Chapter 3 - The Ghost of the Burning Nursery
Elena gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "You... you saved my brother?"
"Queen Margaret didn't start the fire by accident, Princess," Rowen confessed, his voice trembling with years of buried guilt. "Your father, the late King, had just drafted a secret decree. He knew Margaret was poisoning his wine to take the throne. He named Prince Julian his sole heir and stripped Margaret of her royal power."
"She burned the nursery to kill Julian..." Elena whispered, horror cold in her veins.
"She tried," Rowen said. "I took the baby prince and gave him to a loyal handmaiden, Sarah. They fled into the northern woods. For fifteen years, I acted as the Queen's loyal hound, waiting for the day Julian’s bloodline would return to claim what was stolen."
Rowen unlocked Leo’s chains and pulled a heavy wool cloak around the boy's shoulders. "The Queen has already summoned the Royal Executioner. You have less than an hour before she announces to the kingdom that you both died of a sudden illness in your sleep."
"Where do we go?" Elena asked, picking up Leo in her arms.
"To the Sunken Archives beneath the Old City," Rowen instructed, handing her a brass key and a small dagger. "There, you will find the original decree signed by your father. It is hidden inside the Royal Vault. But you must hurry—the Queen’s shadow assassin, The Raven, has already been dispatched."
They slipped out through the secret escape tunnels beneath the dungeons, navigating the ancient catacombs filled with cobwebs and forgotten bones. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and rust.
After what felt like hours of crawling through narrow stone passages, they finally burst out into the cool night air near the Old City’s abandoned cathedral.
"We made it," Elena breathed, pulling Leo close as they ducked into the shadows of the ruinous archways.
"Did you really think it would be that easy, little princess?"
A sharp, metallic voice echoed from the top of a ruined stone pillar.
Elena froze.
From the darkness above, a figure draped in a feathered black cloak descended lightly onto the cobblestones. In his hands were two curved daggers, dripping with a strange, dark liquid.
It was The Raven.
May you like
"Captain Rowen was a fool to think he could outsmart the Queen," The Raven chuckled, stepping forward as the moonlight illuminated the blood dripping from his blades. "He died in the dungeon right after you left. And now, I shall collect the rest of his treasonous debt."
CHAPTER 3 HOOK: Captain Rowen was already dead, and the realm's most lethal assassin was now standing between Elena and the truth!
