ELARA POV
Cassian Blackthorn drags me through the palace like I weigh nothing.
My wrist still burns where the leather band glows silver. Guards shout behind us. Nobles scream. The King's voice booms orders I can't understand over the roaring in my ears.
"Stop fighting," Cassian growls without looking at me.
I didn't realize I was fighting. My legs move automatically, trying to keep up with his long strides. His grip on my arm is iron, but he's not hurting me. He's protecting me.
From what?
We burst through a side door. Cold air hits my face. We're in the courtyard where soldiers train. Cassian's men wait with horses, already saddled.
"Mount up," he orders.
A woman with sharp eyes and twin daggers throws me onto a horse before I can protest. She swings up behind me, her arm locking around my waist.
"I'm Seren," she says in my ear. "Hold on tight, or you'll fall and break your neck."
Cassian mounts a massive black horse. "Move out!"
We explode into motion.
I've never ridden a horse before. The world blurs into speed and wind and terror. Behind us, the palace bells start ringing. Alarm. Pursuit.
"They're coming after us!" someone shouts.
"Let them try," Cassian calls back.
We race through the capital city. People scatter. Market stalls crash. Dogs bark. My teeth rattle with every pounding hoofbeat.
The leather band on my wrist pulses with silver light, visible even in daylight. I stare at it, my mind spinning.
This isn't a servant's brand. It never was.
But what is it?
We reach the city gates. They're closing—massive iron things that take ten men to move. We won't make it.
"Faster!" Cassian roars.
His horse surges forward. We slip through the gap with inches to spare. The gates boom shut behind us, cutting off the palace guards.
We're outside the city walls. Outside the only home I've ever known.
We ride for hours. My body goes numb. My mind empties. I don't think. I don't feel. I just exist, trapped in this nightmare that makes no sense.
Finally, Cassian raises his fist. "Stop here."
We're in a forest. Trees tower overhead, blocking the sun. It's quiet except for our heavy breathing and the horses snorting.
Seren slides off the horse and pulls me down. My legs buckle. I sit hard on the ground, shaking.
"Give us a moment," Cassian tells his soldiers. They move away, giving us privacy but staying alert.
He kneels in front of me. Up close, his scars are worse. One cuts through his eyebrow. Another across his jaw. These are fighting scars. Killing scars.
"Look at me," he says.
I force my eyes up. His gray gaze is intense, searching.
"What's your full name?"
"Elara. Just Elara."
"No family name?"
"Servants don't have family names."
Something flickers in his expression. Anger? Pity? "How long have you worn that band?"
I look at my wrist. The glow has faded, but I can still feel warmth pulsing from it. "Always. Since I was a baby. It's my servant's brand."
"It's not a brand." He reaches for it, but I flinch back.
"Don't touch it. It burned when you grabbed my hand."
"I know. That's how I knew for certain." He sits back on his heels. "Elara, that band is a suppression cuff. It's been blocking your magic your entire life."
I laugh. It sounds hysterical even to me. "Magic? I'm a servant girl. I don't have magic."
"You do. Powerful magic. The kind that was supposed to be extinct."
My laughter dies. "You're insane."
"Am I?" He gestures at the band. "Explain why it glowed when we touched. Explain why the King looked terrified when he saw it."
I have no explanation. None of this makes sense.
"Who are you really?" I whisper.
"I'm exactly who they say I am. A warlord. A killer. A man who's been searching for someone like you for ten years." He leans closer. "But I'm also the man who's going to keep you alive long enough to learn the truth about yourself."
"What truth?"
"Not here. Not now. We need to reach Blackthorn Keep first." He stands, offering his hand again.
I stare at it, remembering the burning pain. "What if it hurts again?"
"Then it hurts. But staying here means the King's soldiers find us, and trust me, what they'll do will hurt much worse."
He's right. I know he's right.
I take his hand.
The band warms but doesn't burn this time. Cassian pulls me to my feet, studying my face like he's memorizing it.
"The wedding still stands," he says quietly. "In the King's eyes, you're my wife now. That gives you protection under northern law. He can't touch you without declaring war on me."
"Will he declare war?"
"Probably. But I've been preparing for that war for a very long time."
A chill runs down my spine. "You planned this. All of it. You asked for a bride knowing the King would give you a servant. You wanted me specifically."
His silence is answer enough.
Rage floods through me, hot and fierce. "I'm not a person to you. I'm a weapon. A tool. Just like I was to the King."
"No." His voice hardens. "The King made you a slave. I'm offering you a choice."
"What choice? You kidnapped me!"
"I saved you. The King recognized what you are. If I'd left you there, you'd be dead by morning. Or worse—locked in his dungeons while he drains your magic to feed his own power."
I want to argue, but my wrist throbs. The band pulses in rhythm with my heartbeat.
"What am I?" My voice breaks. "What is this thing on my wrist?"
"Get on the horse. I'll explain everything when we're safe."
"Tell me now!"
"Elara—"
"Tell me, or I start screaming and bring every guard in Valdrath down on us!"
It's an empty threat. We both know it. But something in my desperation makes him pause.
He exhales slowly. "You're Starborn. The last of a bloodline the King murdered twenty-five years ago. That band has been hiding you in plain sight, suppressing your power so no one would know what you are."
The world tilts.
Starborn. I've heard whispers about them. Myths. Legends. People with magic in their blood who were all killed in the Purge.
"That's impossible," I breathe.
"Is it?" He touches the band gently. "This is proof. And when we remove it, your true power will awaken."
"Remove it?" Panic spikes. "No. No, if I'm Starborn, that makes me—the King will hunt me forever."
"He's already hunting you. The only question is whether you face him powerless or prepared."
Before I can respond, Seren appears from the trees, moving fast. "Riders. A dozen, maybe more. They're tracking us."
Cassian's expression goes cold and hard. "Mount up. We ride through the night."
He lifts me onto his horse this time, settling behind me. His arms cage me in as he gathers the reins.
"Hold on," he murmurs against my ear.
We take off into the darkening forest, racing against enemies I can't see.
And all
I can think is: what happens when this band comes off?
What monster will I become?