Chapter 3 - I Touched the Crown
1018 Words
Elara POV
I should have been terrified.
Instead, I was angry.
Maybe fear had reached its limit tonight and decided to leave my body. Maybe shock had burned everything else out. Whatever the reason, I stood in an underground chamber with a dead queen glowing in front of me and found enough strength to snap:
“No.”
The ghost woman blinked slowly.
“No?” she repeated.
“No, I am not your blood. I’m not royal. I’m not magical. I make coffee for rude people and eat noodles three nights a week.”
Her lips curved faintly.
“You have spirit. That part is mine.”
“I don’t want any part.”
I turned sharply, searching for stairs, doors, anything. The chamber walls rose high above me, carved with twisting symbols that shimmered blue in the firelight. There was no exit I could see.
Perfect.
Kidnapped by architecture.
“You cannot leave until he comes,” the queen said.
I froze. “He?”
The answer came from above.
“Elara!”
The stranger’s voice echoed through the chamber.
I looked up as stone groaned overhead. Dust rained down. A slab near the wall slid aside, revealing a narrow staircase.
He dropped through the opening with impossible grace and landed between me and the ghost queen.
His black coat was gone. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, exposing more of those dark markings along his skin.
They moved.
Actually moved.
Like ink alive beneath flesh.
His silver eyes narrowed at the queen.
“You should not have shown yourself.”
She smiled lazily. “And yet, I did.”
He stepped closer to me without looking back. Protective.
Interesting.
I ignored the strange warmth that gave me.
“You know her?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“That was not helpful.”
His jaw tightened.
The queen laughed softly. “He was always unpleasant.”
He shot her a cold glance. “You died centuries ago. Stay silent.”
Her expression sharpened. “And you failed centuries ago. Should I speak of that too?”
Something dark crossed his face.
I looked between them. “Can someone please explain why the dead are insulting each other in front of me?”
Neither answered.
Fantastic.
I lifted the crown. “This thing nearly killed me. Get it off.”
The stranger turned to me fully now.
“I cannot.”
“You keep saying that and I keep hating it.”
“The crown chooses once.”
“Then tell it I decline.”
“It does not accept rejection.”
I stared at him.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
He hesitated.
The queen answered for him.
“Kael Draven,” she said, watching my face. “Prince of the Shadow Realm. Son of the king who murdered me.”
Silence crashed through the chamber.
I looked at him slowly.
“You’re a prince?”
He looked annoyed by the word.
“Formerly.”
“And your father killed... your mother?”
The queen’s smile vanished.
“I was not his mother.”
I blinked. “This family tree is horrifying.”
Kael exhaled through his nose, as if fighting patience. “We do not have time for history.”
“You owe me history!”
A tremor shook the chamber.
Blue flames flickered violently.
The queen’s eyes narrowed upward. “They are coming.”
“Who?” I asked.
Kael grabbed my wrist.
“The hunters.”
I yanked free instantly. “Stop grabbing me!”
“If you would cooperate, I would not need to.”
“If you would explain things, I might cooperate!”
Another tremor hit harder. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Stone cracked near the stairs.
Kael cursed under his breath and drew the black blade again.
The queen glided backward toward the throne.
“You must leave,” she said. “The crown is awake. They will smell it.”
“Smell it?” I repeated.
“Power has a scent.”
I hated everything about tonight.
The chamber wall exploded inward.
Three figures stepped through the smoke.
Tall. Armored in bone-white metal. Faces hidden behind silver masks. Each carried a spear glowing with blue fire.
Their eyes locked on me.
One spoke in a hollow voice.
“The heir has been found.”
Kael moved in front of me instantly.
“Run,” he said.
“No.”
His head snapped slightly. “No?”
“I’m tired of running from things I don’t understand.”
The lead hunter lifted his spear.
“You wear stolen power,” he said to me. “Surrender the crown and die quickly.”
I swallowed hard.
Kael’s voice dropped lower. Deadlier.
“She is under my protection.”
The hunters laughed.
Then all three attacked.
Kael met the first with his blade, sparks screaming through the chamber. I ducked as the second hurled blue fire past my head, scorching the wall.
The third came straight for me.
I stumbled backward, clutching the crown.
“Command it,” the queen shouted.
“I don’t know how!”
The hunter raised his spear.
Kael was too far away.
The queen’s voice thundered now, no longer gentle.
“Then feel.”
The crown blazed.
Heat surged through my veins like lightning. Shadows rose from the floor, twisting around my legs, my arms, my breath.
The hunter lunged.
I threw my hand forward on instinct.
The shadows obeyed.
They slammed into him like chains, wrapped his body, and dragged him screaming across the chamber floor.
I stared in horror.
Kael stared too.
For the first time since meeting him—
He looked shaken.
The remaining hunters retreated a step.
The queen smiled from the throne.
“Yes,” she whispered. “That is my girl.”
Kael turned to me slowly, eyes bright silver.
“What did you just do?”
I looked at my trembling hands.
“I think,” I whispered, “I made a mistake.”
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