Chapter 1
Lyra had always known there was something wrong with her.
In a world where children summoned their first spark of magic before their tenth birthday, she had reached twenty-one without producing so much as a flicker of light.
She had tried everything.
Fire crystals.
Healing stones.
Elemental runes.
Once, out of sheer desperation, she had even stood outside during a thunderstorm and demanded the heavens give her something.
The heavens responded by dropping a tree branch beside her.
Elowen had laughed about it for three weeks.
“You’re thinking about it again.”
Lyra looked across the small wooden table.
Elowen was watching her.
“Thinking about what?”
“Magic.”
“No.”
“You’re staring at that candle like it insulted your mother.”
Lyra glanced toward the candle.
“I simply dislike that candle.”
“Of course.”
Elowen returned to slicing herbs.
Lyra sighed.
Outside their little cottage, night had settled over the village of Briar Glen.
It should have been peaceful.
Usually, it was.
Tonight was different.
The animals had gone silent.
Lyra slowly looked toward the window.
“Elowen.”
“Hm?”
“Where are the crickets?”
The knife stopped.
Silence filled the cottage.
Then—
Knock.
Both women froze.
Three seconds passed.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Elowen whispered, “Are you expecting someone?”
“At midnight?”
“Perhaps you finally found a secret admirer.”
“With impeccable timing.”
Another knock came.
But this one wasn’t at the door.
It came from the window behind Lyra.
Her blood turned cold.
Elowen’s face went pale.
Because they lived on the second floor.
Slowly, Lyra turned around.
A man was standing outside the window.
Floating.
His face was hidden behind a silver mask.
And carved into its surface was a symbol Lyra had never seen before.
A crescent moon pierced by a sword.
The stranger raised one hand.
The window exploded inward.
Lyra screamed as glass scattered across the room.
“Elowen!”
A flash of green magic erupted from Elowen’s hands.
Vines burst through the wooden floor and shot toward the intruder.
He sliced through them effortlessly.
Another figure entered through the broken window.
Then another.
Lyra stumbled backward.
Three masked men.
All staring directly at her.
Not Elowen.
Her.
The first man lowered his sword.
“Princess Aelira.”
Lyra’s breath caught.
“You have the wrong person.”
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“We finally found you.”
Lyra backed against the wall.
“My name is Lyra.”
The assassin raised his blade.
“It hasn’t been for eighteen years.”
The sword came down.
Pain exploded through Lyra’s chest.
For a moment, she heard Elowen screaming.
Then nothing.
Her body struck the floor.
Warm blood spread beneath her.
The room faded.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
And somewhere far above the clouds...
the moon turned red.
Lyra’s eyes opened.
They were no longer brown.
They were silver.
The assassin stumbled backward.
“No...”
Silver light poured from Lyra’s wound.
Her torn flesh began knitting itself together.
The cottage shook.
Outside, wolves began howling.
Every candle extinguished at once.
And inside Lyra’s mind, a woman’s voice whispered:
My daughter.
You have slept long enough.
Lyra rose from the floor.
The assassins stared at her in terror.
And hundreds of miles away, inside a black castle, Crown Prince Kael Draven suddenly opened his eyes.
For the first time in eighteen years, the silver mark over his heart was glowing.
He stared toward the blood-red moon.
Then he smiled.
“I found you.”
