by Victoria Blackwood
The king's blood was still warm when the screaming began.
From her hiding place behind the throne room's tapestries, Lyra watched as chaos erupted. Guards rushed in too late, their shouts of alarm mixing with the duchess's theatrical weeping. The assassin had vanished as if made of shadow itself.
But Lyra had seen. She had seen everything.
And what she had seen would change everything she thought she knew about the realm she served.
She slipped away while the nobles were still pointing fingers at each other, their accusations already laying the groundwork for the war to come. The servant's passages were empty—everyone had rushed to witness the commotion in the great hall.
In her pocket, the signet ring she had found beneath the fallen king pressed against her thigh like a brand. It bore a crest that shouldn't exist. A crest she had seen only in forbidden histories.
The king hadn't been killed by any of the five houses scrambling for his throne. He had been killed by the sixth house—the one everyone believed had been destroyed a century ago.
Three months after the king's death, the realm teetered on the edge of civil war.
House Valoris claimed the throne by blood right—the king's cousin, a stern man with cold eyes, had already begun calling himself regent. House Meridian countered with ancient treaties and the backing of the merchant guilds. The other three houses circled like vultures, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
And in the shadows, Lyra watched them all, gathering secrets like a spider collecting flies.
"You're playing a dangerous game, girl." The voice came from her window, and Lyra didn't flinch. She had known she was being watched for weeks.
The figure that slipped into her modest room moved like smoke—the same way the assassin had moved that night in the throne room.
"I know who you are," Lyra said quietly. "I know what house you serve."
The figure's laugh was soft as silk. "Then you know more than you should. The question is—do you want to know everything?"
✨ To be continued... ✨
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