Sakina looked up, her eyes shadowed with something older than memory. "Your Highness, because the power never belonged to them," she said. "The trinity, blood, fire, and water, it was never a gift to be inherited like land or titles. It was born from suffering. Birthed in pain. Forged in the wombs of women who were broken and still dared to rise."
She paused, fingers brushing over the embroidery on her sleeve, tracing threads of the past. "When the curse took hold, it did not scream. It did not leave marks. It simply turned its face away. The trinity refused them."
Aeryn's brow furrowed. "Refused?"
Sakina nodded. "One by one, the male heirs were born hollow. They had the bloodline, but not the fire. They could command soldiers, but not water. They could light common flames, but never with the intent that shaped destiny. They ruled… but the blood did not obey them."
Aeryn's chest tightened as she absorbed the chilling truth.
"The blood remembers," Sakina continued, her voice soft now, reverent. "It remembers the men who broke Hawasa. Who laughed while she bled. Who held her down while her soul shattered. The blood remembers the kings who silenced Anya. The princes who sought to cage her gifts. It remembers every cry that went unheard, every blade that carved pain into women's bodies."
She met Aeryn's eyes. "So the blood turned away. It whispered only to daughters. But no daughters came; not for a hundred years. Only sons. As if the blood itself was waiting. Maybe it was mourning, refusing to speak."
.........
The silence that followed was thick with the weight of generations.
"Your father," Sakina began, her voice turning solemn, "he believed the prophecy spoke of him. He had his fortune told years before your birth: that the trinity would return to the bloodline. Blood. Fire. Water. All three veins in one pure soul. And he thought... it meant him."
Aeryn's breath caught. "He thought he was the chosen one?"
Sakina nodded slowly. "He was born with influence, a descendant of royal mothers, and raised in the palace where symbols of ancient power whispered. He was a strong man. He commanded armies, ruled the realm. But no matter what he tried, no flame obeyed without struggle, no water weaved without fury, and blood? Blood never once listened. The court obeyed and the people loved him, but only he knew he was nothing."
The old woman's gaze deepened. "And he tried everything. Rituals. Seers. Forbidden rites from burned scrolls. All in secret. All to awaken something that was never meant for him. But he never knew... the power was never his to take. Because the trinity… refuses men."
Aeryn swallowed hard, as if the truth itself burned her tongue.
"Pain has a memory, Your Highness," Sakina said, her voice nearly a whisper. "The first awakening of the trinity was born not in triumph, but in torment. Hawasa's suffering. Anya's silence. Their power came from a place no man has ever understood, let alone earned. It remembers the ones who bled for it. Who bore the cost of its birth."
She reached out and gently touched Aeryn's hand.
"For generations, only sons were born. No daughter came to claim the inheritance. And so the trinity stayed quiet; buried in bone and ash. The men grew powerful in title, but the blood stayed still. It was waiting."
"For you. You, Aeryn, the first daughter in over a century. Born of the old blood, under the eclipse, with eyes that see beyond veils. The trinity woke not because someone claimed it… but because someone deserved it."
Aeryn's voice trembled. "He never knew…?"
Sakina shook her head. "No. Not until the very end. Not until he realized he had reached for a crown the blood would never place on his head. His greed took his life. He thought he had the power, and everyone was scared of him. That is why the darkness planned against him and took him away. He never knew that the legacy he hungered for and wailed for was not sleeping within him, but growing inside the daughter he gave birth to."
.......
Aeryn looked down at her hands, remembering the night they turned red. Not from a wound, but from awakening.
"I don't know what to do with this," she whispered, grasping her head once again.
The fire burned brighter in the hearth, stirred by the blood in the room. And somewhere deep in the castle walls, the voices that had once wept now watched in silence, finally calm that their legacy was no longer forgotten. It finally had a new name: AERYN.
Aeryn was visibly disturbed. Sakina started again, "Your Highness…."
"Be Quiet, Sakina!"
"But…Your Hi…"
"It's an order!" Aeryn cried. "I don't want to hear another word!"
"Yes, Your Highness." Sakina bowed her head.
"Go away!"
"Your Highness…" Sakina tried again, gently.
"SAKINA! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME BE! I WANT TO BE ALONE FOR A WHILE! PLEASE!" she pleaded, her voice quavering and her red eyes welling up with tears.
Sakina, though she did not want to leave the Queen alone at this moment of intense emotional upheaval, had to obey the final, tearful order.
.
.
Join my Patron Accuscripter community today for just $4 and read 10 Chapters Ahead of the public release schedule!