The tension in the manor had been building for weeks.
It began subtly—sideways glances, silences at dinner, the tightening of smiles when Kayla entered a room. Her siblings no longer tried to hide their disdain. Every time she spoke of the dreams, of the glowing crown and the mist, they turned their heads or rolled their eyes.
"You're just a country girl," one of them scoffed. "You think the gods care about someone like you?"
Their jealousy burned hotter with every day. It wasn't just the dreams.
It was the way their parents looked at Kayla.
Despite her quietness, her strange talk, and her unusual insight, their mother and father loved her. It confused even them. For all her oddities, Kayla was the one their father checked on at night. She was the one their mother smiled at during meals. That warmth, that attention—it grew like poison in her siblings' hearts.
Kayla had always been different. She was quiet, yes, but observant—uncannily so. Her deep, storm-colored eyes saw more than she ever said. Her features were soft, elegant. Raven-black hair that curled gently at the ends, skin like sun-kissed ivory, and a grace in her movement that even the noble girls envied. Though she never flaunted her beauty, it was undeniable.
The servants whispered about her. Some said she wasn't natural, that her eyes held something not of this world. Most of the staff—maids, cooks, even the old gardener—treated her coldly. Only her parents showed her true kindness.
Her siblings resented that. Especially the eldest sister, Mira, who once fancied herself the jewel of the household. When a young knight, Sir Derren, began showing Kayla quiet attention—holding her gaze a bit longer, smiling gently when he passed—Mira noticed. And she hated it.
Kayla had no interest in the knight. She barely noticed his affections. But Mira did.
The silence became cruelty.
Kayla's only comfort was her older brother Ryn. Unlike the others, Ryn was kind. He listened. He stood up for her when he could. But he was often sent away, traveling with their uncle, or studying at the border garrisons. When he was gone, she was alone.
She told her dreams to her parents, shyly. They didn't fully understand, but they didn't dismiss her either. They nodded gently, smiled uncertainly, and said she was special. That love, subtle as it was, fed the fire of envy in her siblings. Love was a resource—one they believed she had stolen.
Then the animal attacks began.
They came without warning—wild beasts never seen so close to the manor before. Wolves with silver eyes. Crows that didn't fly away when approached. Strange claw marks at the edges of the woods. Rumors stirred through the nearby villages. Some said the forest had grown cursed. Others whispered of magic returning to the land.
Within the manor, the tension turned to fear. It needed a target.
And Kayla became it.
All four siblings—minus Ryn, who was again away from home—gathered in the upper library one night. Candlelight danced across their faces, their expressions dark with frustration.
"She's the reason," hissed Mira. "All these wild things started when her dreams got worse."
"She talks about crowns like she's a queen," sneered her younger brother Darek.
"What if she brings something worse than animals?" muttered Lysa, the second-youngest. "What if she brings ruin?"
They decided it, then and there.
They would take her into the forest under the guise of escape—from the beasts, from the fear—and they would leave her.
It wasn't meant to be murder. Not exactly. Just abandonment. But they knew what lived in those woods. And they knew a girl alone wouldn't survive.
On the morning of their plan, the air was thick and gray. A storm loomed in the distance, though no rain had yet fallen. They told their parents they were taking Kayla to a safer place, away from the manor.
The parents, confused, allowed it. They still loved Kayla—but they trusted their older children, unaware of the storm brewing not in the sky, but in their hearts.
Ryn had returned the night before, but no one told him. They left while he slept.
The forest greeted them with silence.
Birds did not sing. Branches barely moved in the wind. Kayla walked with them, uncertain, but hopeful. Maybe this was kindness. Maybe they had changed.
She barely spoke. But her heart felt strange.
Wrong.
They reached a glade deep within the woods. The air was heavy, like the forest itself was holding its breath.
Then, Mira stepped forward.
"You don't belong with us," she said. "You never did."
Kayla's brow furrowed. "What?"
Darek pushed her shoulder. "This is where you stay."
Before she could ask anything more, they turned.
And ran.
Kayla called after them, not fully understanding. "Wait! Where are you going?"
Then she heard it.
A low growl from behind the trees.
A snapping branch.
A flash of silver eyes.
She didn't run. Not at first. Fear rooted her. She turned slowly, and saw the shape—too large for a wolf, too lean for a bear. It watched her, waiting.
At the manor, Ryn awoke to a strange stillness. He sensed something was wrong. The servants avoided his eyes. Only the stable boy, trembling, whispered the truth.
"They took her to the woods," he said. "Miss Kayla. Said it was for her safety."
Ryn's heart dropped. He grabbed his sword and mounted his horse.
He rode like the wind, fury and fear churning inside him.
Back in the woods, Kayla stepped back slowly.
The beast did not move.
Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart thundered.
Another snap of a branch.
Then a voice—low, crackling, ancient.
"Why do you wear the flame?"
Kayla didn't understand.
The creature stepped into the clearing. It had fur the color of midnight, and horns curved like old wood. Its eyes burned with an amber fire.
She should have been terrified.
But she wasn't.
She remembered the crown in her dreams. The light. The feeling that something deep in her was waiting.
"I don't know," she whispered. "But I think…I think it chose me."
The beast watched.
And then it bowed.
Far away, Ryn burst into the clearing moments later, sword drawn, panting.
But Kayla stood alone.
The beast had gone.
And above them, a flicker of light danced in the sky—like a flame reborn.
Back at the manor, the siblings lied. Told their parents Kayla had run into the woods. That they had tried to stop her. The mother wept. The father went silent.
But Ryn said nothing.
He had seen the truth.
And in his heart, he knew this was only the beginning.