Chapter 1
People say your life flashes before your eyes during the last seven minutes before death.
Mine didn’t.
After all
I’d already died once.
The metallic scent of blood filled the air.
Broken swords lay scattered across the battlefield, their silver blades stained crimson beneath a sky swallowed by smoke.
Every breath burned. Each heartbeat felt like another blade sinking deeper into my chest. My fingers twitched, reaching for my sword.
They couldn’t even lift it.
“So...”
A bitter laugh escaped my lips, followed by another mouthful of blood.
“So this is how I die.”
How pathetic.
Around me, corpses covered the ground like fallen leaves after autumn. Friends. Enemies. It no longer mattered.
War never cared whose blood it drank. Cold arms caught me before I collapsed completely.
“No.”
The voice trembled.
“You are not dying.”
Prince Cassian knelt beside me, pressing both hands against the wound spreading across my chest. Blood seeped through his fingers faster than he could stop it.
His silver armor was stained red. With my blood.
“I won’t allow it,” he whispered desperately. “Not again kaelyn you cannot die on me”.
Not again...
The words sounded strangely familiar.
A cold wind brushed against my face. My vision blurred.
Everything became distant. Across from us stood Princess Seraphine, frozen in horror.
Her trembling hands covered her mouth as tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
The woman I had deceived.
The woman I had married.
The woman who had only just discovered that the husband she loved...
...was never a man.
“Kael...”
Her voice broke.
“No... please...”
She fell beside me, clutching my hand with desperate strength.
“Don’t leave me.”
I wanted to comfort her.
To tell her everything would be alright.
Instead...
I smiled.
It was all I had left to give.
People say that before death, you remember every moment of your life.
I wondered...
What would someone like me remember?
The little girl who died?
Or the boy who was never supposed to exist?
Darkness slowly swallowed my vision.
The battlefield disappeared.
And with it...
The present.
Fifteen Years Ago
The Kingdom of Asterion had never celebrated so grandly.
Golden banners fluttered above the palace walls.
Musicians filled the streets with triumphant songs.
The people cheered as their victorious king returned from war.
But victory had another face.
Behind the royal procession marched hundreds of prisoners.
Among them was a little boy no older than eight.
His wrists were bound in iron chains.
His clothes were torn.
His body was covered in bruises.
To the people of Asterion, he was nothing more than another trophy of war.
To Queen Elyra...
He was another innocent child whose future had just been stolen.
Standing alone on the palace balcony, she barely noticed the celebrations below.
Her thoughts were elsewhere.
On a little girl waiting for her.
On the ceremony that would soon decide the fate of every royal child.
On a future she desperately wished she could change.
“Ely.”
The gentle voice pulled her back.
Only one person still dared to call her that.
Consort Mirelle.
“You should be celebrating,” Mirelle said softly.
Elyra offered a faint smile.
“I wish I could.”
Mirelle followed her gaze toward the city below.
“You’re thinking about Kaelyn.”
Silence answered her.
Finally, Elyra whispered,
“She’s only six.”
The celebration below glittered like a festival of stars.
Music, Wine, Laughter.
And beneath it all was Blood.
“You are thinking about Princess Kaelyn.”
It wasn’t a question. Elyra nodded.
“In three days...”
Her voice caught.
“...she turns six.”
Silence settled between them.
Both women understood what that meant.
“The Selection begins.”
Mirelle closed her eyes.
“She is still a child.”
“So were the others.”
Elyra watched servants drag another frightened prisoner toward the palace.
“The Selection has never cared about age.”
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Mirelle reached for Elyra’s hand.
“There must be something we can do.”
“There is.”
Hope flickered across Mirelle’s face.
“The Law of Houses.”
Elyra nodded.
“If His Majesty grants permission, Kaelyn can renounce her claim to Asterion and inherit my family’s house instead.”
“Then she would never have to enter the Selection.”
“Yes.”
“But...”
Mirelle already knew the answer.
“The king would never allow it.”
And even if he allows it , my house has already abandoned me
A bitter smile crossed Elyra’s lips.
“Not while Kaelyn is useful to him.”
The words hung heavily in the air.
Mirelle looked away.
“I hate this palace.”
“So do I.”
A distant trumpet sounded through the halls.
The royal banquet had ended.
The king was coming.
“I should go.”
Mirelle squeezed Elyra’s hand once before disappearing into the corridor.
Elyra remained where she was.
For a moment longer...
She allowed herself to be nothing more than a frightened mother.
Then she turned and walked toward the royal chambers.
The moment she pushed open the door...
She froze.
King Vaelor Asterion was already inside.
He stood beside her worktable, turning a small crystal vial between his fingers.
Moonlight reflected through the pale blue liquid.
One of her medicines.
“You’ve become quite skilled.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“I expected nothing less from you”
Elyra bowed.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
Vaelor ignored the greeting.
Instead, he placed the vial back onto the table.
“I’ve waited long enough.”
His gaze settled on her.
“Tell me.”
“Where is your family’s poison?”
The color drained from Elyra’s face.
“My king...”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
In a single stride, he crossed the room.
His hand buried itself in her hair, forcing her to look up at him.
“Don’t.”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Lie to me.”
Pain shot through Elyra’s scalp.
She refused to cry out.
“I have already given Your Majesty every formula my family possessed.”
“The healing elixir.”
“The sleeping draught.”
“The antidotes.”
“There is nothing else.”
Vaelor laughed.
Low.
Cold.
“Nothing else?”
He leaned close enough for only her to hear.
“They say your bloodline created a poison capable of granting any desire.”
“Life.”
“Death.”
“Power.”
He smiled.
“I intend to find out which rumor is true.”
Elyra’s heartbeat quickened.
“It is only a legend.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Vaelor released her.
She stumbled backward.
“But legends have a habit of becoming real.”
Legends don’t frighten kingdoms.”
“They don’t start wars.”
“They don’t survive for centuries.”
Vaelor leaned closer.
“Someone in your bloodline created it.”
“And someone in your bloodline inherited it.”
Silence.
“You know nothing,” Elyra whispered.
“I know enough.”
His voice became colder.
“I know your family guarded that secret for generations.”
“I know kings have searched for it.”
“And I know...”
“...you’re the last person alive who might know where it is.”
“I don’t.”
Vaelor sighed.
“Such a disappointing answer.”
Vaelor turned toward the doorway, but before crossing the threshold, he paused.
Without looking back, he spoke quietly.
“There is one thing I have never understood, Elyra.”
The queen remained silent.
“For someone who claims to know nothing...”
“...you have always been remarkably brave.”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
“Tell me.”
“How badly did you wish to see me dead?”
Elyra’s breath caught.
“You look surprised.”
“You thought I would never discover it?”
He slowly turned to face her again.
“The information you secretly passed to Elthian during the war was... useful.”
His smile widened.
“Unfortunately for them...”
“...not useful enough.”
The room seemed to spin.
Her fingers trembled.
She had destroyed every letter.
Burned every message.
Covered every trace.
How...
How did he know?
Vaelor watched the fear spread across her face with unmistakable satisfaction.
“You really are an extraordinary mother.”
He took another step closer.
“You were willing to betray your own husband...”
“...your own kingdom...”
“...just to give your daughter a chance to live.”
His voice held neither admiration nor anger.
Only amusement.
“I almost respect it.”
Elyra forced herself to meet his eyes.
“If you know everything...”
“...why am I still alive?”
A low chuckle escaped him.
“Because I allowed you to live.”
His gaze drifted toward the cabinet filled with medicines.
" And You are still useful to me.”
Then his eyes shifted toward the door leading to Kaelyn’s room.
“And so...”
“...is your daughter.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Suffocating.
Vaelor opened the chamber doors.
“As long as you remain useful...”
“...neither of you has anything to fear.”
He stopped for one final moment.
“But the day I discover you’ve lied to me...”
“...not even the gods will be able to save either of you.”
The doors closed behind him.
The echo lingered through the empty chamber.
Elyra remained frozen where she stood.
Her heartbeat thundered inside her chest.
He knew.
He knew about Elthian.
He knew she had betrayed Asterion.
He knew everything she had sacrificed to protect Kaelyn.
Yet he had spared them.
Not out of mercy.
But because of the poison he desired, to King Vaelor Asterion...
A queen and her daughter were nothing more than tools waiting to be used.
Outside, the celebrations continued as though nothing had happened.
Inside the royal chambers...
Queen Elyra quietly realized that the game had already begun.
{writer’s note-: like it if you truly like and follow for more updates guys!!!!! and if you have any suggestions then you can mail me , I will drop the mail address in the next chapter}
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