The royal courtyard remained frozen beneath the golden afternoon sun.<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
No one even breathed.<\/p>\n
The towering knight stayed kneeling before the frightened peasant boy while banners snapped loudly above the palace walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Prince\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The words echoed across the silent courtyard like thunder.<\/p>\n
Shock spread through the gathered nobles.<\/p>\n
Whispers exploded beneath the stone arches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lost heir\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s impossible\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cHe died years ago\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The young boy stepped backward nervously beside the giant black war horse.<\/p>\n
Confusion filled his dusty face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a prince\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But the royal knight slowly removed his silver helmet.<\/p>\n
An older scarred face appeared beneath it.<\/p>\n
Tears filled the warrior\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have your mother\u2019s mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
His trembling hand pointed toward the red dragon tattoo burned into the child\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mark of House Valen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The king\u2019s expression darkened instantly from atop his white horse.<\/p>\n
Cold realization spread across his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The massive black royal horse suddenly moved protectively in front of the boy.<\/p>\n
Low growls rumbled from the armored beast while nearby guards tightened their grip on spears nervously.<\/p>\n
The king slowly dismounted onto the stone courtyard.<\/p>\n
Purple robes shifting beneath the sunlight.<\/p>\n
His voice turned sharp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat child is no prince.\u201d<\/p>\n
But nobody missed the fear hiding beneath his calm expression.<\/p>\n
The old knight slowly stood again beside the boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The courtyard trembled with tension.<\/p>\n
Then suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n
an elderly woman pushed through the terrified crowd.<\/p>\n
Bent posture.
\nGray robes.
\nWeathered eyes filled with emotion.<\/p>\n
The moment she saw the boy\u2014<\/p>\n
she collapsed to her knees crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrince Elias\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The child froze.<\/p>\n
That name.<\/p>\n
Something about it hurt deep inside him.<\/p>\n
The old woman lifted shaking hands toward his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI carried you out of the fire myself\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Memories flashed violently through the boy\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
Flames consuming palace walls.
\nScreaming guards.
\nA woman\u2019s voice crying while smoke filled the air.<\/p>\n
The child grabbed his head in pain.<\/p>\n
The black war horse stomped violently against the stone beside him.<\/p>\n
The king\u2019s face hardened instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeize them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Royal guards hesitated.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Because the giant war horse suddenly reared upward again with a furious scream that echoed across the entire palace.<\/p>\n
The beast slammed its armored hooves against the courtyard stones.<\/p>\n
CRACK.<\/p>\n
Marble shattered beneath its weight.<\/p>\n
Fear spread instantly through the guards.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
the horse lowered itself beside the boy.<\/p>\n
And bowed.<\/p>\n
Complete silence swallowed the royal courtyard.<\/p>\n
Even the wind seemed to stop.<\/p>\n
The knight slowly drew his sword.<\/p>\n
Not toward the child.<\/p>\n
Toward the king.<\/p>\n
One by one\u2014<\/p>\n
other armored knights stepped forward from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Then dropped to one knee before the dirty peasant boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remember the true bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n
More swords lowered.<\/p>\n
More knights knelt.<\/p>\n
The king stepped backward in disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou dare betray your crown?!\u201d<\/p>\n
The old knight\u2019s voice thundered across the courtyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes locked onto the frightened child beside the royal beast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe serve the rightful one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young boy stared around the courtyard in shock while the giant black horse remained protectively beside him beneath the burning sunlight.<\/p>\n
Because in one terrifying moment\u2014<\/p>\n
the orphan nobody wanted\u2026<\/p>\n
had become the most important person in the kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The royal courtyard remained frozen beneath the golden afternoon sun. No one moved. No one even breathed. The towering knight stayed kneeling before the frightened peasant boy while banners snapped loudly above the palace walls. \u201cMy Prince\u2026\u201d The words echoed across the silent courtyard like thunder. Shock spread through the gathered nobles. Whispers exploded beneath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2641","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\/2641","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}