The tormented one

The tears wouldn't stop coming.

Elena stumbled through the underground passages, her breathing ragged as memories she'd spent five years trying to bury clawed their way to the surface.

It had been his twelfth birthday. The day everything changed—not just for him, but for everyone who knew Lorelle before that moment.

His blessing had been dormant since awakening, a constant source of disappointment to the emperor who had gradually written off his fourth son as another unremarkable royal. But that day, something changed. That day, the emperor finally saw a glimpse of what the boy could become if he learned to control what was stirring inside him.

It was also the day she lost her sister.

She wiped her eyes with trembling hands, the dim light making everything feel like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.