Chapter 3

"Stay behind me," he said, his voice low.

"No." She stepped up beside him. "I didn't come this far to hide."

He glanced at her, something flickering in his eyes—respect, maybe, or fear. Then he nodded, and they walked forward together.

The tower's interior was nothing like she expected. Instead of cold stone and shadows, the walls were lined with bookshelves, their spines gleaming in the light of floating orbs that drifted like captive stars. A spiral staircase wound upward, its steps worn smooth by centuries of footsteps. The air smelled of old paper and dried herbs, with an undercurrent of something sharper—ozone, like the air before a storm.

"Welcome to my home."

Valerius's voice came from everywhere and nowhere, echoing off the walls. Anya spun, trying to locate him, but the shadows seemed to shift and breathe.

"You have your mother's eyes," the voice continued. "And your grandmother's stubbornness. I should have known you'd find your way here eventually."

"You knew my grandmother?" Anya's voice echoed in the vast space.

The orbs dimmed, and a figure emerged from the shadows at the base of the staircase. Valerius was taller than she'd imagined, his robes flowing around him like liquid night. His face was pale, sharp-boned, and his eyes held the cold light of stars that had long since burned out.

"I knew her very well," he said. "She was my teacher."

Anya's breath caught. "That's impossible. She never—"

"She never told you?" He smiled, thin and cruel. "Of course not. She was ashamed of what she taught me. Ashamed of what I became."

"You became a monster," Kael said, his voice flat.

Valerius's gaze shifted to him, and his smile widened. "Ah, my wayward apprentice. I wondered when you'd come back. Did you bring me a gift, or did you come to beg forgiveness?"

"I came to stop you."

"Stop me?" Valerius laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "You couldn't stop me when you were my student, and you've only grown weaker since. Running from your past doesn't make you stronger, Kael. It makes you prey."

Kael's knuckles went white on his sword. "I'm not the same person I was."

"No?" Valerius tilted his head. "Then why do you still carry the knife I gave you?"

Kael's hand went to his belt, where a small dagger hung. Anya saw the shock in his eyes before he masked it.

"I don't—"

"You do. You always have. You think you can leave behind what I made you, but you can't. It's in your blood, in your bones, in every choice you've made since you walked out my door." Valerius stepped closer, his voice softening. "But I can forgive you, Kael. I can take you back. All you have to do is give me the princess."

"No."

The word came from Anya's mouth before she could think. Both men turned to look at her, and she felt the weight of their attention like a physical force.

"I'm not a bargaining chip," she said, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands. "I'm not a gift, and I'm not a curse to be broken. I'm here because I chose to be. And I'm not leaving without the Sunstone."

Valerius's eyes narrowed. "Bold words for a girl who's never cast a spell outside her grandmother's garden."

"How do you know what I've done?"

"Because I've been watching you, Anya. Since the day you were born. Your grandmother made sure of that." He reached into his robes and pulled out a locket, its surface etched with a design she recognized—the same design that adorned her grandmother's journal. "She gave me this before she died. Told me to keep it safe until you were ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to learn the truth." He opened the locket, and a light spilled out, filling the room with images—her grandmother, young and laughing, standing beside a man who looked like Valerius but younger, softer. They were in a library, books piled around them, their heads bent together over a glowing stone.

The Sunstone.

"She and I discovered it together," Valerius said. "We spent years studying it, learning its secrets. And when she realized what it could do—what it could undo—she wanted to destroy it."

"But you didn't."

"No. I saw its potential. The power to rewrite history, to break any curse, to reshape the world itself. She called it dangerous. I called it freedom."

Anya's mind raced. "The curse on my family—she created it, didn't she? To protect the Sunstone?"

Valerius's smile was sharp. "Very clever, Princess. Yes. She bound the Sunstone to your bloodline. Only a descendant of her line can touch it without being destroyed. And only by their choice can the curse be broken."

"Then why did you take it?"

"Because I needed it. And because I knew you would come looking for it eventually." He stepped closer, and the air grew cold. "You see, Anya, I didn't steal the Sunstone to keep it. I stole it to lure you here."

Kael moved in front of her. "You're not touching her."

"I don't have to touch her. She's already mine." Valerius raised his hand, and the shadows in the room twisted, forming chains that shot toward Anya. She threw up her hand, a spell from her grandmother's journal springing to her lips, and the shadows dissolved before they reached her.

Valerius's eyes widened. "You've been practicing."

"My grandmother taught me well."

"Clearly." He studied her, and something shifted in his gaze—interest, maybe, or recognition. "You have her gift. The raw magic that runs in your blood. I wondered if it would manifest."

"I'm not here to fight you," Anya said. "I'm here to take what's mine."

"And what will you do with it? Break the curse? Go back to your gilded cage?"

"No. I'll use it to set myself free. And everyone else you've trapped."

Valerius laughed, but it was hollow. "You're naive, Princess. Freedom isn't something you find in a stone. It's something you take. And you're not strong enough to take it from me."

He raised his hand again, and the tower shook. Books fell from the shelves, and the floating orbs went dark. Anya stumbled, and Kael caught her arm, pulling her toward the staircase.

"We need to get to the top," he said. "The Sunstone is in the tower's heart."

"How do you know?"

"Because I helped him hide it."

They ran, the shadows chasing them up the spiral stairs. Anya could feel Valerius's magic pressing against her, trying to find a crack in her defenses. She kept her grandmother's spell in her mind, a shield of light that pushed back the darkness.

"He's not going to let us reach it," she said, breathless.

"Then we make him." Kael stopped at a landing, where a door stood open, revealing a room filled with mirrors. "Through here. It's a shortcut."

"A shortcut?"

"Trust me."

She followed him into the room, and the mirrors came alive, showing her reflections of herself—but not all of them were her. One showed her as a queen, crowned and cold. Another showed her as a beggar, ragged and alone. A third showed her with Kael, their hands intertwined, smiling.

The last reflection made her heart ache.

"Don't look," Kael said, pulling her forward. "They're traps. They show you what you want, what you fear. Don't let them distract you."

But she couldn't help it. She saw her grandmother, old and tired, reaching out to her. She saw her parents, young and in love, before the curse had turned them into strangers. She saw a version of herself who had never left the palace, safe and miserable, and another who had never stopped running.

"Anya!"

Kael's voice broke through the haze. He was at the far end of the room, holding open a door that led to a narrow staircase. Behind her, she heard Valerius's footsteps, slow and deliberate.

"Go," she said. "I'll hold him off."

"No. We go together."

"Kael—"

"Together."

He grabbed her hand, and they ran up the stairs, the guide stone pulsing hot in her palm. The tower groaned around them, and she felt Valerius's presence closing in, a suffocating weight.

They burst through a door at the top, and there it was.

The Sunstone.

It floated in the center of the room, a sphere of golden light that pulsed like a heartbeat. The room was bare, the walls lined with runes that glowed in response to its energy. Anya could feel it calling to her, a pull deep in her chest.

"Don't touch it yet," Kael said. "There's a binding spell. We have to break it first."

"How?"

"I don't know. I never got this far."

She looked at the runes, and her grandmother's journal came to life in her mind. There was a pattern there, a sequence she recognized from the pages she'd memorized as a child.

"I think I can do it."

She stepped forward, her hand outstretched, and began to speak the words. The runes flared, and the Sunstone pulsed in response, its light growing brighter. She felt the spell taking hold, the binding unraveling thread by thread.

And then Valerius appeared.

He didn't come through the door. He simply materialized in the center of the room, his hands raised, his eyes burning with fury.

"You think you can take it from me?" he hissed. "I've waited decades for this moment. I won't let you steal it."

"It was never yours to keep."

"It was never yours to claim."

He lashed out with a bolt of dark energy, and Anya threw up a shield, the impact sending her staggering. Kael moved to attack, but Valerius was faster, throwing him against the wall with a gesture.

"Kael!"

"He'll live," Valerius said. "For now. But you and I have unfinished business."

Anya's hands trembled, but she didn't back down. She reached for the Sunstone, her fingers brushing its surface, and felt a surge of power that nearly knocked her off her feet.

And then she understood.

The Sunstone wasn't just a tool. It was a key. A key to a door that had been locked for generations. A door that led to freedom, to choice, to a life she had never dared to imagine.

She gripped it, and the room exploded with light.

When it faded, Valerius was gone. The runes on the walls had crumbled to dust. And Kael was on his feet, staring at her with an expression she couldn't read.

"You did it," he said.

"We did it."

But as she looked at the Sunstone in her hands, she felt a chill run down her spine. The curse wasn't broken yet. The door was open, but she still had to walk through it.

And Valerius was still out there, waiting.

"Come on," she said, her voice steady. "We're not done yet."

They descended the tower together, the Sunstone lighting their way, the night air cold and sharp against their faces. The forest waited, dark and alive, and somewhere in its depths, Valerius was plotting his next move.

But Anya wasn't afraid.

For the first time in her life, she had the power to choose her own path. And she wasn't going to waste it.