Chapter Two: Reckoning
1090 Words
Lena Everon had grown up as a princess, bathed in luxury and wrapped in the unrelenting love of her family. She was the youngest, the most cherished, and undoubtedly, the most spoiled. Her mother doted on her, her father adored her, and her two older brothers—Issath and Liam—treated her like a delicate jewel. But beneath the silks and golden embroidery, beneath the poised smiles and well-practiced curtsies, Lena had never been what they wanted her to be.
She was wild.
From the moment she could walk, she had been impossible to contain. No wall was too high to climb, no guard too vigilant to evade, and no rule too strict to break. The palace was a cage, one lined with velvet but a cage nonetheless. She wanted freedom. She wanted adventure. She wanted more than the prim and proper life of a princess.
Her early teenage years had been the most dangerous.
At fourteen, she had mastered the art of slipping out unnoticed. Her maids thought her asleep, her guards none the wiser, but by the time the moon was high, she was already halfway across the city, blending into the streets of Everon.
It was in those streets that she met the thieves.
They had called themselves the Rouges, a gang of daring rogues who thrived in the streets of Everon’s bustling markets. At first, they had laughed at her—at her delicate built, trying to keep up with their fast hands and faster feet. But Lena was persistent. She was quick. She was clever.
She wasn’t afraid.
And soon, she was one of them. They had no idea she was a princess.
She didn’t steal for wealth—she had plenty of that. She stole for the thrill. For the rush of adrenaline as she darted through alleyways, unseen, untouched. For the satisfaction of proving to herself that she could escape the life that had been set before her.
But no secret stayed hidden forever.
Her Brother, Issath Everon, or rather Sath as they all called him.
Sath was not a man who let things slip past him.
The night he caught her was one she would never forget.
She had been running.
The city was alive with the hum of late-night activity. The Rouges had just pulled off a perfect heist, and Lena had never felt more alive. She had ducked into an alley, her breath sharp with excitement, her heart hammering in her chest.
That was when he stepped out of the shadows.
Sath.
Her brother.
His grey eyes gleamed under the moonlight, unreadable, unwavering. And for the first time, she saw him not as her older brother—but as the future king, as the leader of the most feared intelligence network in Everon.
Lena’s blood ran cold.
When she was younger, she had been caught before—by guards, by servants, by palace officials who would sigh in exasperation and warn her of the consequences.
But this was different.
This was Sath.
She took a step back, ready to run.
“Don’t.”
The single word was calm. Deadly.
Lena had never been afraid of her brother before. He had always been the one who indulged her, who let her get away with mischief when their mother scolded her. He was the kindest soul anyone could ever encounter. But this? This wasn’t mischief.
This was something else entirely.
“How long?” Sath asked, his voice dangerously soft.
Lena swallowed. “How long what?”
“How long have you been running with thieves?”
She clenched her fists. “They aren’t thieves.”
A slow exhale. Sath tilted his head, studying her as though he were seeing her for the first time.
“Don’t lie to me”
Lena opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Sath moved.
She barely saw him.
One moment he was standing still, the next he was behind her, grabbing her wrist in a vice-like grip. She gasped, trying to yank free, but he was stronger.
“Fast,” he growles. “But not fast enough.”
Lena thrashed, her instincts kicking in, but Sath wasn’t like the guards she had escaped before. He was better. Smarter. Faster.
He had caught her completely without leaving any room for her to escape.
“Do you think I’m stupid, Lena?” His voice was calm, but she could feel the fury beneath it.
“I—”
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
Lena bit her lip. She had thought that.
She had hoped for it.
“You could have been caught,” Issath continued, his voice dangerously low. “You could have been killed.”
Lena’s defiance faltered, just for a moment.
The streets were thrilling, yes—but they were also dangerous.
Sath let the silence stretch before he spoke again.
“If it’s excitement you want,” he said, finally stepping back. “Then I’ll give it to you.”
Lena frowned. “What—?”
Sath turned, the moonlight casting his shadow long and sharp against the wall.
“The Rouges will never see you again,” he stated. “You’re done with them.”
Lena felt anger rise in her chest. “You can’t decide that—”
“I can.”
She wanted to fight, to argue—but there was something different in his eyes. Something that made her pause.
“What do you want me to do?” she finally asked.
Issath stared right into her eyes.
“You want a real challenge?”
Lena’s breath caught.
“Join the Shadows. I’ll train you myself.”
The words were like a jolt of lightning.
Sath—the leader of the Shadows—training her?
Lena wasn’t naïve. The Shadows were legendary. They weren’t just spies. They were infiltrators. Assassins. Ghosts in the dark.
And Sath was offering her a place among them.
A thrill unlike any she had ever known coursed through her veins.
“You’re serious?” she whispered.
Issath’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile.
“You’ll learn discipline,” he said. “You’ll learn how to fight. How to survive.”
He took a step closer.
“But if I catch you running with thieves again, Lena…”
His eyes darkened.
“I will destroy you.”
Lena swallowed.
It was a warning—but it was also an invitation.
And she took it.
From that night on, Princess Lena Everon became Sierra—a Shadow.
- Writer
