelievably annoying.” “And you’re unbelievably stubborn.” “I’ve known you for five minutes.” “And you’ve already figured that out.” “Congratulations.” He almost smiled again. Then the castle doors burst open. More soldiers poured into the courtyard. Kael looked behind him. “We’re out of time.” He grabbed my hand again. This time, I didn’t pull away. We ran. Through the western corridor. Down a staircase. Past servants who screamed when they saw us. Past guards who tried to stop us. Everywhere we went, magic followed me. Candles exploded. Windows shattered. Water poured from pipes. The walls trembled. I couldn’t control any of it. “How do I stop this?” I shouted. “You don’t.” “That’s not helpful!” “It’s your first awakening.” “My what?” He looked at me. “Your awakening.” “I’ve already had my eighteenth birthday!” “That’s not what I mean.” We reached a massive wooden door. Kael pushed it open. Cold air hit my face. We were outside the palace. Beyond the walls stretched the royal forest. I stopped. “The forest?” “We’re going through it.” “Are you insane?” “Probably.” He pulled me forward. We ran between the trees. Behind us, horns sounded. They were coming after us. I could hear horses. Shouting. My lungs burned. My dress was torn. My feet hurt. I had no idea where I was going. But I kept running. After what felt like an hour, Kael finally stopped. I bent over, trying to catch my breath. “You could have warned me that escaping into a forest was part of the plan.” He leaned against a tree. “You would have said no.” “I still would have said no.” “Exactly.” I glared at him. Then I noticed the blood on his shoulder. “You need to sit down.” “I’m fine.” “You are literally bleeding.” “I’ve had worse.” “That doesn’t mean you should keep bleeding.” He looked at me. “You care?” I hesitated. “No.” His eyebrow lifted. “Right.” “I just don’t want you dying before you explain why the enemy prince saved me.” He nodded. “Fair.” He sat against the tree. I knelt beside him. The arrow was still lodged in his shoulder. I stared at it. “I’ve never done this before.” “Neither have I.” I looked at him. “That’s not funny.” “I wasn’t joking.” I sighed. “You’re impossible.” “Pull it out.” “Okay.” I wrapped my fingers around the arrow. “On three.” Kael nodded. “One.” I pulled. He didn’t even make a sound. The arrow came free. Blood immediately followed. I pressed my hands against the wound. “You’re going to need a healer.” “We can’t go to one.” “Why?” “Because your father has probably ordered every healer in Aetheria to report you.” I went still. “My father.” Kael watched me carefully. “I’m sorry.” I laughed. It wasn’t a happy sound. “Don’t be.” I looked down at my hands. For the first time since the courtyard, the golden glow beneath my skin had disappeared. I looked normal again. Almost. “What am I?” Kael didn’t answer. “Don’t do that.” “Do what?” “Look at me like everyone else did today.” He frowned. “Like what?” “Like I’m a monster.” His expression softened. “I don’t think you’re a monster.” “You barely know me.” “Neither does your father.” That hurt. More than it should have. I looked away. For a while, neither of us spoke. Then Kael reached inside his coat and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. He handed it to me. “What is this?” “Read it.” I unfolded it. The parchment was old. The writing was faded. At the top were words written in a language I didn’t recognize. But beneath them was a translation. I read it slowly. “When the five become one, the forgotten blood shall rise.” My heart began beating faster. “Born beneath the crown, hidden from the throne, she shall carry the power of the first kings.” I looked at Kael. He said nothing. I continued. “The daughter shall awaken when blood is spilled beneath the royal sun.” My hands started shaking. “The execution.” Kael nodded. I looked back at the parchment. There was more. “Five elements shall answer her call.” I swallowed. “The kingdom shall fear her.” My eyes moved to the final line. I stopped. Kael watched my face. “What does it say?” I couldn’t speak. “What?” I handed the parchment back to him. He read the final line. His expression changed. “That’s impossible.” “What?” He looked at me. “The prophecy was supposed to end there.” “What does that mean?” He didn’t answer. I snatched the parchment from his hand and looked again. There was another line. Written in darker ink. Almost as if someone had added it later. “And the prince of the dark crown shall be the one who destroys her.” I looked at Kael. He stared at me. Neither of us spoke. Then the forest behind us cracked. A branch snapped. Kael immediately stood. “Someone’s coming.” I stood too. “Soldiers?” He listened. “No.” Another sound. A growl. Low. Deep. Something moved between the trees. Kael reached for his sword. I stepped closer to him. “What is that?” He didn’t answer. The creature stepped into the moonlight. It was enormous. Black fur. Red eyes. Claws longer than my fingers. I took a step backward. Kael moved in front of me. “Stay behind me.” The creature growled. I whispered, “What is that?” Kael tightened his grip on his sword. “A shadow beast.” “Can you kill it?” “Probably.” “Probably?” He looked over his shoulder. “Try not to panic.” “I’m not panicking.” “You are shaking.” “It’s cold.” “It’s summer.” I glared at him. The beast lunged. Kael swung his sword. The creature knocked him into a tree. “Kael!” I ran toward him. The beast turned. Its eyes locked onto me. Something inside my chest woke again. The golden light returned. Only this time, it wasn’t alone. Blue. Green. Silver. Red. Four different lights appeared beneath my skin. The creature stopped. Its ears flattened. Kael stared at me. “What are you doing?” “I don’t know!” The beast charged. I raised my hands. The world went silent. Everything stopped. The leaves. The wind. Even the creature. Then the five elements exploded from me at once. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. And something else. Something I couldn’t name. The beast vanished in a flash of white light. Silence returned. I stood frozen. Smoke curled around my fingers. Kael slowly got to his feet. He stared at me as though he had just watched the world end. “What?” He shook his head. “Nothing.” “Stop saying that.” He walked toward me. His eyes never left mine. “You’re not the princess they told me you were.” I swallowed. “Then who am I?” He stopped directly in front of me. For a moment, neither of us moved. Then he said quietly: “That’s what I’m afraid we’re about to find out.” And somewhere far away, beyond the trees, a bell began to ring. Once. Twice. Three times. Kael looked toward the kingdom. “They know where we are.” My stomach dropped. “Who?” He pulled his sword from its sheath. “Everyone.” Then he looked at me. “And Elara?” “Yes?” His expression was deadly serious. “Whatever happens next, don’t trust your father.” I stared at him. Because for the first time in my life… I didn’t think I could.