Sera's POV
The cold stone floor bites into my knees as I trace my finger along the cell wall. Twenty-three years of life, and tomorrow morning, they'll end it all in front of cheering crowds.
I should be crying. I should be begging. Instead, I'm counting the cracks in the stones one hundred and forty-seven of them. I've had three days to count.
My hands shake as I pull the folded letters from my dress pocket. Six letters, edges worn soft from touching. Anonymous love letters I found hidden in archive books over the past five years. Someone saw me. Someone thought I was worth writing to.
Your smile lights up the dustiest corners of the archive.
You're the most brilliant person I've ever known.
I wish I had your courage.
I press them against my chest. Tomorrow, I die without ever knowing who wrote them.
The irony makes me laugh a broken, bitter sound that echoes off stone. I'm the kingdom's foremost expert on prophecies, yet I'm the only person in Celestara born without one. No golden thread of destiny. No future written in the stars. Just... nothing.
They call me Void-Born. Defective. Broken.
My younger sister Maya got all the good prophecy genes. Destined to unite kingdoms and marry royalty, the High Prophets declared when she was born. Mother cried with joy. Father hosted a feast that lasted seven days.
When I was born four years earlier under a starless sky? Mother wouldn't look at me for a week. Father told people I died at birth. It would've been kinder if I had.
I spent my childhood invisible, watching Maya get everything the best tutors, beautiful gowns, Father's proud smiles. I got a corner room in the servants' wing and hand-me-down clothes that never fit right.
But I found my own happiness. The Prophecy Archives became my sanctuary millions of dusty books recording every destiny ever written. While Maya learned to dance and flirt, I learned the hidden patterns in prophecies, the secret language the gods used to bind people to their fates.
I became useful. Scholars would ask me questions. Council members needed my research. Nobody thanked me, but I didn't need thanks. I had purpose.
Then three weeks ago, everything shattered.
High Prophet Maren called an emergency council meeting. I was filing scrolls when I heard her declaration echo through the halls: The Void-Burn's death will prevent the Scarlet War and save thousands of lives.
Just like that, my nothing-life gained purpose. I was worth something dead.
The trial lasted fifteen minutes. I stood in chains while Maya testified against me, her voice sweet as poison. My sister has always been strange. Wrong. Her existence disrupts the natural order.
Father stood when they asked if any family would speak for me. My heart lifted
He said I should accept my fate with dignity.
And Prince Cassian, the man I'd loved in secret for five years, the man who visited the archives just to talk to me about history and philosophy? He sat on the royal council and said nothing. Absolutely nothing. He wouldn't even meet my eyes.
The council voted unanimously. Execution at dawn in the Grand Square.
I touch the letters again. At least someone loved me, even if they were too afraid to say it out loud.
Footsteps echo in the hallway outside my cell. Heavy boots. Multiple guards.
My heart hammers against my ribs. Are they coming early? Is this it?
I shove the letters back into my pocket and scramble to my feet. The chains on my wrists rattle. I press my back against the cold wall, trying to breathe.
The footsteps stop right outside my door.
A key scrapes in the lock.
The door swings open, and I brace for guards with weapons
Prince Cassian stands there alone.
No crown. No royal guards. Just him in a simple dark shirt, hair dishevelled, eyes red like he hasn't slept in days. He looks like he's been through a war.
Sera, he whispers my name like a prayer.
My body goes rigid. Fury and heartbreak crash through me in equal waves. Get out.
I need to explain
Explain what? My voice cracks. Explain how you sat there and let them sentence me to death? Explain how five years of friendship meant nothing?
He steps into the cell, and I see his hands are shaking. I was bound by magical oath. Council members can't speak against prophecy declarations or the oath kills us. I couldn't
You could've tried! Tears burn my eyes. You could've done something instead of sitting there like a coward!
You're right. He moves closer, and I smell cedar and rain the scent that haunted my dreams for years. I was a coward. I am a coward. But Sera, I His voice breaks. I love you. I've loved you since we were sixteen. I'm sorry I never told you. I'm sorry I failed you.
The world tilts sideways.
My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
Cassian loves me?
He reaches into his coat and pulls out a worn piece of paper. His hand trembles as he holds it out. I wrote them. All the letters. It was always me.
Time stops.
The letters. The beautiful words that kept me alive through years of loneliness. The anonymous love that made me feel human.
Cassian wrote them.
Something inside me cracks wide open not my heart. Something deeper. Something that's been locked away my entire life.
Heat floods through my veins. The chains on my wrists suddenly feel too tight, burning against my skin. I look down and see them glowing red-hot.
Sera? Cassian's voice sounds far away. What's happening?
The chains explode.
Metal shards fly across the cell. Cassian throws up his arms, shouting in shock. I stare at my bare wrists, at the power crackling between my fingers like silver lightning.
The whole temple starts shaking. Stone dust rains from the ceiling.
I look up at Cassian at the prince who stayed silent, at the man who loved me secretly but never fought for me and something cold and fierce settles in my chest.
I refuse, I whisper.
Refuse what?
I meet his eyes as the cell walls crack around us.
I refuse this prophecy. I refuse this death. I refuse everything.
The door behind Cassian explodes inward. High Prophet Maren stands there with twenty temple guards, her face twisted with rage.
The Void-Born is breaking containment! she screams. Kill her now!
Guards rush forward with swords raised.
Cassian moves to protect me, but I'm already running not away from them, but toward them, toward my death, toward the guards who think I'm helpless
And as I run, my body erupts with silver light, and I feel power I didn't know existed burning through every cell, and I'm not helpless anymore, I'm not nothing anymore
I'm something the gods should fear.