Story Description
Once upon a time, I was the benevolent ward in House Noctis. Fostered to the Queen of Night for one year, I was supposed to be safe from harm. I would have been, too, had I not been marked with power during the Blood Moon revel.
The queen, threatened by my rising power, unleashes a hunt against me. I’m forced to seek refuge to the one place that no living soul dares to tread: the Stygian Fields.
There, I discover an enigmatic dark lord who is as much a prisoner in this nether realm as I am. He offers me a choice of payment: flesh or blood. Either option would bond us together, tying me to this mad underworld more surely than chains could. I have until the next full moon to make my choice.
As I dwell in this heart of darkness, resisting him—and all that the court offers—gets harder each day. When I discover a conspiracy that threatens the veils of protection of our world, a bond with the dark lord might be the only way to save two realms…
Part 1: The Obsidian Basin
Chapter 1
The Riven Mark
(The border between Ember Dominion and Obsidian Basin)
Blood steamed on the sand as the sun rose high overhead. The flesh of the dead was already putrefying, hastened by a few spells that cracked through the various mage shields. The killing field would need to be cleansed properly of the carnage. Not even the carrion birds would touch spell-cursed bodies.
This last battle should have ended hours ago at dawn, but the queens weren’t keen on disappointing their respective entourages. And so, the warriors battled, fueled by their queens’ bloodlust and need to win and save face.
There were only two warriors left within the killing circle with enough working parts between them to even answer the call of battle. Only one of them needed to stay on his feet to call a victory. Or, one of the queens could concede.
The veils would crumble and fade before that would ever happen.
Red lightning cracked like a whip across the arena, wrapping around the black knight’s body. “Cut him down!” Queen Alaia snarled. She was a queen of darkness, and her knight wore black, after the color of her house. She had hoped to wear her colors with pride to tonight’s revel once she was assured of her victory.
At least, that had been the plan when I had fastened my foster queen’s stays of her newly crafted dress. She told me so just before the queen ordered me into the cage to dangle over the arena as collateral.
I wasn’t alone, of course. My counterpart, Frost, was in a similar cage opposite from me. We were both courtiers and future heirs of our respective domains, fostered to rival queens to maintain diplomatic ties between the realms.
So far, the exchange was going as expected, which was to say, that we were lucky to be alive.
Though we were meant to hate each other, we had grown a sort of understanding, Frost and I. Too often, we were in situations just like this one where all we could do was stare at each other. Where I had the coloring of a new dawn, with streaks of red, orange, and yellow throughout my hair to complement my burnished skin, Frost resembled soft twilight. Pearlescent strands of moonglow hair crowned her deep night skin. A dash of glittering flecks like diamonds adorned the bridge of her nose and apples of her cheeks.
I had heard that it was a standard of beauty deep in the Obsidian Basin where the Blackheart clan ruled. It made my own coloring feel wan and lacking. Mine had been the height of fashion when I left the Ember Dominion, as was still evident by the wash of fiery apparel that made my people appear like living flame on the spectator stands.
My aunt, Queen Dyna wore a ruby battle dress the train of which pooled around her. She looked to be more awash in blood than flame. Her mottled face twisted in fury as she shrieked her own command to the knight in red.
Revived into action once more, the red knight hefted his broadsword and took the brunt of the black knight’s downward stroke in the middle of his blade, going down on one knee. The onlookers barely finished their gasp when the red knight took a blade hidden at the small of his back and slashed his opponent’s leg with it.
Now both warriors were on their knees.
I swiveled my gaze to Frost’s. It was time to end this, and now would be the perfect time. The day was nearly at its apex, both powers of light and dark evenly matched. I pierced my fingertip, and watched the blood well into a perfect little sphere. Dabbing three points of a triangle on my cage floor, I whispered a spell, one that would be mistaken for a hollow sigh rather than intention.
A layer of ice sparkled over Frost’s eyes, and I knew she was deep in trance as well. Casual onlookers would mistake her expression as detached boredom, but I knew the truth.
Our spells were taking hold on the ground below. Soon, right at midday, we would release our magic. We had done this twice before, creating an ongoing stalemate between our queens.
With an exhale, I released the hold along with an apology. Forgive me.
The ground quakes beneath the knights, and as the sun hit midday, a shadow crossed over the battleground. Both men fell.
The magic that claimed the combatants hostage within the killing fields crackled and dissipated.
Both sides erupted in cheers to the equal winners. Only Frost and I knew the cost of such an ill victory.
The bell tolled, and each queen bowed to one another in a mockery of propriety. Their loyal vassals that had been discarded like broken toys, likely already forgotten. No matter. Others would only be too eager to take their place.
Such was the power of queens. They were the heart of their courts.
Lady Frost was already being hoisted down from her cage by my aunt’s consort and knights.
“You there,” Queen Alaia called to a nearby guard. “Take care that Lady Fire has a safe step down, please.” She said it as if I were accident prone and simply had trouble walking. Nevermind that she had placed me here in the first place to antagonize my aunt.
Not that I shared a special love with my aunt. As her regent, Queen Dyna would just as soon see me dead if it meant her ongoing reign.
The guard who freed me treated me roughly, but that was to be expected. Anyone who showed me special favor ended up being on the killing fields for the next challenge. He handed me off to my bodyguard, Anafiel, Alaia’s second son.
“Are you all right,” he whispered underneath his breath.
Parched as I had been caged without refreshment, I didn’t have the voice to answer and so I merely nodded, hiding the movement as if I merely adjusted an errant hair back in its braid.
I didn’t want Anafiel to worry for me. It was hard enough to watch out for myself and cover my tracks to ensure I didn’t reveal that I was communicating with Lady Frost. I didn’t want to have to worry about him, either.
He grasped my elbow with one hand as his other was clenched in a tight fist as he escorted me away from the killing fields.
As he settled me onto my mount, his hands lingered on my waist. He seemed on the verge of asking me something when Queen Alaia snapped her fingers to get my attention. “Lady Fire, if you don’t mind. It is our turn to clean up.” She gestured toward the field, before escaping into her carriage.
Right. Clean up. How could I forget? If the battle had ended at dawn, she would have had adequate power to clean up since there would have been enough night magic for her to call upon, but this was her way of pretending that all was well.
I opened my hand of power, amplified now that it was midday, and called fire down on the field. Every bit of flesh, blood, and magic was consumed along with any evidence that Frost and I might have influenced the outcome of the challenge. Nothing would remain.
Over the heat haze, I met Frost’s gaze and we acknowledged each other with a slight bow. It meant nothing and everything. A job well done. Live to fight another day. Tomorrow might bring fresh hell, but for now, we’re still alive.
She retreated to the Ember Dominion, the daylight side of the Riven Mark, while I was herded toward the Obsidian Basin on the outskirts of the night time realm of the Fold. I gloried in the light and heat of the flames for one more moment before letting my escorts take me.
#
We approached House Noctis, the heart of the Obsidian Court.
House Noctis was just as any in the Fold. The Sovereign over all these lands, Queen Thana, ruled in such a way that her courtiers had leeway with what power they wielded within their courts. If a queen could maintain control, she was fit to rule. If she could not…
As if thoughts of the Queen of Nightmares and Death conjured her, crows circled the sky above, silent sentinels likely recording all they saw for her majesty.
I had hoped Queen Thana might show one of these days. After all, her second daughter had been a brightling, thriving in these lands somehow. I would love to know how she gained so much power while so removed from her power source?
Maybe her Inner Circle was the reason. They were lords of renown, and her prince… Many spoke of Prince Enver in hushed whispers. His fury against all who had once challenged Lady Brightling was legendary.
The blight that had once been the heart of House Renard, her last challenger, was still a deadblack void. No living thing had dared cross it for years.
The banner of the Orc See crested a hill. A unit of orcs followed the standard bearers. The higher-ranked orcs walked out in front. Riding on steeds was beneath them.
“Why are the orcs here? What business could they have?” I asked Anafiel. “They are far from their territory, correct?” My geography was weak, but even in my hazy recollections, I knew that they would take significant will and effort to travel here by portal. Even over land, it would take a day.
“Because it seems that they couldn’t not be invited when they heard the goblins would be.” Venom seeped into his voice.
Belatedly, I noticed the goblin contingent arriving from the opposite direction.
I would ask about the cause of his mood, but there was no reason to. Anafiel would always say nothing as he glared at his brother or mother or both if he said anything at all. Besides, he seemed surlier than usual.
On a normal day, Anafiel was moody; today, he was downright vicious. If I could see his aura, it would be a shield of iron spikes.
“Invited to what?” Surely not the revels? Orcs were usually seen during war time. Juggernauts and berserkers, mostly. They were valued for their brute strength rather than magical prowess.
Anafiel clenched his jaw, an angry vein threatening to burst at his temple. “I’m not sure. It’s not as if my mother does anything to ensure I know even a modicum of her plans.”
I definitely would not pull at that thread so I kept silent. It wouldn’t do to let the guards know that we were anything more than just allies. Though Anafiel believed these guards were loyal to him, I knew that everyone had a price.
The goblins unnerved me. They had arrived first, and waited a distance from the gates. There were a few that rode skeletal night mares, with long flowing tunics over their blood armor. These were highborn goblins, at least lords if not a prince among their ranks. The other goblins, soldier caste, shifted in uneasy silence behind their masters.
Misshapen, the goblin horde were the complete opposite of the perfect symmetry and grace of the royal bloodline.
“Hail, Queen of Night.”
As if on cue, a pool of inky black smoke spilled out from the carriage as the doors opened. Prince Lock, Queen Alaia’s oldest son exited first, followed by the queen’s consort, Prince Seskal.
One dusky hand emerged from the carriage to take Prince Seskal proffered aid. The queen took her time to exit and face the goblin contingent. “Hail Lord Grim. Well met.”
“Indeed,” he answered. His gaze flicked over her entourage, assessing. The cold calculation was plain on his face.
It would have been offensive had I not known that goblins were made to be calculating. The fact that he showed that he was assessing the queen’s court showed he was indeed an ally, or at least, trying to curry favor of one sort or another.
His gaze lingered on me, as if trying to figure out the odd piece of this puzzle before him. It was clear that I didn’t quite fit in with this court of blackness, a flame in the midst of smoke. He returned his attention to Queen Alaia. Whatever he had weighed out and concluded in his mind about me, he didn’t share.
“I see that you have finished a challenge. It seems to have been a tournament of sorts given the late hour.”
I couldn’t see Queen Alaia’s face, but I could almost picture it being impossibly smooth. It was the expression she cultivated that hid her displeasure. “Yes, we have shown to be evenly matched once more.”
“Ah, well, that is still good tidings. Will we be able to proceed as scheduled?”
“Of course. As you are early,” Queen Alaia said, stressing the word early, “it seems that we are able to start our revels promptly.”
The predatory gleam that flashed over Lord Grim’s face and revealed his sharp teeth sent ice through my veins. I didn’t want to be alone with him. No one should.
“They are to join the revel?” Anafiel mused aloud, helping me dismount and placing my hand upon his arm in a practiced gesture. “And here I thought it was a simple business arrangement.”
A silvery voice both low and seductive, answered him. The speaker stood a little closer than expected. “Some business deals require a show of trust. What could be more trust building than a revel?”
Prince Lock’s gaze drifted to mine in keen interest. He didn’t go out of his way to acknowledge my existence. I was the thing to be kept alive to ensure his mother didn’t lose face against the Ember Court.
Unless, of course, he wanted to get a rise out of Anafiel.
I would say that it was part of a normal brotherly thing, but I’d seen the way Anafiel looked at Lock when he thought he was unobserved. It was dangerously close to being murderous.
I was close enough to Anafiel that I could squeeze his arm unnoticed and hoped he would keep his mouth shut. “A revel where all inhibitions were put on hold and the queen called power to fuel her court and usually ended in debauchery, duels, or both?” I tapped my chin in a posture of thinking. “Yes, I could see why this would be trust building. When your rivals know your secrets, you’ll be more hesitant to make a move on them. Some people might call that blackmail, but it’s good to note your positive spin on things.”
Prince Lock’s face rippled with repressed anger. He had a reputation of keeping his power under control–all the better to destroy his opponents when they were lulled into carelessness. As a prince of the Obsidian Basin, being able to manipulate darkness and shadows was part of their nascent gift. But his power was a void magic that rivaled the best warlocks.
When he unleashed his full might upon his opponent, they ceased to exist. No hope of return or being an offering to the Fade. Just a withering death where the bodies crumpled in on themselves and fold until there was nothing left.
No one wanted to set him off.
Except me, apparently. The difference was I wasn’t afraid of him. For all his bluster, he was also ridiculously concerned about honor. And he would never do anything to dishonor his title, queen, court, whatever, to off me no matter how much I annoyed him.
“Take care, little queen. Though you are regent, you have yet to build a power base and court of your own.”
“Are you volunteering to serve?” I asked, my face a mask of pure innocence.
He hadn’t expected that from me, and the look of alarm that came over him was comical. Prince Lock was rarely caught off guard.
I leaned in. “Don’t worry, I won’t claim you.” I smiled at the familiar glower of his expression. That was much better.
“What seems to be amusing?” A dead quiet fell over the grove as Queen Alaia approached our small group. My mistake, I’d forgotten where I was. This was not the place where I could banter with peers and courtiers.
It was a court where I needed to watch my back.
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