Seraphina knew her mother told her to leave because she needed time alone with her father, so she went to her chamber and laid on her bed after staring at the ceiling for a couple of hours while thinking about the new responsibility she now held she soon fell asleep, but her rest was anything but peaceful.
The air in her chamber felt thick and wrong, as though the shadows had weight of their own. The tall curtains twirled gently even though no wind touched them, and the candlelight bent and stretched, casting twisted shapes across the cold stone walls.
Her dreams pulled her somewhere colder - long, endless corridors of black marble, where the walls seemed to breathe and the air tasted faintly of metal.
Cloaked figures moved through the halls.
They had no faces - only hollowness where eyes and mouths should have been, like empty masks carved from darkness.
Their whispers began softly, almost kindly, like a lullaby meant to draw her closer instead of sending her away.
"Give it to us, child." one said like the leader
Their voices crept nearer, wrapping around her thoughts.
"You do not understand the danger you carry. You are too small. Too fragile to bear it alone." another added
Their cold hands reached toward her in the dream, brushing the place where the amulet rested against her chest.
"We can keep you safe... if you give it to us." the last one said
Seraphina woke with a sharp, ragged gasp, her chest rising too fast, too hard.
Her room was drowned in silver moonlight. The crimson amulet glowed faintly beneath her nightdress, its light slow and steady against the frantic beating of her heart. When she touched it, warmth bloomed beneath her fingers - alive, steady - as though it had been watching over her while she slept.
That had not been just a dream.
She felt it deep in her bones.
The palace felt different now. heavier. As though unseen things were walking behind the walls, breathing just beyond her reach.
She slid from her bed, moving without waking the servants, her bare feet silent against the cold stone floor. She did not stop to question where she was going.
She only knew one thing.
She could not be alone.
---
The door to Queen Ismira's chamber stood slightly open.
Inside, the candles burned low near the queen's bed, their flames trembling as if they, too, were tired. Queen ismira laid on the bed, her frail but beautiful, silver hair spread out across the dark fabric like strings of moonlight.
Seraphina paused in the doorway, uncertainty tightening in her throat.
"Come here, my little star," Ismira whispered, her voice thin but warm.
Seraphina stepped into the room quickly and knelt beside the bed, her small fingers wrapping around her mother's.
"I had a bad dream," she said quietly, unable to stop the tremble in her voice.
Ismira turned her head toward her. "What did you see, my love?"
"Dark figures," Seraphina whispered. "They were cloaked. I couldn't see their faces... I don't think they had faces. They wanted the amulet." Her breath shivered. "They told me to give it to them... it felt so real more than just a dream."
Ismira's fingers tightened gently around hers.
"The Order," she breathed.
Seraphina swallowed. "You know them?"
Ismira's gaze softened despite the pain in her body.
"Let us say only this," she murmured. "They know the amulet... and they have always wanted it."
The queen shifted carefully, the effort showing in the slow rise of her shoulders, and then she drew back the covers.
"Come," she whispered. "Lie with me."
Seraphina hesitated only a moment before carefully climbing onto the bed beside her. Ismira drew her close, wrapping a weak but steady arm around her shoulders. Seraphina pressed her face into her mother's gown, breathing in the blend of herbs, warmth, and old comfort.
"They cannot harm you, Seraphina," Ismira murmured into her hair.
Seraphina's fingers tightened in her mother's sleeve. "how can you be so sure?"
"Because I know you, Seraphina you are stronger than you know," Ismira said gently, honesty threading through every word. "And unlike me... you will learn."
Fear curled softly inside Seraphina's chest. "Learn what?"
"You will understand soon, my little star," Ismira whispered. "But promise me something."
Seraphina lifted her head slightly. "What is it, Mother?"
"Promise you will never remove the amulet," she said, her weak voice - now became certain.
Seraphina closed her eyes and nodded into her mother's shoulder.
"I promise, Mother."
The amulet against Seraphina's chest pulsed faintly between them, its red glow soft and steady - almost watchful.
That night, Seraphina slept beside her mother.
---
Morning came slowly.
Thin grey light crept through the curtains. Birds sang beyond the stone walls as if nothing in the world had shifted.
Seraphina moved first, gently as if afraid to wake her mom.
But then she felt it before she understood it.
The warmth was gone.
Her mother's arm, once resting loosely around her shoulders, lay still. Too still. The skin beneath Seraphina's fingers felt cooler now, unfamiliar.
"Mother...?" she whispered.
No answer.
She lifted her head slowly.
Queen Ismira's eyes were closed.
Her lips had faded to a strained pale.
Her breath... had ceased.
For a long moment, Seraphina could not move.
Her heart seemed to forget how to beat.
Then fear struck - sharp. Crushing. Endless.
"Mother?" she said again, her voice breaking apart. "Mother, please..."
She shook her gently - too gently. As though she were afraid that if she were any stronger, she might break what was already gone.
After all her trials nothing happened.
The room felt too large. The silence too loud.
And then understanding fell over her like cold rain.
Her mother is GONE.
Her breath shattered completely.
Tears welled up, spilling before she could stop them, hot and helpless as they fell onto Ismira's cold hand.
The amulet reacted.
It flared bright crimson against Seraphina's chest, flooding the chamber with violent red light. The air trembled. The curtains lifted softly, and the air that flew dried a little of Seraphina's tears but it couldn't stop it.
Seraphina sobbed openly now, clinging to her mother's still form as though her arms alone could summon warmth back into lifeless skin.
"Father!" she cried, her voice raw, torn straight from her chest.
"Father, please!"
Her fists twisted in the blankets.
"Father!"
Footsteps echoed faintly approaching the chamber.