Lucia Heartwell's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Lucia Heartwell was seven years old, and she could see what people hid in their hearts. She stood in the great hall of Blackwater Deep and watched the two heirs argue over a border map. The tall one slammed his fist on the table. The dark-haired one turned her back. But Lucia saw the truth beneath their anger. They loved each other. They were afraid to say it. And she had decided, from the first day she arrived at this cold fortress, that she would make them stop fighting. She tugged the tall heir's sleeve. "You don't hate her," Lucia said. "You're scared she'll leave." He looked down at her the way one looks at a stray cat. "Someone take the child outside," he said, and went back to the map. This always happened. Grown people did not listen to a small girl. To them she was decoration, a blonde head to pat and forget. She had told them the truth for weeks. Each time, they smiled and steered her toward the door. Lucia climbed the ivy-covered stone tower where she slept. Her white rabbit waited on the windowsill, green eyes bright. She sat on the floor and thought hard. Words did not work. She needed proof they could hold in their hands. She knew a secret. The dark-haired heir kept a jewelry box in her room, one with a false bottom. Lucia had watched her hide things there when she thought no one saw. Whatever a person guarded most, they buried in that hidden space. That night Lucia crept into the heir's chamber. The box sat on the dresser, polished and locked. Her small fingers found the discreet latch. The false bottom slid open. Inside lay a folded letter, its edges soft from handling. Lucia could not read every word, but she saw the tall heir's name written again and again. Her rabbit thumped a warning. Footsteps. Lucia grabbed the letter and ran. She burst into the hall where both heirs still stood. She did not stop to plan. She held the letter high over her head. "She wrote this about you," Lucia said to the tall heir. "She keeps it hidden. I told you the truth." The dark-haired heir went pale. She lunged, but the tall one had already taken the paper. He read it. His hard face cracked. He looked at the woman he had been fighting all week, and the anger drained out of him. The hall went silent. For the first time, the grown people were listening to Lucia. Then the dark-haired heir's eyes filled with fury, not love. "You went into my room," she said. "You touched my things." She seized Lucia's wrist. "This child is a thief. Lock her in the tower until she learns." Guards stepped forward. Lucia had made them listen at last. Now they would shut her away where she could reach no one.