Part 1: The Letter That Shouldn't Exist
Seraphina Valen sat cross-legged atop the spire of the House of Astral Scholars, her back to the city and her eyes to the stars. A thousand feet below, the Empire glittered like fallen fragments of heaven. Above her, the constellations whispered truths only a Starforged could hear.
But tonight, the stars were quiet.
Too quiet.
Then, she opened the letter she had received from a courier in red—unmarked, unsigned, sealed with starlight ink that only glowed for her eyes.
"They remember you now.""They fear what you will awaken in him.""Finish what was started."
Her fingers tightened on the parchment.
It had been ten years since that night.
The fire. The blood. The stolen kiss in a burning library.
And Kaelrith had forgotten everything.
Except… he was beginning to remember. Piece by piece. Look by look. Touch by touch.
And once he remembered it all—
The Empire would burn.
Part 2: The Library of Forbidden Echoes
The next day, Seraphina slipped past the palace guards under a woven veil of moonlight and shadow—a glamour only taught to the descendants of the Celestial Line.
She entered the Library of Forbidden Echoes, a place sealed to all but the Emperor's own blood.
But Seraphina had once been more than a noble.
She had been his secret. His heart.
Her fingers traced the runes etched into the vault door.
"I never wanted to open this again," she whispered.
But she did.
Inside, the scent of scorched magic lingered, like old grief. Here was where she had kissed Kaelrith before the purge—before the rune, before his soul was bound.
Here was where she had hidden the Memory Prism.
A sliver of starlight. A container of truth.
She pressed it to her chest.
And it began to pulse.
The past was waking.
Part 3: Kaelrith's Trial
Meanwhile, Kaelrith stood before the throne council, his expression as cold as the marble floor beneath his feet.
The Emperor—his father—was absent, sick with a mysterious ailment that no healer could cure.
In his place sat the High Chancellor, Lord Merovin, and his bloodthirsty smirk.
"You have been seen consorting with the Starforged girl," Merovin sneered. "A known dissident. A traitor's daughter."
Kaelrith's eyes narrowed. "The girl you call a traitor is the reason we still have a sky above our heads."
"That was before. Now, she's a spark in dry grass. Dangerous. Reckless. Tempting."
Kaelrith stepped forward. "Tempting to whom, Lord Chancellor?"
"Tempting to you, perhaps?"
The silence after the accusation was deafening.
And Kaelrith, for once, didn't deny it.
"Temptation is not a crime," he said.
Merovin leaned in. "But acting on it will be your downfall."
Part 4: The Prism Unleashed
That night, Seraphina shattered the prism beneath the Moondial in the secret courtyard.
Kaelrith felt it the moment it broke.
A jolt through the bond neither of them acknowledged.
He ran.
And found her standing beneath the moon, surrounded by swirling memories—fragments of the life they once lived.
A kiss in a library.A promise beneath falling stars.A blood oath made with trembling hands.
And Kaelrith remembered.
He staggered.
"I kissed you," he whispered.
"You did more than that," she replied, voice thick with unshed tears.
He dropped to one knee, not out of weakness—but out of revelation.
"I chose you once," he said. "Did I lose you by choosing the crown?"
"No." Her voice cracked. "You lost me when you let them take your memories. When you let them erase us."
Part 5: The Threat
Kaelrith stood slowly. There was pain in his eyes now. And love. And rage.
"I remember the Rune now," he said.
"They branded your soul with it," she replied. "To make you a weapon."
He touched his chest. The Rune pulsed again—like a dying heartbeat. But this time, it couldn't erase what he felt.
"What happens if I rip it out?" he asked.
"You die," she said.
He smiled. "Maybe I already did."
Suddenly, she went still.
"They're watching," she said, turning her head toward the shadows. "The Council. They'll try to kill me before I finish what I came for."
Kaelrith stepped closer. "Let them come."
"You'd protect me?"
"I'd burn the stars for you."
End of Chapter 4: "Secrets in the Starlight"