Aria's POV
Glass was still falling when the prince moved.
One second he was on top of me, shielding me from the ice spears. The next second he was at the shattered window, his hand raised, and the air around him turned silver.
The witch in the garden laughed.
"Oh, little prince," she called out, her voice echoing like bells made of bone. "You think your power can stop me? You're half-dead already. The curse is eating you alive."
"Leave," Kael said. His voice was quiet, but something in it made the walls shake. "Or I'll show you exactly how alive I am."
The witch's smile widened. "I didn't come for you, Your Highness. I came for the girl."
She pointed directly at me.
"Give her to me, and I'll let you die peacefully. Keep her, and I'll tear this palace apart stone by stone."
My whole body went cold.
The prince didn't move. Didn't even blink.
"You want her?" he asked softly. "Come and take her."
Silver light exploded from his hand.
It shot across the courtyard like lightning, so bright I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, the witch was gone—just vanished into smoke and shadows.
But I could still hear her voice, distant and fading: "Three days, little prince. Three days to give her up, or everyone in this palace dies."
Then silence.
The prince lowered his hand. The silver light disappeared. He turned to look at me, and his face was completely blank. Like he hadn't just used magic. Like witches threatening to destroy the palace was normal.
"Get up," he said.
I tried. My legs wouldn't work.
He sighed, walked over, and pulled me to my feet with one hand. His grip was strong. Too strong.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
I shook my head. I didn't trust my voice.
"Good." He let go and stepped back. "Now tell me the truth. Why does that witch want you?"
"I don't know!" The words burst out. "I've never seen her before in my life! I'm nobody! I'm just—"
"You're not nobody." His silver eyes narrowed. "Nobody doesn't glow. Nobody doesn't make dead things grow. Nobody doesn't have Lightbringer blood running through their veins."
I froze.
"How did you—"
"I know everything about you, Aria Sunfield." He started counting on his fingers. "Born in Sunhaven Village twenty-two years ago. Mother died when you were ten—officially from fever, but the village healer said she burned up from the inside, like something was consuming her. Father killed by bandits three years ago. You have a sick brother named Finn. You give away food you can't afford to lose. You make people smile even when they're dying."
Each word felt like a punch.
"You've been watching me," I whispered.
"For three months." He said it like it was nothing. "I've had scouts tracking every village, searching for someone with your abilities. When they found you, I knew immediately—you were exactly what I needed."
"To break your curse."
His expression didn't change. "You talked to Mira."
It wasn't a question.
"She said if I fail, the curse transfers to me," I said, my voice shaking. "She said I'll become like you. Frozen. Empty."
"She's right." He walked to the broken window and looked out at the dark garden. "The curse is designed to spread. It wants to consume all light, all joy, until there's nothing left but cold. That's why the witch out there wants you—if she kills you before the curse transfers, she absorbs your power."
"Why?" I demanded. "Why do witches care about Lightbringers?"
"Because Lightbringers can do something witches can't." He glanced back at me. "You can break any curse, no matter how powerful, with genuine joy. You're the natural enemy of dark magic."
I pressed my hands against my head. This was insane.
"I don't want this," I said. "I didn't ask for magic or curses or witches trying to kill me. I just want to save my brother and go home!"
"Then break my curse." The prince turned to face me fully. "Do what you were brought here to do. Make me smile. Make me feel. Save both of us."
"I don't know how!"
"Figure it out." His voice went cold again. "Because that witch wasn't lying. In three days, she's coming back. And if I haven't gotten stronger by then—if the curse is still eating me alive—I won't be able to stop her. She'll kill everyone in this palace, take you, and use your power for whatever dark ritual she's planning."
He walked toward the door.
"Wait!" I called out. "You can't just leave! There's a witch trying to kill me and you're—"
"I'm moving you to a different room." He stopped at the doorway. "This one isn't safe anymore. Pack whatever you brought. A guard will escort you in five minutes."
"But—"
"And Aria?" He looked at me one last time. "Stay away from the gardens at night. Stay away from windows. And whatever you do, don't trust anyone who tells you they're trying to help. In this palace, everyone has their own agenda."
He left.
I stood in the broken room, shaking, my mind racing.
Three days.
I had three days to figure out magic I didn't understand, break a curse I'd never heard of, and somehow make a frozen prince smile—all while a witch wanted to tear me apart.
I wanted to cry. Wanted to scream. Wanted to run back to Sunhaven and pretend this nightmare wasn't real.
Instead, I took a deep breath and started looking for something to pack.
I didn't have much. Just the clothes I'd worn from home. But as I folded them, something fell out of my pocket.
A small piece of paper, folded tight.
I didn't remember putting it there.
With shaking hands, I unfolded it.
Five words, written in handwriting I didn't recognize:
The prince is the key.
That was it. No signature. No explanation.
I flipped it over. On the back, someone had drawn a symbol—a crescent moon with a star inside it.
The same mark that had been glowing on Mira's forehead.
A knock on the door made me jump.
"Miss Sunfield?" A guard's voice. "I'm here to escort you to your new room."
I shoved the note back in my pocket and opened the door.
The guard was young, maybe nineteen, with nervous eyes. He kept looking over his shoulder like he expected something to jump out.
"Follow me," he said quietly. "And stay close. The hallways aren't safe after dark."
"What do you mean not safe?"
He didn't answer. Just started walking fast.
I hurried after him, my heart pounding.
We went down stairs, through corridors I didn't recognize, past doors that looked like they hadn't been opened in years. Everything was dark and cold and silent.
Too silent.
"Where is everyone?" I asked. "Shouldn't there be more servants? More guards?"
"There used to be." The guard's voice was tight. "But people keep disappearing. Three servants last month. A guard last week. They just... vanish."
Ice crawled down my spine. "Where do they go?"
"No one knows. But sometimes..." He paused. "Sometimes at night, you can hear screaming from the west wing. The prince has it sealed off. Says it's dangerous. Says no one should go there."
"Why? What's in the west wing?"
The guard stopped walking. We were standing in front of a door that looked newer than the others.
"This is your room," he said, not answering my question. "Lock the door. Don't open it for anyone except Mrs. Helga or the prince himself. And whatever you do—"
A scream cut through the air.
High-pitched. Terrified. Coming from somewhere deeper in the palace.
The guard's face went white. "Get inside. Now."
"But someone needs help—"
"GET INSIDE!"
He shoved me through the door and slammed it behind me.
I heard his footsteps running away.
Then another scream. Closer this time.
I pressed my ear against the door, my heart hammering.
Footsteps. Running. Getting closer.
Then a voice—ragged, desperate, female: "Please! Someone help me! He's coming! He's—"
The voice cut off.
Silence.
Then slow, heavy footsteps. Walking past my door.
I held my breath, not moving, not making a sound.
The footsteps stopped.
Right outside my door.
I watched the door handle, praying it wouldn't turn.
It didn't.
But then a voice spoke, so close it sounded like the person was right next to me:
"I know you're in there, Lightbringer."
It wasn't the witch's voice.
It was a man's voice. Deep. Wrong. Like two voices speaking at once.
"I can smell your light. Taste your fear. The prince thinks he can protect you, but he's weak. Dying. Soon he'll be gone, and you'll be mine."
My hand covered my mouth to stop from screaming.
"Three days," the voice continued. "The witch gave him three days. But I won't wait that long. Tomorrow night, when the moon is dark, I'm coming for you. And there's nothing he can do to stop me."
The footsteps moved away.
Faded.
Gone.
I collapsed against the door, shaking so hard my teeth rattled.
Two threats now. The witch. And whoever—whatever—that was.
I wanted to run. Wanted to pound on the door and beg the guards to take me home.
But I thought of Finn. Of the village. Of the promise I'd made.
Then I thought of something else.
The note in my pocket: The prince is the key.
If the prince was the key to breaking the curse, then maybe... maybe he was also the key to surviving.
I needed to talk to him. Needed to understand what was really happening in this palace.
But first, I needed to make it through the night.
I dragged a chair in front of the door.
Checked the window—thankfully, no witches.
Sat on the bed with my knees pulled to my chest.
And waited for dawn.
But dawn didn't come.
Instead, around midnight, I heard it again.
Singing.
The same voice from the garden.
The witch.
But this time, she wasn't outside.
She was in the hallway.
Right outside my door.