Secrets of the Ash Princess

Five hundred students stood in the school yard, and every single one of them knew I was supposed to be dead.

The huge black scoreboard in the middle of the yard glowed with bright light. Right at the very top it showed Rank 1: Kaka Obsidian, shining in a deep, heavy purple. Down at the bottom was my stolen name, flickering like a candle about to go out.

Rank 500: Evangeline Cross.

"Move it, trash," a guard barked, jabbing his iron spear into my ribs. "The testing stone doesn't play around. Either step up or get thrown to the giant."

I didn't back down. I reached down and touched the thick silver ring on my right hand. It had belonged to the real Evangeline. She didn't cry when my real family, the Vances, came for her to hide their ugly secrets. She just looked at me with blood on her lips and pressed this ring into my hand. *"Run, Loveth,"* she whispered. *"Take my name. Punish them."*

She was the only person from the starving slums who had ever shared her bread with me. Now she was gone, and I was walking around in her skin. I didn't just want to kill the Vances. I wanted to rip away their money, their pride, and their precious family name until all they had left was dirt.

The yard was packed with rich kids wearing fancy silk capes. This place wasn't really a school. Aethelgard Academy had been built on top of an ancient stone giant. When a student died or lost their magic, the ground would shake and swallow the failure to keep the monster sleeping. It turned the rich kids mean, hungry, and desperate to stay at the top of the board.

My stuck-up half-brother, Kaelen Vance, stood to my right in the crowd. He carried a little silver knife and liked to slice the expensive capes of the students just below him in rank. He'd laugh while they stood there frozen in fear. He had this creepy habit of tapping the blade against his gold teeth whenever he smelled weakness. Click. Click. He had no idea I was the bastard sister his father had thrown away to die in the gutters.

“Next,” an old voice boomed from the high stone desk.

High Magister Vane sat there. In front of him rested the Primal Stone — a round white ball that made a low, heavy hum. It could read the magic inside your body and shoot the number straight up to the scoreboard.

“Name and family,” Vane said.

“Evangeline Cross. From the small Cross estate,” I answered. My voice came out soft and calm, just like the dead noble girl would have spoken.

Vane looked up at me over his thick glasses. “The Cross house burned down three months ago. You're the only one left?”

“Yes.”

Kaelen Vance stepped forward, tapping his silver knife against his teeth. “A poor little orphan girl,” he said, his eyes curving like a snake’s. “Magister, why do we let garbage through the gates? Let me throw her to the stone giant and save us the paperwork.”

I ignored him, but my left hand squeezed into a tight fist. My nails pressed hard into an old, ugly scar that hid my forbidden blood seal. It kept my real, dangerous ash-magic buried deep inside me. In this empire, that kind of magic meant death. It was the same power the lost Ash King used when he nearly burned the whole world a hundred years ago.

“Put your hand on the stone,” Vane ordered.

I stepped forward. My boots hit the hard ground, and I felt cold eyes burning into the back of my neck.

I looked up.

Kaka Obsidian stood on the highest balcony, dressed in the black and gold robes of the royal family. His face looked like it had been carved from ice. His hair was dark, but his eyes were a sharp, bright silver. He wasn’t watching Kaelen or the crowd. His gaze was locked on my left hand — right where my secret seal was hidden under the skin.

*Does he see it?* A cold wave of fear twisted in my stomach.

I had to be quick. Instead of just placing my hand down, I secretly dragged the sharp edge of Evangeline’s silver ring across the scar on my palm. Fresh blood welled up right away. The new pain pushed the smoky magic deeper under a fresh layer of blood. It hurt like hell, but it was the only way to trick the stone.

I slammed my hand onto the freezing white stone.

For one long second, nothing happened. Then the stone started shaking hard. The pure white inside began to swirl and turn into a dirty grey.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood. *Stay low. Stay low.*

The stone groaned. Then the grey smoke inside it suddenly thinned out, and a weak white light appeared.

Magister Vane let out a loud breath. “Evangeline Cross. Magic level: First tier. Type: Weak Spark. Current Rank: Five Hundred.”

Kaelen Vance burst out laughing. He scraped his knife along the stone desk, right in front of my fingers. “Five hundred. Try not to die in your first fight, Cross. I want the pleasure of doing it myself.”

I pulled my hand back and turned toward the dark doors of the low-rank dorms. But before I could take three steps, a loud *ping* echoed across the stone walls.

The laughter stopped dead. The whole yard went completely quiet.

I spun around. The big black scoreboard was shaking. The white number 500 next to my name suddenly cracked. The light changed from white to a deep, dark red. A strange old eye symbol flashed twice on the board.

Magister Vane dropped his pen. His face turned ghostly pale. “The Crimson Mark…” he whispered, stepping back from the desk with shaking hands. “The forbidden register. It’s working again.”

The guards pulled out their spears and rushed toward me. Students screamed and scrambled away like I was some kind of monster.

Up on the high balcony, Kaka Obsidian stayed perfectly still. But his silver eyes narrowed into slits. He didn’t look away from me, and his fingers gripped the stone railing so hard the ancient rock started to crack. His face showed dark confusion and a sudden sharp interest. He didn’t know who I really was, but he knew I was a dangerous lie.

The guards closed in, spears pointed at my throat.

My plan had been so simple. Stay hidden. Get into the academy. Kill the Vances from the shadows. I had survived the slums and survived the family that threw me away. I wasn’t about to let a stupid white rock destroy everything before I even started.

Then the Primal Stone went completely dark. It let out a deafening scream and exploded into a thousand sharp pieces.

A deep roar shook through my bones. The ground under the whole courtyard cracked and buckled with a violent rumble from deep below. The stone giant was waking up.

And it was hungry.