The Strange Mark

Chapter Five

****

The air in the dueling chamber crackled with tension, and I could feel it pressing against my skin like static. The marble floor was slick beneath my boots, and the high vaulted ceiling echoed every whisper of breath around me. Blackmoor Academy’s Dueling Hall was supposed to be a place for control—where students learned precision, restraint, power. But I hadn’t come here to learn.

I came here to survive.

Across from me stood Jason, his dark eyes gleaming like obsidian under the flickering chandeliers. His stance was relaxed, deceptively so. He held his wand loosely at his side, but I knew better than to believe he wasn’t ready to strike. Beside him, standing just off to the edge of the ring, were the other two—Riven and Kael, watching me with an unreadable expression that sent a shiver down my spine.

Professor Holloway raised her hand. “Begin.”

Jason didn’t hesitate. A whisper of movement, and then shadows slithered across the floor toward me like ink spilled in water. I barely had time to raise my shield before they lashed against it, tendrils curling and recoiling as if alive.

I staggered back, heart pounding. My fingers tightened around my wand, but it felt foreign in my grip. I’d only started training a week ago. I didn’t belong here.

“You’re not even trying,” Jason said, voice smooth as silk. Another spell flew from his wand, this one a sharp gust of wind aimed straight at my chest.

I twisted out of the way, rolling to the side. My pulse thundered in my ears. “You think this is easy?!”

His lips quirked. “It should be.”

“Enough,” Riven snapped, stepping forward. “This isn’t a game.”

Jason smirked. “Isn’t it?”

I gritted my teeth. “You want to see what I can do?” My voice was sharper than I expected. More confident. Maybe it was adrenaline. Or maybe something else entirely.

I lifted my wand, focused on the energy humming beneath my skin. It had been there since I got to Blackmoor—this strange, restless current inside me, like a storm waiting to break. I reached for it now, pulling it up through my veins.

The room seemed to darken.

Jason's smirk faltered.

I whispered the incantation Professor Holloway had taught us earlier that week. “*Lux ex tenebris.*” Light from darkness.

A burst of golden energy erupted from my wand—not controlled, not precise. It slammed into Jason's  next attack,colliding in a flash of white-hot light.

I barely had time to register the impact before the force knocked me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, the wind rushing out of me.

For a moment, silence reigned.

Then—

A low, guttural sound filled the air.

I looked down at my wrist.

A mark glowed there, black and jagged like a spiderweb spreading beneath my skin. My breath caught.

Jason took a step back.

So did Riven.

Even Kael’s expression shifted—his eyes narrowing, his body tensing.

“What the hell is that?” I demanded, scrambling to my feet.

No one answered.

Instead, all three boys dropped to their knees.

Every muscle in my body locked.

“What are you doing?” I asked, voice trembling.

Kael finally spoke, his voice quiet, reverent. “You’ve awakened.”

---

I didn’t remember walking out of the Dueling Hall. One second, I was staring at the three of them kneeling before me like I was some kind of queen—or worse, a god—and the next, I was outside, running in the moonlit courtyard behind the academy, my hands shaking.

My wrist still burned.

The mark hadn’t faded.

Kael followed me out first. Quiet as ever, he leaned against the stone archway, watching me like he already knew what I was going to say.

“I don’t know what this means,” I admitted, holding up my wrist. “Or why they reacted like that.”

He stepped closer, reaching for my arm, but hesitated before touching me. “Because they understand what you don’t yet.”

I swallowed hard. “And you do?”

He nodded once. “I’ve seen it before.”

That sent another chill through me. “Where?”

“In the old texts. In the bloodlines.” His voice dropped lower. “In the prophecy.”

I pulled my arm away. “Prophecy? What prophecy?”

Before he could answer, Riven appeared, his usual calm cracked by something raw and urgent. “You need to listen to me.”

I turned to face him. “Then talk.”

You called her forth—it wasn’t just magic. It was *her*.”

“Her?” My stomach twisted.

“The Crimson Queen,” Kael murmured.

I stared at both of them. “Who the hell is that?”

Riven exhaled sharply. “An ancient ruler. A being of pure destruction. She was sealed away centuries ago because she nearly tore the world apart.”

“And you think she’s inside me?” My voice cracked.

“No,” Kael said. “She’s *awakening* through you.”

I took a step back. “That’s insane.”

“Is it?” Riven countered. “You’ve always known you were different. You’ve felt the power growing inside you. Why else would we be drawn to you?”

I shook my head. “You’re saying I’m some kind of vessel for a dead queen?”

Kael’s gaze was unwavering. “Not dead. Just sleeping.”

---

We ended up in the library, deep in the restricted section where books weren’t bound in leather but in aged parchment stitched with silver thread. Riven lit a candle with a snap of his fingers,

Kael placed a heavy tome in front of me. The cover was embossed with a symbol—the same jagged shape that now marked my wrist.

I traced it with my fingertip. “What does it mean?”

“It’s the sigil of the Crimson Court,” Riven said. “A kingdom lost to time. And you, Aria… you’re its last heir.”

I stared at him. “That’s not possible."

“If I’m connected to this Crimson Queen,” I said slowly, “then why now? Why the mark? Why the spell?” 

Kael’s expression darkened. “Because someone has begun the ritual to bring her back. And you’re the key.”

By midnight, I was sitting alone in my dorm room, staring at the mark on my wrist.

It had stopped pulsing, but the heat lingered beneath my skin. Like something was waiting.

Watching.

I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw flashes—fire, blood, a throne carved from bone. A woman’s voice whispering my name.

*Aria.*

I sat up abruptly, heart hammering.

“Aria.”

The voice wasn’t in my head.

It was real.

I turned.

Jason stood in the doorway, his presence silent as a shadow.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I whispered.

He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “You need answers.”

I frowned. “And you have them?”

His dark eyes met mine. “I have more than the others. I’ve spent years preparing for this.”

“For what?” I asked.

“For your awakening.”

I stiffened. “You knew this would happen?”

“I suspected.” He moved closer, slow and deliberate. “Your grandmother and mine were allies once. Before everything fell apart.”

I swallowed hard. “What happened?”

“They tried to stop the prophecy. They failed.”

I shook my head. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because the others will try to protect you,” he said. “But I won’t.”

I blinked. “What?”