Mariluna stood frozen beneath the celestial dome, her breath fogging in the chill of the starlit chamber.
She looked up — not at the constellations overhead, but at the throne suspended in the sky like a crown hung on memory.
And the figure that sat upon it.
It was her.
Or… something like her.
She wore no blood, no bruises, no chains.
Her dress shimmered like a nebula. Her hair flowed down her back in waves of starlight. And her eyes… gods, her eyes burned like two moons — endless and ancient.
The reflection rose, barefoot and fluid.
When she spoke, her voice echoed from the walls like an old song.
"You have stepped through the mirror of memory."
Mariluna's throat tightened. "Who are you?"
"I am what you were. What you buried. What you ran from."
"I am the Crownmark."
The light dimmed.
The woman stepped forward, and as her bare feet touched the ground, the stars beneath them responded — blossoming beneath her steps like flowers of flame.
"You were never a pawn. You were the endgame."
Mariluna stepped back.
"No," she said. "That's not me. I'm not—"
"You are the true heir, child of fire and storm. You are the Eclipsed Queen."
The words struck her like thunder.
"I'm… no one."
The starlit queen tilted her head. "Then why does the throne recognize you?"
Behind her, the throne — once hollow — now burned with Mariluna's own sigil etched in flame.
A half-moon over a crown of thorns.
Suddenly, the hall trembled.
A black wind howled through the stardust, and a shadow fell across the throne.
Veritas.
No longer a man of flesh, but something older, crueler — his body smoke, his smile a thousand teeth.
"I warned them she would wake," he growled.
He raised a sword made of screams.
The starlit queen turned — and vanished into Mariluna's chest like breath returning to lungs.
The light surged.
And Mariluna was no longer just a girl.
The Awakening
Her eyes glowed white-hot.
A crown of flame formed above her brow.
The ground cracked.
Stars bent toward her like blades toward a queen.
Veritas screamed — not in rage, but fear.
And for the first time in her life…
Mariluna remembered.
The day her parents died.
The whisper in the flames.
The woman who shielded her from the explosion — with silver hair and stardust skin.
"You are not ready… but one day, you will return."
It was her mother.
Not human. Not mortal.
A goddess in hiding.
And Mariluna was her daughter.
The blood of the Court and the Crown.
The throne surged toward her, stars folding around her body.
But before she could touch it, a violent force yanked her back — tearing her from the mirror realm.
Her body crashed into her bedroom floor.
Sweat soaked her skin.
But her eyes still burned with fire.
And behind her…
The mirror shattered.
At the Same Time, Far Away…
Cassendra jolted awake in her obsidian bed.
A cut bloomed across her cheek — unbidden and sudden.
She touched the blood.
"She's awakened…"
Veritas loomed beside her, eyes glowing.
"She has the Crown."
Cassendra's smile returned.
"Then let's take it from her."
Lorenzo stood in the hall outside Mariluna's room, having heard the shatter.
He rushed in.
Found her on the floor.
Bleeding. Burning.
Alive.
She looked up at him, pupils glowing like a dying sun.
"I remember," she said.
He froze.
"Mariluna?"
She grinned — wild, broken, powerful.
"No."
"Your Queen remembers."
Lorenzo had faced men with guns to his skull. He had looked gods in the eye and refused to kneel. But nothing — not even the blood rituals of his past — prepared him for the girl rising off the floor.
Mariluna's back arched like a bow drawn too tight.
Flames danced over her arms, her eyes were eclipses glowing white-blue, and a strange symbol hovered above her like a burning halo — a crown with a fractured moon.
He stepped forward. Slowly. Like approaching a live grenade.
"Mariluna…" he said softly.
She turned.
Her voice echoed in two tones — hers, and something ancient.
"I remember the fire. The pain. The betrayal."
"And now… I remember who I am."
She collapsed.
Hours Later
The fortress was silent.
David stood at the door as Lorenzo sat beside Mariluna's bed, watching her sleep like a man guarding a ticking bomb.
"She's changed," David said grimly.
"She always had this in her. It's not new… just unleashed."
David hesitated. "You think it's true? That she's the one? The heir?"
Lorenzo didn't answer immediately. He looked down at the burn scars forming subtle shapes on her skin — runes of a language even he didn't recognize.
"She's not just an heir," he muttered. "She's the key."
"To what?"
"To everything the Court tried to bury."
Meanwhile, in the Court of Ashes
Cassendra stared into the obsidian pool, watching as Mariluna's body radiated power even in sleep.
She clenched her fists. "She was never supposed to survive."
Veritas didn't speak.
"She's ruined everything. The deal, the bloodline, my crown—"
"She was chosen, Cassendra," he said at last. "Long before you."
Cassendra's smile twisted.
"Then we'll unchoose her."
"I want her soul severed."
Veritas turned his head sharply. "That ritual hasn't been done in centuries—"
"I don't care," she hissed. "Find me the witch who can do it."
Behind her, the flames in the wall sconces shivered.
Back at the Fortress
Mariluna woke with a gasp, sitting up like she'd surfaced from a deep sea.
The room was dark.
Only Lorenzo sat nearby, his jacket off, sleeves rolled to the elbows. A glass of untouched whiskey in his hand.
"You scared me," he said, voice lower than usual.
"I scare myself."
He looked at her — not like a mob boss, but like a man watching the sky before a storm.
"What happened to me?"
"You were born," he said simply.
"I don't want this."
"Tough," he said. "Destiny doesn't ask permission."
Mariluna clenched the blanket. "You're being awfully calm about this."
"Because if I'm not," he murmured, "I'll burn the whole world down to keep you safe."
David burst through the door, face pale.
"There's a message."
He held out a crimson envelope sealed with a black wax sigil — a serpent biting its own tail.
Lorenzo's eyes went cold.
"The Circle of Severance."
Mariluna looked between them. "What is that?"
Lorenzo's jaw clenched.
"An assassin cult that doesn't kill your body."
"They kill your soul."