Chapter 1: The King's Sanctuary
The freezing wind whipped past the tower steps.
Riona pulled her cloak tight, the silver edge of her crescent mask pressing hard against her skin.
Below, the banquet music had faded into the howling gale.
Higher up, her only quickened breath and the crunch of snow beneath her boots remained.
She shouldn’t be here.
But her younger brother, Kael, was running out of time.
The physicians said his poison was incurable—unless she found the legendary northern antidote hidden in the Silver Keep’s celestial sanctuary.
She pushed open the heavy oak doors, and stepped inside.
In the sanctuary, starlight streamed through the vaulted ceiling, casting a sharp blue grid across the floor.
Then, the reek of thick, fresh blood hit her.
A man knelt in the shadows beneath the painted stars. His golden hair was damp with sweat, and a brutal gash across his shoulder bled heavily onto the stone. Scattered broken glass surrounded him.
Hearing her, he turned instantly. His eyes were a terrifying, unhinged blue.
The entire kingdom. King Caelan Silvermane.
“Get out!” his voice rasped, raw with fever and delusion.
Riona took a step back, her heart hammering.
She should run.
But just behind him, resting on the stone altar, was a single dark glass vial glowing with faint green light.
The antidote. The only thing that can save Kael.
“Your Majesty, I mean no harm—I only need—” She didn’t finish her sentence.
Suddenly, Caelan surged to his feet, lunging before she could react. His hand clamped around her wrist like hot iron, slamming her against the cold wall.
“Say it!”
“Who sent you?” he growled, his grip brutal. “Are you here to kill me?”
High fever had blinded his judgment.
In her struggle, her crescent mask slipped sideways.
“No, wait! I’m—”
Everything happened too fast.
Riona shoved against his broad chest, her nails catching the edge of his raw shoulder wound.
He groaned, but his grip only tightened, pinning her completely. His scorching heat overwhelmed her, laced with the scent of blood and burnt cedar.
Then, he rasped in a low, broken Northern accent: “Don’t leave.”
Riona froze.
That fragile cadence felt chillingly familiar, stirring a memory buried deep in her past.
Before she could process it, the constellation vault above them groaned.
Ancient mechanical gears shifted, moving the embedded stars along hidden tracks. A beam of silver light washed over them.
Caelan’s thumb brushed the crescent scar on her inner arm. His force suddenly dissolved, as if recognizing something vital, before his heavy frame collapsed entirely onto her.
An hour later.
Riona bit her lip against the pain, managing to wriggle out from under him. Her fingers trembled violently as she retrieved her torn clothes.
As she reached for the green vial on the altar, she caught sight of something in the blood pool beside him—her mother’s silver lion crest, snapped from her neck during the struggle.
Heavy boots echoed from the stairs below. Guards were coming.
There was no time.
Riona grabbed the antidote, scooped up her broken mask, and bolted through the hidden servants’ passage.
---
By dawn, Riona collapsed against her bedroom door.
On the bed, Kael’s skin had regained its color after taking the medicine. His fever was gone.
He was safe.
She stood before her brass mirror, staring at her reflection. Her chestnut hair was tangled, her lip split, and deep purple bruises marred her shoulders. On her neck, a thin red scratch stood out sharply in the light.
She quickly burned her bloodied clothes in the hearth and hid the broken mask beneath her wardrobe.
“Princess Riona!”
Her maid, Nyra, burst in, pale with panic, just as a deep, reverberating bell echoed across the keep.
“What’s happening?” Riona pulling the blanket up to cover her neck and asked.
“Princess? Are you alright?” Nyra saw the bruise on her wrist and asked puzzledly.
“Nothing, I just hit the headboard,” Riona covered by sheet, kept her voice sound as calm as possible. “...go ahead.”
“The King has locked down the entire city!” Nyra whispered trembling. “The Royal Guard sealed the gates. Every noblewoman is ordered to assemble in the Great Hall immediately.”
“Why?” Riona’s stomach dropped.
“His Majesty claims a sacred royal artifact was stolen from the sanctuary last night,” Nyra said. “And because the thief was injured, he ordered everyone’s arms and shoulders checked for fresh marks and scratches.”
Riona’s grip on the sheets tightened.
Outside her window, a war horn sounded. Looking down into the snowy courtyard, she saw Caelan standing at the head of a silver-armored regiment.
Caelan was awake.
His expression was cold as iron, his icy blue eyes scanning the East Wing spires.
“Find her,” his command carried clearly over the freezing wind. “Search every corner. Leave no trace uninvestigated.”
Riona drew a quiet breath, stepped back into the shadows of her room, and began to dress.
---
End of Chapter 1
