The bell rang again.
A deep, haunting sound that traveled through the walls of the estate.
Everyone in the room became still.
Not the kind of stillness that came from peace.
The kind that came before a storm.
The man with the silver wolf emblem moved toward the door, his hand resting on the blade at his side.
"How many?" Lady Evelina asked.
He closed his eyes briefly.
Listening.
For a moment, I wondered if he was doing what I had done.
Listening for heartbeats.
"At least twenty," he answered.
My stomach twisted.
Twenty people.
Coming here.
For me.
"Who are they?" I whispered.
Lady Evelina did not answer immediately.
Instead, she looked toward the window.
"They call themselves the Order of the Hollow Sun."
The name sent an uncomfortable chill through me.
"They believe anything connected to the Crimson Bloodline must be destroyed."
My fingers tightened around the blanket.
"Why?"
The woman turned back toward me.
"Because they are afraid."
"Of me?"
"No."
Her answer came quickly.
"Of what you could become."
The words should have frightened me.
Instead, they angered me.
My entire life, people had decided what I was before I ever had a chance to speak.
A servant.
A burden.
A mistake.
A monster.
I looked down at my hands.
"What am I supposed to become?"
Lady Evelina's expression softened.
"That depends on whether you choose to remember."
Before I could ask what she meant, the door shook.
A loud impact echoed through the estate.
The man beside Lady Evelina immediately drew his sword.
"They are inside."
Another impact.
The wooden door cracked.
My breathing became uneven.
I could hear them.
All of them.
The guards outside.
Their footsteps.
Their armor shifting.
Their hearts.
Too many.
The sound overwhelmed everything else.
I covered my ears.
"Make it stop."
Lady Evelina noticed my distress.
She walked toward me and placed a hand over mine.
"Scarlet."
Her voice cut through the noise.
"Look at me."
I forced my eyes open.
"You are not controlled by the hunger."
A crack formed in the door.
"You control it."
Another crack.
"You are not the blood calling to you."
The door splintered.
"You are the one who decides what happens next."
The door burst open.
Men and women in white armor flooded the room.
Their armor was strange.
Unlike normal soldiers, their metal plates were covered with golden symbols that seemed to glow faintly.
At the front stood a man wearing a mask.
His eyes immediately found me.
"There she is."
My blood ran cold.
The masked man stepped forward.
"The lost daughter of the Crimson Bloodline."
Lady Evelina moved between us.
"You will not touch her."
The man laughed.
"Still protecting monsters, Evelina?"
"Still pretending cruelty is righteousness?"
The masked man's smile disappeared.
"She will bring another massacre."
My chest tightened.
"What are you talking about?"
No one answered.
The man raised his hand.
"Take her."
The soldiers moved.
Something inside me snapped.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Something older.
Something buried.
The room became silent.
Not because everyone stopped moving.
Because I stopped hearing anything except one thing.
My heartbeat.
My own heartbeat.
Slow.
Steady.
Alive.
Then the memories came.
A forest covered in snow.
A woman holding me.
A familiar voice.
"Your blood is not a curse, Scarlet."
The scene changed.
A burning house.
People screaming.
A man standing in front of my mother.
A symbol of the Hollow Sun glowing on his chest.
"You should have killed the child."
The memory disappeared.
I gasped.
The soldiers were closer now.
But they had stopped.
They were staring at me.
At my eyes.
I did not know what they saw.
I only knew what I felt.
The thirst.
The same unbearable thirst from the Steward dining room.
Except this time...
I was not losing control.
I reached for it.
The strange feeling inside me.
The hunger.
The fire.
The power.
And I pulled.
The candles around the room extinguished.
The shadows stretched across the floor.
Everyone froze.
The soldiers stepped backward.
"No..."
The masked man's voice shook.
"That is impossible."
Lady Evelina stared at me.
Not with fear.
With sorrow.
"You remember."
I looked at my hands.
Dark veins briefly appeared beneath my skin before disappearing.
"What did I remember?"
The masked man answered.
His voice was quieter now.
Almost afraid.
"The night the Crimson Queen died."
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
"Who is the Crimson Queen?"
Nobody spoke.
Then Lady Evelina whispered:
"Your mother."
A sharp pain entered my chest.
"No."
The masked man lowered his weapon.
"You were there, little girl."
My breathing became uneven.
"You watched her die."
Another memory flashed.
My mother's hand.
Her blood.
Her final words.
"Never let them turn you into what they fear."
I stumbled backward.
"No..."
The masked man looked at me.
"Your mother was the last monster standing between this world and destruction."
His eyes narrowed.
"And now she is gone."
The golden symbols on his armor began glowing brighter.
"Which means you are next."
The room erupted into chaos.
The silver-haired man attacked first, blocking the soldiers from reaching me.
Lady Evelina grabbed my arm.
"We need to leave."
I couldn't move.
My eyes stayed fixed on the soldiers.
On the people who knew my mother.
On the people who knew me.
"Why don't I remember?"
Lady Evelina hesitated.
Then she answered.
"Because your mother asked me to take away your memories."
My heart stopped.
"You did this?"
"I saved you."
The words hurt more than I expected.
"From what?"
Lady Evelina looked toward the burning hallway.
"From becoming the same thing that killed her."
The estate shook.
Smoke began filling the room.
The battle had started.
Lady Evelina pulled me toward a hidden doorway behind the bookshelf.
Before entering, I looked back one last time.
The masked man stood among the flames.
Watching me.
Waiting.
As if he knew something I didn't.
Then the hidden door closed.
And for the first time in my life...
I wondered if losing my memories had truly been a gift.
Or a punishment.