Chapter 1: The Burning Souls
The tragic death of her parents had been unexpected.
That night, the peaceful human Kingdom of Solara lost the best rulers the people had ever had.
King Holand and his Queen Lilith were the very source of the people’s joy. Queen Lilith had built several homes for orphaned babes and lost children, whom she personally visited at least once a week. She and her husband were childless, and so she chose to become a mother to all those who didn’t have one. And the King? He happily supported everything his Queen did. Together, they cared for their people as if social class didn’t matter. The people worshipped them.
And those two golden souls were Aurelia’s parents.
The King and Queen had lived most of their lives thinking that they couldn’t have children. That was until little Aurelia came along with her mother’s dark grey eyes and her father’s thick, chestnut brown hair.
She hadn’t had a hard day in her life. Her parents adored her, the people of Solara would give their lives for her, and her aunt would break bones to see her niece’s dimpled smile. Aurelia was the luckiest girl in the world.
Until the night of the fire.
Solara had been shaken by screams of mourning, the night alight with a monstrous blaze.
The King’s castle was aflame.
Aurelia’s servants had rushed her to safety, but only when she stood with everyone else looking at the burning building did she realize her parents were nowhere to be seen.
They hadn’t let her go back in. Screaming and fighting, she’d tried to claw her way toward the castle as images of her beloved parents filled her mind.
By morning, she’d fainted from heartache and horror. Just like that, the King and Queen had perished in the fire. A gruesome death.
That had been two months ago. The grief had nearly killed Aurelia. At the age of nineteen, she was to sit on the throne as the new Queen of Solara, but she wasn’t ready.
Losing her parents had broken something inside of her that she didn’t know how to fix. All she had was her aunt, and she heavily depended on her. Aurelia wouldn’t have survived the loss of her parents, not without her beloved Aunt Hazel.
The King’s sister had lost her only sibling in the fire and had sunk into depression for several days, but when she realized that she was the only one who could take control, she forced herself to be strong for Aurelia. The King had had many enemies outside the kingdom who’d been coveting Solara and all her riches. Hazel had to protect Aurelia and the kingdom.
That was why, when her aunt had suggested they leave the kingdom for two weeks to heal, Aurelia had readily agreed. Her parents had often taken her to the Evandale Hills when she’d been little. It was a large estate where their ancestors had lived, building lovely homes and raising their families.
It was empty now, and the royal family used it as a vacation home.
“We have two weeks before the coronation, my princess,” Hazel had gently said during the ride. “I know it’s difficult for you, but you need to be strong. Two weeks in the Hills, and then you need to be done with the mourning. Solara needs a Queen, it needs you.”
Even then, tears had filled Aurelia’s eyes, but she’d firmly nodded, trying to stay brave. Gratitude filled her heart as her aunt, fighting her own tears, had gently squeezed her hand.
Suddenly, it was just the two of them, and they had no one else.
That was when Aurelia decided to toughen up. Her throat grew thick whenever she thought of her parents, but she had to be strong. For her aunt, who wanted to fall apart after losing her brother, but was holding on, for her servants who affectionately tended to her, and for her people whose hearts were broken at the deaths of their rulers.
Aurelia swore to rest at the lush Evandale Hills, but in two weeks, she would return to Solara, ready to ascend to the throne as its new Queen. She would protect her people, just as her mother and father had.
So, what went wrong?
The trip was supposed to be a time of healing and rest for her and Aunt Hazel.
So, why was Aurelia standing in a burning building?
Her bare feet, rooted to the ground, felt the heat under the floors as flames raged through the castle.
The Evandale Hills were on fire.
It was the horrific night of her parents’ death all over again.
Aurelia was trembling as she listened to the haunting screams of her loyal servants, chaos filling her ears as smoke filled her lungs.
She needed to run; she had to escape to survive. Solara would be seized if she perished!
But, strangely, Aurelia couldn’t run. She couldn’t move at all.
Maybe it was shock. And maybe that shock had to do with the fact that she was staring down at a dead body on the floor.
Her dead body.
She stared at herself. Her long, brown hair splayed out on the floor, her fair skin stained with ash, and her silk nightgown singed at the hem.
She suddenly realized that she couldn’t feel the heat of the fire anymore, nor could she feel the stifling suffocation of the dark smoke around her. A low hum filled her ears, but it wasn’t the distant sound of perishing souls. It was something darker, more ancient, and far less alive.
What was she? Was she dead?
Someone rushed into the room.
Aurelia looked and gasped. Her lips parted with desperation as tears filled her eyes. “Aunt Hazel…?”
Her aunt paused in the doorway, and then her eyes went wide as she stared down at Aurelia’s body.
“Help me…” the princess whispered, reaching a hand out toward her beloved aunt. “Please…”
It was no use. Her aunt couldn’t even see her standing right there.
“Oh, my God,” Hazel whispered, covering her mouth with both hands. “Aurelia… Aurelia.”
Agony twisted Aurelia’s heart, and then she was crying. The sound echoed even to her own ears, her sobs filling the room. The cries of a grieving ghost. She was suddenly sorry. Her poor aunt had lost her entire family in the space of months. Aurelia felt unbearably sorry to have left her aunt alone.
A howling cry filled the room, and Hazel fell to her knees, pressing her head to the floor.
“I’m sorry…” Aurelia cried, watching her aunt fall apart. “I’m sorry, Auntie Hazel…”
Someone shoved the door open, rushing in. “Your Highness! We have to go!”
Hazel turned to the man, her face streaked with tears. “Aurelia. Aurelia’s dead!”
The man sighed, wiping his sleeve across his forehead. “Are you finally happy?”
A moment of silence stretched, and then Hazel’s grimace unraveled into a brilliant smile. Clapping her hands, she threw her head back laughing. “She’s dead. She’s finally dead!”
“Your poison didn’t work, neither did an assassin,” he said tiredly. “At the end of the day, fire works best. Just the way you killed her parents.”