Episode: THE FIRsT BLOOD

Three days before the wedding.

Lisa was in the palace gardens. Alone.

Guards at the gates. Guards on the walls.

But the garden was "safe". Arnold said so.

She hated it here. Too quiet. Too pretty.

Her fingers kept going to the black ring. It was warm again.

She missed Table 7. She missed being tired.

Footsteps behind her.

“Empress-to-be.”

Lisa turned.

Two men. Palace guards. She’d seen them before.

But their eyes were wrong. Too focused. Hands not on their swords.

“Can I help you?” Lisa asked.

The first one smiled. “Just a message from Lord Satin.

He wants to talk. In private.”

Satin.

Her chest hurt.

The second guard moved fast. Grabbed her arm.

The second his fingers touched her —

_WHOOSH._

Water exploded from the ground.

Not rain. Not a pipe.

A wall of water, 10 feet high, shot up from the fountain and slammed between them.

The guards were thrown back. Screaming.

The grass turned to mud in seconds. The air went freezing cold.

Lisa stumbled back, soaked. “I didn’t—”

Her hands were glowing. Faint blue.

Water was dripping UP from the puddles, circling her wrists.

She didn’t know how.

She didn’t know why.

She only knew: _someone tried to hurt me, and the world fought back._

Boots.

Running.

*Arnold Valerius.*

He skidded into the garden, fire already in his hands.

He saw the water. Saw the guards on the ground. Saw Lisa shaking.

His fire went out.

“Are you hurt?” He was in front of her in 2 seconds.

Lisa shook her head. “They grabbed me. And then—”

Water fell from the air. Like the sky was crying.

Arnold looked at the guards. Both unconscious. Both drowning in 3 inches of water.

He kicked them away from the puddles.

“Get them to the dungeons,” he barked at the other guards who’d arrived. “Alive. I want names.”

He turned back to Lisa.

She was dripping. Shivering. The black ring was ice cold.

“Water,” Arnold whispered.

Lisa looked up. “What?”

“Your power. It’s water.” He said it like he couldn’t believe it.

“My fire. Your water.”

Lisa pulled her hand back. “I don’t have a power. I’m just—”

“Just what? Just Richard Hart’s daughter?” Arnold’s voice was sharp. Then softer. “Lisa. That was not normal.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know.” He took off his coat and put it around her shoulders. It was still warm from his fire.

“You’re safe. They won’t touch you again.”

---

Later. His study. Dry clothes. Tea she didn’t drink.

Arnold paced. “Two guards. Hired by someone in the city. They said Satin’s name to get close to you.”

Lisa’s head snapped up. “Satin didn’t—”

“I don’t care.” Arnold stopped pacing. “Someone tried to hurt you in my palace. Three days before our wedding.”

He crouched in front of her. Like he did in the café.

“Listen to me. When people try to hurt you... what happens?”

Lisa stared at her hands. “Water. It comes. Like it’s protecting me.”

Arnold exhaled. “Water. The oldest power. The one that comes before fire.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re not just dangerous, Lisa.” He looked at the ring. “It means you’re important.”

A knock.

Captain. “Your Majesty. We found who paid them.”

“Who?”

The captain hesitated. “A man named Richard Hart.”

The room went dead silent.

Lisa stood up so fast the chair fell. “No.”

“Lisa—”

“My father wouldn’t—”

“Are you sure?” Arnold’s voice was flat. Emperor voice again.

Lisa thought of the motel. Of Richard watching the news.

_“She’s like her. Just like Serena.”_

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

Arnold’s jaw tightened. “Guards. Find Richard Hart. Bring him in.”

He looked at Lisa.

“I’m sorry.”

---

That night, the palace was locked down.

Lisa couldn’t sleep. The ring wouldn’t stop being cold.

Outside her window, it started to rain.

Not normal rain.

Heavy. Angry.

The exact second a guard walked past her door with his hand on his sword.

Water ran down the glass.

And in the reflection, for a second, Lisa saw herself.

And behind her, a woman with blue eyes and wet hair.

_Serena._

The woman mouthed one word.

_“Run.”_

Lisa gasped and stumbled back.

The ring burned cold.

Down in the dungeons, Richard Hart was screaming.

“I didn’t do it! I swear! I was trying to warn her!”

And in his room, *Arnold Valerius* stared at his hands.

Fire.

And somewhere in the palace, water was answering it.

*END EP 4*

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