"Maya… what happened to your eyes?"
I blinked in confusion.
My eyes felt hot, like something was burning beneath my skin.
"What… what's wrong with my eyes?" I whispered.
He didn't answer.
He only stared.
Then he took one slow step closer, like approaching a wild creature.
"Maya," he said quietly, "your eyes… they're glowing."
My breath caught.
"Glowing?" I touched my face, my eyelids, anything—
"Yes," he whispered, eyes flicking over me with disbelief. "Blue. Bright. Like the crowns in the old murals."
A tremor ran up my spine.
I took a shaky step back.
"I don't— I don't know what happened," I stammered. "The room went dark— then the voices— then the light—"
Azael grabbed my hands gently but firmly.
"What voices?"
"The ones they call… the pulse beneath the crown."
My voice wavered. "Azael, they said things. Impossible things."
His grip tightened around my fingers.
"What things?"
I swallowed, breath trembling.
"They said I… I wasn't hidden by accident. That I'm connected to someone. A forgotten queen."
Azael's entire expression changed—
Shock.
Then understanding.
Then fear.
Not fear of me.
Fear of what my words meant.
"Maya," he murmured, "listen to me very carefully."
He glanced toward the doorway as if expecting shadows to be listening.
"Did they give you a name?"
I hesitated.
The memory pulsed in my mind, heavy and ancient.
Child of a forgotten queen.
Daughter of the hidden line.
"I… I think they did," I whispered. "But I don't fully—"
A sudden scream echoed down the hall.
Both of us jerked our heads toward the sound.
Azael's jaw tightened.
"That's Zayn," he breathed.
My heart dropped.
"What's happening?"
Azael didn't even answer—he pulled me behind him and burst out of the chamber.
The hallway was chaos—guards running, shadows flickering, the air sizzling with the sharp scent of panic.
"Azael," I gasped, trying to keep up, "why is everyone—"
"Because," he hissed, "the only reason the palace bells ring like they did is if a long-lost royal bloodline awakens."
He threw me a sharp look.
"And every faction in this palace will want you for themselves."
My blood ran cold.
"But I don't even know—"
We turned a corner—
And stopped.
Because Zayn was there.
Surrounded by guards.
Not fighting.
Not shouting.
Just… staring at me.
His expression unreadable.
Unmoving.
Like he'd frozen in time.
But his eyes—
The moment they met mine—
Something inside them cracked open.
A flicker of relief.
A flicker of fear.
A flicker of something deeper.
He stepped toward me, slow and deliberate.
"Maya," he said softly. "Tell me what happened."
Azael moved in front of me instantly.
"No," he snapped. "Not here."
Zayn's jaw set. "Azael—"
"She's not ready."
"I wasn't talking to you," Zayn growled.
The tension strangled the air.
Brothers.
Twins.
Enough of The Arguments
I shouted
I felt a sharp pain on my head and I blacked out
-----------------
White.
Just white.
All I could see was White
then I realized
I wasn't standing.
I was suspended.
Weightless.
Then—
A heartbeat.
Not mine.
A deeper one. Older. Echoing.
thum… thum… thum…
My eyes fluttered open.
And I wasn't in the palace anymore.
I was standing in a circular room of stone, lit by blue fire that floated in the air like silent stars. Symbols curled across the walls—shapes I had never seen, but somehow recognized.
In the center of the room stood a pedestal.
On it lay a small object wrapped in red silk.
My breath trembled.
"This isn't real," I whispered.
A voice answered behind me.
"It is real, Maya."
I spun around.
And froze.
A woman stood there—tall, regal, draped in a gown of woven gold threads. Her skin glowed with the same soft blue light that had filled the room in Chapter Eleven. Her crown was unlike anything I'd ever seen—thin, delicate, shaped like rising flames.
Her face…
Beautiful.
Strong.
Familiar.
My lips parted.
"You… you're one of the silhouettes. One of the—"
"Voices?" she asked gently. "Yes."
Her eyes softened.
"But I am more than a voice, child."
I swallowed hard. "Who are you?"
She stepped forward.
The air shifted.
And she said the words that shattered the quiet:
"I am Queen Selene of the First Line."
My throat closed.
My pulse tripped over itself.
The First Line.
The oldest dynasty.
The rulers before the Montclairs existed.
A bloodline that history claimed ended generations ago.
"Impossible," I whispered. "You're— that line— that family— they're extinct. They died out."
A sad smile touched her lips.
"They were erased, Maya. Not gone."
My stomach twisted.
"Why are you showing me this?" I whispered. "Why me?"
She stopped in front of me—close enough for me to see the faint luminescence in her skin.
Then she lifted a hand and touched my cheek.
Her touch was warm.
Gentle.
Motherly.
"Because," she said quietly, "I am your grandmother."
The air left my lungs.
My knees nearly buckled.
"No… no, that can't— I'm not— I can't—"
Queen Selene cupped my face in both hands, steadying me.
"You are the daughter of my daughter," she whispered. "A child who was taken for her safety the night the Crown Split. A child hidden among common people so no one would know the First Line still lived."
Tears filled my eyes.
"My mother?" I breathed. "Who… who was she?"
Selene reached for the red silk bundle on the pedestal and unwrapped it.
Inside—
A tiny crown.
Not gold.
Not silver.
Crystal.
Clear as water. Glowing faintly blue. Shaped exactly like the one carved above the old palace gates—the crest of the Lost Queen.
"She wore this," Selene whispered. "Your mother. Princess Althea."
The room spun.
"I… I don't… I can't remember…"
"You were a baby when they took you," Selene said softly. "Even the name Maya was given to hide you."
Her hands shook slightly as she lifted the crystal crown.
"You are the last royal of the First Line.
The rightful heir to a throne buried in shadows."
My breath hitched.
"But… but the Montclairs—"
Her expression darkened.
"When they learned a daughter of the First Line survived," she whispered, "your mother was hunted. And when she disappeared—everyone assumed her child vanished with her."
I shook my head, tears slipping free.
"I'm not— I'm not meant to be a queen. I can't even understand half of what's happening."
Selene stepped closer, lowering the tiny crown toward me.
"You are meant to choose your own destiny," she said softly. "But the truth of who you are must be known."
The crown touched my forehead.
A shock of cold flooded my veins.
And suddenly—
Images roared through my mind:
My mother's face.
Her voice whispering my name— not Maya.
Hands carrying me through darkness.
A blade shining.
Soldiers shouting.
A hidden doorway.
A woman crying, "Protect her… she is the last flame…"
I gasped and dropped to my knees.
The crown slipped from my forehead and hovered above the floor, held by invisible energy.
Selene knelt with me, her voice trembling with something like grief.
"Maya… you were never meant to live unnoticed."
My tears hit the stone.
"I want my old life back," I whispered.
"I know," she said gently. "But destiny does not return—only moves forward."
Before I could speak—
A violent ripple cut through the room.
Selene's eyes widened.
"They're waking you."
I flinched.
"Who?"
She touched my forehead.
"Your princes."
The room shattered into shards of blue light—
And I heard Zayn's voice through the break:
"MAYA, OPEN YOUR EYES!"