POV: Serina
The chains cut into my wrists.
I kneel in the dirt of the town square while hundreds of people stare at me like I'm some kind of monster. My knees hurt from the hard stone ground. My face throbs where the guard hit me. But none of that matters.
All I can think about is Kai.
My little brother is home alone right now, probably coughing up blood again. He needs medicine. The medicine I spent two whole years saving money to buy. The medicine that's supposed to be in my pocket right now.
Except it's not there anymore.
"Serina Ashveil!" Lord Corwen's voice booms across the square. He's my adoptive father, though he's never acted like a real father. "You stand accused of stealing the Moonfire Crystal from my family vault!"
My stomach drops. The Moonfire Crystal? That thing is worth more gold than I'll ever see in my entire life.
"I didn't steal anything!" I shout, but my voice sounds small and scared.
Nobody believes me. I can see it in their faces. To them, I'm just a slum rat who got lucky when the Corwen family adopted me nine years ago. They think I should be grateful. They think I owe the Corwens everything.
They don't know the truth. They don't know that I scrub floors until my hands bleed. They don't know that I sleep in a tiny room in the basement. They don't know that Liora, my stepsister, hits me when nobody's looking.
"The evidence is clear," Lord Corwen continues. He holds up a small cloth bag. "We found this hidden in your room. With the crystal inside."
"That's not mine!" I struggle against the chains, but the guards hold me down. "Someone put it there! I would never—"
"Silence!" A guard slaps me across the face. Pain explodes in my cheek. I taste blood.
Through blurry eyes, I see Liora standing next to her father. She's twenty-one, three years older than me, and beautiful in her expensive blue dress. Her blonde hair shines in the sunlight.
And she's smiling.
Not a big smile. Just a tiny curve of her lips that nobody else notices. But I see it. That smile tells me everything.
She did this. She planted the crystal in my room.
But why?
"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" Lord Corwen asks. He sounds bored, like my answer doesn't matter.
It probably doesn't.
I open my mouth to speak, but then I see him.
Cassian.
My childhood friend pushes through the crowd. Hope floods through me. Cassian grew up in the slums just like me. We used to share bread when we were hungry. We promised we'd always help each other.
Then he got accepted into the Mage Academy three years ago. His magic is strong—Gold rank. He became important. Powerful. But he promised he'd never forget me.
"Cassian!" I call out. "Tell them! Tell them I would never steal!"
He walks up to Lord Corwen. My heart pounds with relief. Finally, someone who will speak for me.
Cassian looks at me. His green eyes are cold. Empty.
"My lord," he says slowly. "I'm sorry, but I must tell the truth."
Wait. What?
"I saw Serina near the vault three nights ago," Cassian continues. "She was acting suspicious. When I asked what she was doing, she ran away."
The world tilts sideways.
No. No, this can't be happening.
"Cassian, please," I whisper. "You know me. You know I wouldn't—"
"I saw you," he says, louder now. He won't even look at me. "I didn't want to believe it. You were my friend once. But facts are facts."
Then Liora steps forward. She puts her hand on Cassian's arm. Her fingers curl around his sleeve like she owns him.
And suddenly, I understand.
They're together. Cassian and Liora.
"It's true," Liora says, her voice sweet as honey. "I've noticed items going missing from the house for months. Small things at first. Coins. Jewelry. I didn't want to say anything because Serina is family, but..."
She's lying. She's lying and Cassian is helping her and nobody cares about the truth.
"The law is clear," Lord Corwen announces. "Theft of this magnitude requires branding as a criminal and ten years hard labor in the mines."
Ten years. Kai will be dead in ten hours without medicine.
"Please!" I lurch forward, but the chains yank me back. "My brother is sick! He needs medicine! That's all I care about! Just let me save Kai and then I'll do whatever you want!"
"You should have thought of that before you stole from us," Liora says softly.
The guard pulls a branding iron from the fire. The metal glows red hot. It's shaped like a T for "Thief."
This is really happening. They're going to brand me. Throw me in the mines. And Kai will die alone.
"Wait!" I scream. "The medicine! I bought medicine for Kai! It's in my pocket! Please, just give it to him! Please!"
A guard reaches into my dress pocket. He pulls out a small glass vial filled with glowing blue liquid. Two years of saved coins. Two years of hope.
He holds it up to show Lord Corwen.
"I'll take that," Liora says. She snatches the vial from the guard's hand.
"No! That's for Kai! Give it back!"
Liora looks directly at me. That small smile returns to her face. And then, while staring into my eyes, she drops the vial.
It shatters on the stone ground.
Blue liquid spreads across the dirt like spilled dreams.
"Oops," Liora says.
Something breaks inside me. Not my body. Something deeper. Something in my chest where hope used to live.
I don't scream. I don't cry. I just stare at the broken glass and think about Kai coughing in our tiny shack. Alone. Dying.
Because of me. Because I was stupid enough to trust these people.
"Take her away," Lord Corwen orders. "Brand her and—"
"Actually, my lord," Cassian interrupts. "I have a better idea."
He leans close to Lord Corwen and whispers something I can't hear.
Lord Corwen's eyebrows rise. Then he smiles. "Excellent suggestion."
The guards haul me to my feet.
"The mines are too good for a traitor like you," Lord Corwen announces. "Instead, you'll be taken to the Old Quarry at the edge of the city. There was a collapse there last week. Very dangerous. We need someone to... check if it's stable."
My blood turns to ice.
The Old Quarry collapsed last week. Five workers died. Everyone knows it's a death trap.
They're not going to brand me.
They're going to kill me.
"You can't!" I struggle, but the guards are too strong. "This is murder!"
"It's justice," Cassian says. He finally looks at me again. Steps closer. Leans down so only I can hear his next words.
"Did you really think someone like me would waste time on trash like you?" His whisper is poison. "Your blood was useful though. Thanks for being so trusting, Serina. Made it easy to collect samples whenever I needed them."
My blood? Samples? What is he talking about?
But there's no time for questions. The guards drag me toward a wagon. People in the crowd whisper and point. Some look sad. Most look satisfied that the thief is getting what she deserves.
I twist my head, searching the crowd desperately.
There. In the shadows of a building. Mira.
My best friend stands frozen, her hand over her mouth. Tears stream down her face. Our eyes meet.
I mouth the words: "Save Kai."
She nods once, then disappears into the crowd.
The guards throw me into the wagon. It starts moving, rolling through the streets toward the edge of the city.
Toward the collapsed quarry.
Toward my death.
I think about Kai's smile. The way he used to laugh before he got sick. How he'd hug me tight and say "You're the best big sister ever."
I won't see him again.
Won't hear him laugh.
Won't save him.
The wagon stops. We've reached the quarry. I can see the entrance—a dark hole in the ground surrounded by warning signs and broken equipment.
The guards unlock my chains and push me out of the wagon.
"Go on," one of them says. "Check if it's safe."
I look at the quarry entrance. Then at the guards. Then at the road leading back to the city where my brother is dying.
I could run. Maybe I'd make it ten steps before they caught me.
Or I could walk into that death trap and... what? Hope for a miracle?
There are no miracles for girls like me.
But then I remember something. An old story my mother told me before she died. About the Forbidden Shrines at the edge of the city. Places where desperate people go to make deals with demons.
Everyone who enters a shrine dies.
But everyone who enters this quarry dies too.
At least in the shrine, maybe I could bargain for Kai's life. Trade my soul for his. Anything.
The quarry entrance is to my left. The road to the Forbidden Shrine is to my right.
Both paths lead to death.
But only one might save my brother.
I run.