Blood and desire

dea'

palace seemed to

father's voice rang through the chamber, the words falling like the fin

Lord Varian w

ransaction. A piece moved across the board. A daughter wed to solidify power. And yet,

careful. The eyes of the court followed me, curiosity lurking behind every glance, whispering against my bac

ago,tears were wasted

burning tallow, of the faint traces of damp from the approaching storm outside. I walked without direction, though I knew these halls well, even afte

ithin these wal

, the way his breath had caught for the briefest of moments before he had masked it. He had changed. Grown into something colder, something hardened by war and d

bro

r

as dim, lit only by torches that cast long shadows against the stone. The air here was d

d before

over the iron handl

fore her name had been stricken from the records, her tapestries burned

er face had faded into nothing but a whisper, why the servants flinched at her n

lder. Now, I

anted a

e remnants of a life forgotten. The great hearth was cold, the heavy drapes still drawn over the windows, swallowing the roo

he late hours of the night, her voice a lullaby against the howling

mirror clouded with dust. A faint reflection stared back at

But I remembered the feeling of her arms around me. The warmth of her embrace.

ngdom had brand

rness settled

surface was bare, long emptied of anything that might hold meaning. But there were a

searching. My pulse quickened when my fingers grazed someth

false panel gave w

lded letter

it had been waiting all these years to be found. My breath caught

seal was

red wax was the sigil

mother had

fore I tore it open, my hear

scrawled in a hurried hand,

rest I

ading this, t

blurred at

hings you must know. But there is no time.

rp br

warning. The bloodline is cur

s ended

nto nothing, as if sh

tak

letter trembling in my grasp, my m

dline is

d coiled in

king into a cage of politics, into an arranged ma

was somet

lder. Somet

nger certain if I had bee

been summone