It happened quietly.
In the middle of a warm day, beneath a soft sun.
Liora laughed once, genuinely, while running through the courtyard.
Then—
She stopped.
The mark on her cheek glowed.
A faint red.
Flickering like something alive.
She gasped.
Her legs buckled.
She fell.
Livar was ten steps away.
He did not move.
He only stared.
Servants rushed to her side.
Healers were called.
Voices shouted.
Hands trembled.
Livar stood still.
One of the healers turned pale.
"It's the curse. It's awakening."
"She doesn't have long. Days. Maybe less."
Livar tilted his head.
The king was summoned.
He arrived in silence, draped in royal blue, eyes heavy with old regret.
Livar walked up to him.
No hesitation.
Eyes colder than winter steel.
"What is the mark?"
The king did not answer right away.
So Livar stepped closer.
Just one step.
But it felt like a storm moved with him.
"Tell me what it is," he said again.
His voice was quiet.
But no one dared speak.
The king looked at his daughter — lying weak, barely breathing.
Then at Livar.
And finally… he spoke.
"When she was born," he whispered,
"a demon came to the edge of the Sapphire Isles. No one saw it—except the stars. It cursed her before she took her first breath."
"And the mark appeared."
"We've hidden it. Protected her. Prayed. But it's grown stronger every year."
"Now… it's finishing what it started."
There was silence.
The kind that pressed against the bones.
Livar looked down at Liora.
Then back at the king.
His voice did not rise.
His hands did not clench.
He simply said:
"Alright."
Then turned—
And walked away.
End of Chapter 26 – The Demon's Mark