The room was silent.
Too silent.
Ariana stood motionless before the mirror, her chest rising and falling unevenly.
The golden light had vanished.
The strange symbols had disappeared.
Yet the memory remained.
Clear.
Sharp.
Terrifying.
Her fingers trembled slightly as they moved toward the birthmark hidden beneath her gown.
The skin there still felt warm.
Not painfully warm.
Just enough to remind her that what had happened was real.
Very real.
Ariana swallowed hard.
"No…"
The whisper barely left her lips.
She had not imagined it.
She knew she had not imagined it.
The mark had glowed.
The symbols had appeared.
And somehow—
Somehow—
She had spoken a name she had never heard before.
A knock sounded suddenly.
Ariana jumped.
The sound startled her enough that her heart lurched painfully.
"Ariana?"
Serena's voice came from the other side of the door.
Concerned.
Immediate.
"Ariana, are you alright?"
The princess quickly pulled her robe tighter around herself.
