Chapter three: Secrets behind the crown

The fire crackled softly between us.Outside, the howls had stopped. That silence frightened me even more.

I finished tying the fresh bandage around Caelan's ribs and leaned back with a tired sigh.

"You should try to rest," 

He nodded but didn't move.

His golden eyes stayed on me.

"They're still out there."

I glanced toward the window.The moonlight spilled across the floor, turning the room silver.

"Who?"

"The pack."

A chill ran through me.

"The werewolf that attacked you wasn't alone?"

"No."

"It came to finish something."

Before I could ask what he meant...

A loud knock shook my front door.

Three slow knocks.

Nobody knew where I lived.

My cottage was hidden deep inside the woods.

Another knock echoed through the room.

"Flavia!"

I knew that voice.

"Elder Rowan?"

He was the oldest scholar in the village.

The man who had raised me after my parents died.

"What is he doing here?" I said.

Caelan's face turned pale.

"Don't open the door."

"Why?"

His eyes never left the entrance.

"Because I know that scent."

"He's lying."

I was confused because the voice sounded like my Elder Rowan.

"What are you talking about? He's my guardian." 

Caelan slowly stood despite the pain.

"No."

His voice was firm.

"He's hiding something."

Before I could answer, Elder Rowan called again.

"Flavia, open the door."

"I know you're inside."

Something felt wrong.His voice sounded the same but it carried no warmth Only cold patience.

Then I noticed it.

A shadow slipped  the gap under the door.It wasn't moving like a person's shadow.It stretched across the floor on its own almost alive.

My breath ceased.

The room suddenly became colder.Caelan grabbed my hand and his golden eyes widened.

"I know what this is."

His voice dropped .

"This isn't a man."

The shadow stopped inches from my feet.

Then...

It slowly lifted off the floor as if it were standing.A voice echoed from behind the door.

Only this time...

It wasn't Elder Rowan's.

"We finally found you..."

My blood turned to ice.

"You carry her blood."

Before I could say something….

A glowing silver mark burned to life on the inside of my wrist.

The same place Caelan had touched me in the forest.

I cried out and stumbled backward.The mark wasn't there before.

It looked like a crescent moon surrounded by strange ancient symbols.

Caelan stared at it in horror.

"No..."

"It can't be." Caelan murmured.

"What?" I shouted.

He looked into my eyes with disbelief.

"The Moon Queen's bloodline was wiped out..."

His voice trembled.

"So how are you still alive?"

The door bashed open.

Wood flew across the room.

I stumbled backward as a cold wind rushed inside.

But there was no one there and everywhere was filled with darkness.

The strange shadow that had slipped under the door was gone.

Silence filled the cottage.

Caelan stood in front of me, his claws half-extended. His eyes searched every corner of the room.

"They've left," he said quietly.

"For now."

I looked down at my wrist.

The silver mark was still glowing.

"What is this?" 

"I've never seen it before."

Caelan stared at the mark without saying a word.

He finally looked at me.

"You just don't remember."

His words made my stomach rumble .

"What do you mean?"

Before he could answer, we heard a voice from outside.

"Your Highness."

The voice was calm and sounded human.

Caelan relaxed a little.

"It's Garrick."

A tall man stepped into the cottage. He wore a dark cloak over silver armor marked with the royal crest. A long sword rested at his side, and an old scar crossed his left eye.

The moment he saw me his eyes and mouth were wide open.

"No..."

He said  the word as if he had seen a ghost.

“it can't be" he said.. I frowned when I asked him.

"Do you know me?"

Garrick slowly walked closer.His hands trembled.

"I held you when you were a baby."

The room spun.

"What?"

Caelan looked between us.

"You know who she is?"

Garrick nodded.

"I prayed this day would never come."

"You're mistaken."

"I grew up in the village."

"Elder Rowan raised me after my parents died."

Garrick's expression changed.

"That's the story you were told."

He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small silver necklace.

At the center hung a moon-shaped pendant.

The moment it came close to me...

The mark on my wrist burned.

A sharp pain shot through my head.

Suddenly—

A little girl laughed as she ran through a bright palace garden.

A woman with silver hair lifted her into her arms.

"My little moon."

The woman kissed her forehead.

"You must never let them find you."

The vision changed.

The palace was filled with fire.

Soldiers running through the palace.

Someone wrapped a tiny baby in a blanket.

"Take Princess Flavia!"

"Go! Before they reach her!"

Then came another flash.

A man carrying me through the forest.

The memories disappeared.

I gasped for air and nearly fell.

Caelan caught me before I hit the floor.

Tears blurred my vision.

"I saw..."

My voice  shaking.. 

A palace and also a woman .

"They called me Princess."

Garrick slowly bowed his head.

"Because you are."

"What?" 

"You are Princess Flavia Lunaris."

"The only daughter of King Aldric and Queen Selene."

"My knees nearly gave out."

"No..."

"That's impossible."

"They died years ago."

Garrick looked away.

"That's what the kingdom was meant to believe."

Caelan said.

"You mean..."

"The royal family wasn't destroyed by rogues?"

Garrick's face hardened.

"No."

"They were betrayed."

"By someone inside the palace."

A cold chill ran through me.

"If that's true..."

"Who sits on the throne now?"

Garrick's eyes filled with anger.

"Your uncle."

"He calls himself king."

"But the crown was never his."

At that moment I could feel my heart pound so fast as if it was about to explode.

Everything I believed about my life had been a lie.

The scholar I thought I was...

The orphan I believed myself to be...

None of it was real.

I looked at the silver mark on my wrist.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

Before Garrick could answer...

A palace horn echoed across the valley three times.

Caelan's face changed.

"That's not a welcome call."

Garrick turned toward the door.

Holding his sword firmly.

"They've found us."

"By sunrise..."

"The entire Royal Guard will be hunting the lost princess."

The palace horn echoed across the valley again.

The sound made every hair on my body stand on end.

Garrick looked through the broken doorway, his hand resting on the sword at his side.

"They're searching the forest," he said.

"We don't have much time."

I looked from him to Caelan.

"So what happens now?"

"We leave," Caelan answered.

His voice was firm.

"They'll find this cottage before sunrise."

I looked around the little home that had been mine for years.

My books and my dried herbs.

The wooden table where I had spent countless nights studying.

It was the only place I had ever called home.

"I can't just leave."

"You have to," Garrick said.

"They're no longer looking for a scholar."

"They're looking for the girl with the Moon Mark."

My eyes dropped to my wrist.

The silver mark had faded, but it was still there.

It looked like it had always belonged to me.

"What does it mean?"

"That mark only appears on someone born from the House of Lunaris."

"You keep saying that name."

"What is House of Lunaris?"

Caelan looked toward Garrick.

"You should tell her."

Garrick nodded slowly.

"Long before this kingdom existed, there were four royal bloodlines."

"The Sun."

"The Moon."

"The Shadow."

"And the Wild."

"They ruled together."

"But the Moon bloodline disappeared many years ago."

He looked directly at me.

"Or so everyone believed."

I tried to understand everything he was saying, but none of it made sense.

"So... you're saying I belong to that family?"

"You were born into it."

"But who were my parents?"

Pain flashed across Garrick's face.

"I'm sorry."

"I can't answer that."

"Not yet."

Frustration filled  my chest.

"Why does everyone keep hiding the truth from me?"

"Because knowing it now would put you in even greater danger."

Before I could argue, Caelan walked ahead me.

His golden eyes narrowed.

"They're close."

A second later...

Dogs barked outside.

Not ordinary dogs.

Their growls were deep and unnatural. 

Garrick cursed under his breath.

"Moon Hounds."

"They can track magic."

I was gripped with fear

"They're tracking me?"

He nodded.

"The mark awakened tonight."

"They'll follow its scent."

Without another word, Garrick pulled a dark cloak from his pack and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Stay between us."

"No matter what happens..."

"Don't stop running."

We slipped out through the back of the cottage just as torches appeared between the trees.

Voices echoed through the forest.

"Search every house!"

"The girl can't be far!"

I held my breath as we disappeared into the darkness.

After hours of walking, the trees finally began to thin.

I stopped in my tracks.

Far away, on top of a cliff, stood the royal palace.

Its white towers shone beneath the moon like they had been carved from silver.

Even from this distance...

Something inside me stirred.

A strange feeling settled over my heart.

It felt familiar. 

"I've never been here," 

"So why does it feel like I'm coming home?"

Neither Caelan nor Garrick answered.

They simply exchanged a worried look.

As I stared at the palace, another memory flashed through my mind.

A little girl laughing.

Running through long marble halls.

A woman placing a silver crown on her head.

Then...

A man's voice it was cold 

"Find the child."

"She must never inherit the Moon Throne."

The memory vanished as quickly as it came.

I pressed a hand against my aching head.

"What was that?"

Caelan caught my arm before I could fall.

"Another memory?"

I nodded.

"It felt real."

Garrick's expression changed.

"They've started."

"What has?"

He looked toward the palace.

"Your memories are waking up."

"And once they do..."

He paused.

"There will be people willing to burn the kingdom to stop you from remembering the truth."

I stared at the palace as the wind carried the sound of another distant horn.

 my past wasn't lost rather It had been stolen.