The Cursed Empress

ooked wro

ooming over the palace like a curse. It was the weight

her bones the moment

High Hall, her fingers raw and her tunic damp with sweat, when two

eir eyes told

been c

eremonial cords the color of blood. The wind was still, but it carried a

bes. Soldiers in black armor. High priests with their staffs of bone. Even the Em

gazes she felt bur

was

ce T

e Flame Gate, dressed in full black imperial armor, sword at his hip. Hi

d not

not f

ing to decide whether she was w

d her ears. She had heard the rumors, the stor

born during a lunar e

in his first campaign wit

, or gods, or anything that co

eved all

len

ard. He stood at the top of the temple steps, his golden

nturies," he proclaimed, "and with it

silence press down li

urvive infancy. The royal bloodline weakens. The gods have turned

tured

her knee

rse so the empire may endure. This girl-lowbor

nothing. Not

bindings. Her jaw tightened. Ch

ion. No goodbyes. No warning. The guard who brought her

dn't s

n't give

rent, but cold. They guided her to the center of the seal etched into the a

ade he

h Priest raised

nt glyphs that shimmered in the blood moon's light. The weapon of sac

tared

ry, but her bod

er thought

girl who used t

all she saw from t

's voice-a voice she could

leave the worl

Unseen.

in, voices rising in a mournful harmony that sent chills down her bac

verything

exactly as i

ed, a violent wind ri

ral wind

ld. Unf

lsed. The blade shattered midair before it could touch h

out across

scr

t from

st. It wasn't fire. It wasn'

g. The cords on her wrists dissolved. The altar

but the power h

ry crown, every scroll-burned themselves into her skin, stretching ac

e did

ro

ting had

had fallen t

ched with pale

ince T

. Deliberately. The crowd

ord wa

nly a few fe

be dead," he

brow, hair clinging to her back. He

slightly, eyes narrow

u?" he asked

s the seal. The seal of the First Flame. That power has

snapped. "She's a servant.

succeeded... in a way the gods hav

nned crowd, voice cr

curse-and

owly, he kne

. the Curse

breath rippled thr

, the priests bo

s-confused, sh

he seal still glowing on her skin, th

ince T

d not

ead... and whispered s

I will find out. And when I do

et hi

life, she felt the world shift

rom p