The royal hall stood frozen in complete silence.<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
No one even breathed.<\/p>\n
King Aldric stared down at his own trembling legs in disbelief as he slowly stepped away from the ancient wheelchair that had trapped him for twelve long years.<\/p>\n
Gasps echoed through the court.<\/p>\n
Several knights dropped to one knee in shock.<\/p>\n
The queen, however, looked terrified.<\/p>\n
The little girl stood calmly before the throne, barefoot and covered in dust from the road outside the castle walls.<\/p>\n
She looked no older than ten.<\/p>\n
Yet somehow\u2026 the impossible had happened the moment she touched the king.<\/p>\n
Aldric\u2019s voice shook. \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl looked up at him quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Lyra.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd how did you heal me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of answering, Lyra slowly turned toward the queen.<\/p>\n
The woman\u2019s pale face tightened instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should not have opened the northern chamber,\u201d the girl whispered.<\/p>\n
A ripple of fear spread through the royal court.<\/p>\n
The northern chamber.<\/p>\n
The one place inside the castle forbidden to everyone except the king and queen.<\/p>\n
A place sealed shut for over a decade.<\/p>\n
Queen Eveline stepped forward sharply. \u201cEnough of this nonsense. Guards, remove her.\u201d<\/p>\n
But none of the guards moved.<\/p>\n
Because the torches lining the hall had suddenly begun flickering again.<\/p>\n
Wildly.<\/p>\n
The air itself felt strange now.<\/p>\n
Heavy.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
Lyra kept her eyes fixed on the queen. \u201cYou told the kingdom the prince died from sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The queen\u2019s breathing became uneven.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that isn\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n
King Aldric slowly turned toward his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is she talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n
The queen forced a smile. \u201cShe\u2019s a child trying to frighten us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Lyra said softly. \u201cThe prince is still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words struck the hall like thunder.<\/p>\n
A nobleman dropped his wine cup.
\nOne of the servants began quietly praying.<\/p>\n
King Aldric\u2019s face drained of color.<\/p>\n
Their son, Prince Elias, had supposedly died twelve years earlier\u2014the very same night the king mysteriously lost the use of his legs.<\/p>\n
Lyra stepped closer to the throne.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s hidden beneath the castle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The queen suddenly shouted, \u201cSilence!\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time in years, true panic appeared in her eyes.<\/p>\n
Aldric stared at her in horror. \u201cEveline\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Tears formed in the queen\u2019s eyes as she backed away slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t understand,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
But the king already did.<\/p>\n
The timing.
\nThe lies.
\nThe sealed chamber.<\/p>\n
Everything suddenly connected.<\/p>\n
Lyra reached into her torn cloak and removed a small silver key.<\/p>\n
The queen gasped the moment she saw it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat key\u2026\u201d the king whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt opens the chamber beneath the north tower,\u201d Lyra said.<\/p>\n
A deep rumbling sound suddenly echoed through the castle floor.<\/p>\n
The torches dimmed.<\/p>\n
Then came a noise from somewhere below the hall.<\/p>\n
A distant metallic bang.<\/p>\n
Like a prison door slowly opening after many years.<\/p>\n
The little girl looked up at the king one final time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The royal hall stood frozen in complete silence. No one moved. No one even breathed. King Aldric stared down at his own trembling legs in disbelief as he slowly stepped away from the ancient wheelchair that had trapped him for twelve long years. Gasps echoed through the court. Several knights dropped to one knee in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}