The garden's air thickened as the Speaker of the Pact stepped closer, the scent of roses turning sharp like iron and rain. The shadows around Aurelia twisted unnaturally, bending to the will of ancient magic. Even the flames in the salt ring bent inward, as if bowing to an invisible force.
Lucien moved forward, but the Speaker raised a single, gloved hand.
"This is not a fight for the Sovereign," they said. "This is a test of the blood that dares defy us."
Aurelia stepped past Lucien, gently touching his arm. "I need to face this."
"You don't even know what this is," he hissed, his voice tight with restrained rage. "You're not ready."
"I'm more ready than they think," she whispered.
The Speaker raised a blade forged of bone and starlight.
"You must pass three trials," they declared. "Only then can you decide whether to be our enemy... or our queen."
Aurelia's breath caught. "I will never be your queen."
"Yet you carry what we seek." Their eyes glinted beneath the mask. "Let the first trial begin."
The garden warped.
In the blink of an eye, Aurelia stood no longer under moonlight, but within a vast, ruined cathedral. Its stained-glass windows were shattered, bleeding light into the cracked floor. Phantom whispers drifted through the air.
Trial One: The Past Unburied
The voice echoed through her mind.
Suddenly, she wasn't alone. Her father appeared before her exactly as he had the day he signed her to Lucien. But this wasn't memory. This was something else.
"You were never meant to lead," he said, voice cruel and cold. "You were leverage. A pawn. Why do you pretend to matter?"
Aurelia's chest tightened. She remembered this pain the sting of being traded like a card in a game of war.
Behind her, another figure materialized.
Her mother. But not gentle or kind twisted, her face veiled in shadow.
"You think power comes from love?" the shade spat. "No. Power comes from blood. And you child of compromise will never be strong enough."
Aurelia stepped back, heart thundering. But then... her sigil flared to life.
"No," she said aloud. "I am not the weak girl you left behind. I chose to fight. I chose to lead. I chose me."
Her magic burst from her skin, radiant silver cascading around her like armor. The figures screamed, dissolved into dust.
The cathedral faded. The garden returned.
The Speaker stood unmoved. "You have passed the first trial. You faced the lie of your past... and told the truth of your soul."
They reached inside their cloak and tossed a red rose into the flames. It sizzled and bloomed anew in pure white.
"One trial down," they murmured. "Two remain."
They vanished in a swirl of petals, leaving Aurelia gasping, knees shaking, Lucien catching her before she fell.
"You did it," he whispered.
"No," she breathed, voice barely a whisper. "We did."