Word spread like wildfire soaked in silver.
The high priestess knelt. The dead mirror shattered. Magic stirred beneath the palace.
The nobles held emergency meetings. The mages scryed and wept. The King issued silence decrees. But it was too late.
The kingdom had remembered fear.
And all of it revolved around me.
I stood in my tower, the moon painting my skin in steel. My shadow had grown horns. The wind sang in tongues I hadn't taught it.
Tonight, I wasn't hiding.
I was inviting.
From the void between stars, something old arrived.
It took the form of a man in red silk and bone rings, with eyes that blinked sideways and a mouth full of names.
"You called," he said.
"No," I answered. "I dared you to answer."
He grinned. "You'll bring ruin."
"I am ruin."
He offered me a deal.
I offered him his true name.
He vanished screaming.
When I turned around, the Crown Prince stood at my door.
He was pale.
"You summoned a god," he whispered.
I walked past him.
"No," I said. "I summoned myself."