POV: Sera
The prison cart stops.
I lift my head, chains rattling as I grip the bars. We're not at the gates yet we're still in the city, stopped in front of... the temple?
Out, the guard barks, unlocking the cart door.
I thought you were taking me to the gates, I say, confused and terrified.
He grabs my arm and yanks me onto the cobblestones. Priest changed his mind. You get a trial first. Lucky you.
Lucky? There's nothing lucky about this. My legs shake as he drags me up the temple steps. Through the massive doors. Into a chamber I've only seen from the outside the Temple Court.
It's packed with people.
Hundreds of faces turn to stare at me. I recognize nobles from last night's party, city council members in their formal robes, and my heart lurches my family. Father sits in the back row between Stepmother and Elara. None of them look at me.
Move. The guard shoves me forward.
I stumble to the center of the room. There's a small platform surrounded by benches filled with spectators. Above me, on a throne-like chair carved from white marble, sits High Priest Aldric.
His eyes bore into me like ice picks.
Sera Ashford. His voice fills the chamber, cold and sharp. You stand accused of stealing the Tear of Valendris, our city's most sacred treasure. How do you plead?
Every eye in the room watches me. Waiting. Judging.
I lift my chin, even though I'm shaking. Not guilty! I didn't steal anything. I was framed!
Whispers explode around the room. Aldric raises one hand, and silence crashes down like a hammer.
Framed, he repeats slowly. By whom?
My eyes dart to Elara. She sits perfectly still, her face the picture of innocent concern. If I accuse her without proof, I'll look crazy. Desperate.
I... I don't know who, I force out. But someone planted that gem in my room. I've never even been inside the temple vault!
Yet the Tear was found under your bed, Aldric says. In your private chambers. Where only you have access.
The servants have access! My family has access!
Are you accusing your own family? Aldric's eyebrow arches.
I look at Father again. Please, I beg silently. Please just tell them the truth. Tell them I would never do this.
He stares at his hands.
I'm saying someone put it there to frame me, I say, my voice cracking. Why would I steal something I can't even use? I'm not a mage! I can't access magical objects!
Perhaps you planned to sell it, Aldric suggests. Sacred objects fetch high prices on the black market.
That's insane! I would never
ENOUGH! Aldric's voice thunders through the chamber. We will hear testimony from witnesses. Lady Vivienne Ashford, please stand.
My stepmother rises gracefully from her seat. She dabs at her eyes with a lace handkerchief, playing the grieving parent perfectly.
Lady Vivienne, Aldric says. Tell us about the accused's behavior.
Oh, it pains me to say this, Stepmother begins, her voice trembling. Sera has always been... difficult. Jealous, especially of my daughter Elara. She resented Elara's engagement, her happiness. Just yesterday, I heard Sera saying she wished she had Elara's life.
LIAR! I scream. I never said that!
Guards grab my arms, holding me back. Stepmother flinches dramatically, as if I might attack her.
You see? she says to Aldric. Such rage. Such jealousy. I'm not surprised she would do something desperate for attention.
I struggle against the guards, fury and desperation warring in my chest. She's lying! Tell them the truth! Tell them how you treat me like a servant in my own home!
But Aldric isn't listening. He's nodding like Stepmother's words make perfect sense.
Thank you, Lady Vivienne, he says. You may sit. Now, I call upon Marcus Ashford.
Father stands slowly. My heart leaps with hope. He knows me. He raised me. Surely he'll defend me now.
Marcus, Aldric says. Your daughter stands accused of a terrible crime. What say you?
The room goes silent. Everyone waits.
Father's mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.
I... He clears his throat. I cannot say for certain what Sera did or didn't do. But I trust the investigation was thorough.
My world tilts.
You won't even defend me? I whisper. Father, please. I'm your daughter.
His eyes finally meet mine, and what I see there breaks me: guilt, yes, but also resignation. He's already decided I'm not worth the fight. Not worth risking his position, his new wife, his comfortable life.
He sits back down.
No, I breathe. No, no, no
The evidence is clear, Aldric announces. The Tear of Valendris was found in Sera Ashford's possession. Multiple witnesses attest to her jealous nature. Even her own father will not vouch for her character.
This isn't a trial! I shout. You've already decided! You're not even listening!
SILENCE! Aldric slams his hand on the armrest. Sera Ashford, you are found GUILTY of theft of sacred property. The sentence is
Wait! A voice cuts through the chamber.
Everyone turns. Rhen pushes through the crowd, his guard captain uniform giving him just enough authority to be heard.
High Priest, he says, slightly out of breath. I request permission to speak.
Aldric's eyes narrow. Captain Rhen. This is highly irregular.
I know Sera Ashford, Rhen says firmly. I've known her since we were children. She's not a thief. She doesn't have a jealous bone in her body. If you sentence her without proper investigation
Are you questioning this council's judgment? Aldric's voice drops to a dangerous whisper.
Rhen falters. I see the fear flash across his face. Challenging the High Priest could cost him everything.
I'm asking for more time, Rhen says carefully. Let me investigate. Give me three days to find real evidence
The evidence has already been found, Aldric interrupts. In the accused's bedroom. Or are you suggesting our guards planted it there?
No, but
Enough. Aldric stands, and the whole room seems to shrink. Captain Rhen, you will escort the prisoner to the obsidian gates at dawn tomorrow. That is an order. Refuse, and you'll join her in punishment.
Rhen's face goes pale. Our eyes meet across the chamber. I see the apology in his expression, the helplessness.
As for the sentence, Aldric continues, turning back to me. Sera Ashford, you will serve fifty days beyond the gates, attending to the Cursed Guardian. If you survive, you may petition for your freedom.
The crowd erupts in gasps and whispers.
The Guardian, someone breathes.
She'll be dead in a week!
Fifty days with that monster
I can't breathe. The Guardian. The stories I've heard since childhood flood my mind a creature cursed by the gods, more monster than man, who kills anyone who comes near him. Criminals are sent to serve him as punishment, and none have ever returned.
Please, I beg, my voice breaking. Please, I'll do anything else. Send me to the work camps, exile me from the city, but not
The sentence is passed, Aldric says coldly. Take her to the holding cells. At dawn, she goes to the gates.
Guards seize my arms. As they drag me backward toward the exit, I scream.
FATHER! FATHER, PLEASE!
He doesn't even look up.
Stepmother and Elara sit perfectly still, their faces masks of false sympathy. But I see it the tiny quirk of Elara's lips. The satisfied gleam in Stepmother's eyes.
They won. They destroyed me. And they're enjoying every second.
The guards haul me down stone corridors to the temple dungeons. They throw me into a cell that smells like mold and despair. The door slams shut with a clang that echoes in my bones.
I collapse against the wall and cry. I cry for my mother, dead for so many years. I cry for the father I thought I had. I cry for the life I'll never get back.
When the tears finally stop, I'm hollow. Empty.
Tomorrow, I'll be taken to the gates. Tomorrow, I'll meet the monster who will probably kill me. And there's nothing absolutely nothing I can do to stop it.
Hours pass in darkness. I lose track of time. Eventually, I hear footsteps on the stone stairs.
A guard? Coming to move me already?
But when the figure appears outside my cell, I freeze.
It's Rhen.
He looks around quickly, making sure we're alone. Then he pulls a key from his pocket and unlocks my cell door.
Rhen? I croak. What are you doing?
He steps inside, his face grim. I'm being reassigned. They're sending me to the border outpost tomorrow far away from here. They don't want me investigating.
My last hope crumbles. So you can't help me.
I can't stop them from sending you to the Guardian, Rhen says. But I can give you this.
He pulls something from inside his uniform a small leather journal, worn and old. He presses it into my hands.
What is this? I ask.
I've been doing research, Rhen says quickly. About the Guardian, about the curse, about people who've been sent there before. Most died, yes. But one person lasted six months before they stopped sending reports.
Who?
Rhen's expression softens. Your mother.
I nearly drop the journal. What?
Twenty-four years ago, your mother went to the Guardian, Rhen says. Not as punishment she volunteered. She was trying to break his curse. This is her journal. I found it in the city archives buried under false records. Someone didn't want anyone to know she'd been there.
My hands shake as I hold the journal. My mother's journal. Did she... did she break the curse?
I don't know, Rhen admits. The journal ends abruptly. But Sera, if your mother survived six months with the Guardian, maybe he's not the monster everyone says he is. Maybe you can survive too.
Hope flickers in my chest tiny and fragile, but real.
There's something else, Rhen says, his voice dropping to barely a whisper. I overheard Aldric talking to someone after the trial. He said, 'The girl has the mother's blood. She'll serve her purpose perfectly.'
Ice floods my veins. What does that mean?
I don't know, Rhen says. But Sera, this whole thing the frame-up, the rushed trial, sending you specifically to the Guardian it's not random. They want you there for a reason.
What reason? I demand.
I don't know yet, Rhen says. But I'm going to find out. I'll send messages when I can. Just... stay alive. Whatever happens beyond those gates, survive.
Footsteps echo from above. Rhen's eyes widen.
I have to go, he says. Read the journal. Trust your mother's words.
He slips out of the cell and locks it again just as another guard appears at the top of the stairs.
Captain? What are you doing down here?
Final check on the prisoner, Rhen says smoothly. Making sure she's secure for tomorrow.
They leave together, their voices fading.
I'm alone again. But this time, I'm not empty.
I clutch my mother's journal to my chest, my mind racing.
My mother went to the Guardian. She survived six months. She was trying to break his curse.
And Aldric wants me there for some purpose connected to her.
What did my mother discover beyond those gates?
And why am I being sent to finish what she started?