Chapter One
The day was warm. The height of summer upon the rolling green hills where Thambair flourished over the last centuries. A beautiful, perfect day of clear skies and sunshine. The kind of day minstrels sing of, as the world blossoms into a fresh new start. Today was a day of destiny. A day her kingdom would never forget. The worst day of Volencia’s short pathetic rule. Today she would lose her kingdom to the Council, and those who were in the Council would start the lineage of the Empirical rule they’d been seeking all these years.
Kumaris, the large red sun, was just peeking over the mountains stretched to the east. Green rolling hills stretched for miles, awaking with the rising sun. The world was coming to life, though her life was ending. Her mother had died to save her and the kingdom. To give them hope. But it was a fragile thing and had withered as Volencia looked for a way out. Searching endlessly for an answer to lead her kingdom away from this Empirical Rule. There was no way out, and her time to find one diminished.
Volencia herself knew very little of politics in general. Her mother had died years ago protecting her and her folk. Her father was worse than dead. His mind and magic separated by bindings driving him into maddening silence. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t use his magic, and was forced to watch his daughter slip into hopelessness as they came for her again. This time, she had no recourse. No power of her own to stop them and once they married her off, her kingdom would be the last puzzle piece to secure all the realms to the Empire. The kingdom would be under their control and her with it.
Their goal? To take away the magical rights of anyone who would oppose them. It would become a world order that anyone who wished to study magic, would have to apply at the Magic Academy of Lalolia. An Academy that was currently under her rule, run by her Uncle Charlabisis, the Arch Mage, and her Aunt Toakencia, the Arch Deaconess of Rhelia. Once removed from the power the Academy provided them, they would be deemed traitors, and put to death. One of the Empire’s own entitled, power-hungry goons would be placed in the Academy. The way their world, Rhelia, learned magic would never be the same again. No more apprenticeships, no more freedom to learn what you wanted. It would be replaced by an approval system, and anyone who wielded magic or tried to learn it outside that system, would be treated as traitors to the Empire. The sentence for this transgression would be death. Under this rule, entire towns and cultures would be at risk of treason. More folk for the Empire to erase, as they had erased the city of Claglion, in the War of the Magi. The attack that had forced her parents, and so Thambair, into the rebellion to fight against the Council, as they realized what the Empire’s true motives were.
The Empire also believed that women should not have power. Female rulers would become a thing of the past. Her rights, along with all women’s rights, would be abolished. Treated no better than herd animals. Destined to be the property of the men that owned them. They were, according to the ideology of the Empire, too weak and emotional to think for themselves. Destined to turmoil of the heart and unable to make proper decisions for the good of others, because they can only or will primarily, make decision based on their families or selves. Therefore, it was better to remove them from the equation once and for all according to their ideology.
Volencia knew very little magic because of these goals, already set in motion in so many ways. They had removed her main resources long ago. Her largest problem was that she had no idea how to control her magic. She could try to use it, but, in the end, it always got away with her. The more she tried to use, the more she lost control; it was too much too soon, and without a tutor, how could she learn? She was more likely to take down a portion of her city and wreak havoc on her folk than be any good against the Council. It broke her heart. That was why she had resigned herself to them. The shield that her mother provided the kingdom would fall. When it did, it would be her realm against all others. If they fought, they would die. The cost was too high. The chances too low. Instead, she would sell herself to them for the price of mercy on her subjects. And the folk would hate her for it. She just couldn’t see another way. Any rebellion they had while her mother was alive and her father functional had long since died. Their allies in the past were forced to join the Empire already.
Closing her eyes, Volencia breathed deeply of the air. One last day of freedom. One last moment before chaos. Her breakfast sat discarded on a table in her room. She looked at it, wishing she had an appetite. The fruit tarts on her tray were her favorite. Taking a seat, she poured a glass of tea, and tried a small bite, but it didn’t settle so she gave in to her wiry stomach and left her room. She wanted to find her father. She didn’t think they would kill him, but she didn’t believe she’d be allowed to see him again. He would likely be forced to watch from afar, as everything he built through the years crumbled. This was her last chance to say goodbye. She hadn’t heard the words ‘I love you’ since the night the Council destroyed his mind, but there was no reason she couldn’t allow him to hear those words before she was forced to give up everything.
The walk to his study was long and quiet. Though the folk watched as she went by, the castle was as silent as a tomb. They all knew what was coming. They just didn’t know what she was going to do. Volencia swallowed hard as eyes followed her. Soon, everyone would be caught, and become part of an Empire her parents had fought and died to avoid. All she could think of was what a coward she would look like when she gave herself to them. Signing not only her own future over, but theirs too. How many would assume it was for herself that she did so? Volencia stopped in the middle of the entry way, pinching her nose, as she tried to come to terms with what she would do. A dizzy spell slammed her, and she felt her body sway dangerously.
Leaning against the cold blue marble, she took several deep and shakey breaths. Her chest was tight, and it felt like she couldn’t get enough air. Tears rolled down her cheeks and anyone walking through the halls avertaed their gazes, hurrying away. Though the castle was filled with folk, she was tryuly and utterly alone. Covering her face, her knees gave way and the wall slid cooly against her back until she could fall no further. Wrapping her arms around her knees she buried her face in the silky fabric of her skirts.
It took her time, but she pulled herself together and continued to her father's, KingVenron’s, study. She wished she knew more about what they would do. She didn’t really have her father right now anyway, though she feared losing him permanently.
She knocked gently on the door. “Princess.” Gregron, her father’s general, answered the door dressed in his uniform. Ice blue and white accents over a navy suit. He was a well decorated soldier with a broad scar cross his cheek where he nearly lost an eye protecting the outskirts of her kingdom when forces tried to take her lands. No one seriously brought war down on them, but only because there was no point in devistating the lands when all they had to do was wait. Gregron opened the door for her, “Come in.”
Her father's ice blue eyes stared at her. His face stoic and unchanging as ever. He wore the robes of a king. They were the same ice blue as his eyes, patterned with small white-silver decorations at the bottom. The only remnants to speak of the powerful mage he once was, were the black bands along his flowing sleeves. Seven to each arm. The black bands told he had once completed the seven layers of training required to be a Master of Black Magic. Each band spoke of the steps he’d taken in his training. Once upon a time he’d been a force to be reckoned with, but that was a lifetime ago. The only thing to change in him since that night were the white streaks that now distinguished his black hair, which was now kept short.
Volencia went to him, sitting at his knee and cried into his lap like she had a thousand times before. He said nothing. Did nothing. Like every time before. Only sat still, allowing her to soak his robes. “I’m sorry.” She hiccuped, “I failed you and mother. I failed our folk. I have no way out of this, and no more answers now than I did the day mother died. I read every book in the castle and found nothing to save us. I cannot be the hero mother thought I could be. I’m so sorry.”
“We’re ready to disband the troops and protect you. Say the word and I’ll have the entire Kingdom at arms, ready to fight.” Gregron said, standing behind her father as if they were in a proper meeting with guests. Like always, he was prim, proper, and as unsmiling as her father.
“No.” She wiped her eyes. “I cannot wage war against the whole world. It might work today, but then they’ll come back and destroy us. I don’t have a plan to stop this. I can’t fight, and I can’t use magic. My only option is to give up the kingdom. To willingly go, and marry that scoundrel, and beg them to be lenient on my folk.” Standing, she shook out her skirts, wiping at the crusty residue of tears on her cheeks.
Gregron frowned. “We will fight anyway. Even just a little time could make a world of difference on how this goes for the kingdom and the folk in it. I’ve seen the smallest actions make the biggest ripples. All we need is someone to throw the first stone.”
Volencia embraced her father, whispering, “I love you.” In his ear. Likely for the last time. She put her arms around Gregron's waist and hugged him too. “I'm sorry. I just don’t have any hope left.”