Aelin Starwhisper's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Aelin Starwhisper counted six new graves before breakfast. All of them belonged to the village that ringed the castle. She knelt beside the last mound of fresh dirt. A child's wooden toy lay on top. Yesterday that child had waved at her from a window. Aelin had promised to teach her the bow. Now the plague had taken her too. Aelin was an elf, and elves rarely feared sickness. That was what frightened her most. This plague did not care what blood you carried. It spread through the village like frost across a pond. Healers burned herbs and prayed. Nothing worked. Aelin had sworn to protect these people. Her kingdom was dying around her, and she did not know why. She brushed the dirt from her knees and looked up at the castle towers. If anyone knew the cause, it was the woman who ruled beneath them. Aelin climbed the long stone stairs to the throne room and did not wait to be announced. Queen Elara sat alone. She wore purple and gold, and her dark hair fell past her crown. Most in the kingdom believed their queen was human. Aelin knew better. She had seen the pointed ears the queen hid so carefully. She had seen the yellow eyes that watched everything and revealed nothing. "My people are dying," Aelin said. "Children. Whole families. I need to know what causes this." The queen's hands tightened on the arms of her throne. "You should not have come here." "Six graves this morning." Aelin stepped closer. "You know something. I saw your face when I said the word plague." For a long moment the queen said nothing. Then she rose and crossed to a narrow window. She looked out at the village she had failed to save. "This is no sickness," the queen said quietly. "Sickness cannot cross elven blood. You know that as well as I do." Aelin's stomach turned cold. "Then what is it?" "A curse. Old and deliberate." The queen turned to face her. "Someone wove it into the land itself. It targets my kingdom because of what I am. Because of what I hid from everyone." The truth landed like a stone. The plague was no accident. It hunted the queen, and the village died in her place. "Who?" Aelin demanded. "Who did this?" "Someone from my past. Someone who learned my secret." The queen's yellow eyes held hers. "I cannot leave this castle without proving what I am to the whole kingdom. But you can. You have the bow, and you have the old magic in your blood. Find the source of the curse. Break it before the graves reach these gates." Aelin looked back toward the village. The child's toy still lay on the fresh dirt below. "Tell me where to begin," she said. The plague had a name now. It had an enemy. And Aelin had just become the only one who could hunt it.