Ashes of the Coronation
Chapter 1 · 1 min read · M. K. Ainsley
On the morning the crown went cold, the bells rang without being touched. Their mournful sound rolled across the valley and woke every inhabitant of Cindermere before sunrise.
Princess Arden watched the palace from the workshop where she had spent her exile. The blacksmith beside her lifted a glowing iron bar from the forge. Sparks flew upward and vanished before reaching the ceiling.
“The fire is failing,” she whispered. Finn set down his hammer. “Fire does not simply forget how to burn.” But in the forge, the coals had begun turning a shade of gray neither of them had ever seen.
The court had banished Arden for refusing to kneel before her uncle. Now the palace messengers came stumbling down the mountain with their finery covered in ash and begged her to return.
She did not answer immediately. Instead, she took the unfinished sword from the workbench and tested its weight. It felt right in her hand, which was more than she could say for the crown they wanted her to save.
“If I go,” she told Finn, “I am not going alone.” For the first time in years, the blacksmith smiled.