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Chapter 1
Fadon
“Blood hungry bitch,” Captain Fadon Trajan mumbled under his breath. Standing beside him at the sideboard of the throne room, his second in command, Jon, chuckled.
Fadon threw back his wine, feeling its richness saturate his palate, but he was too bothered to enjoy it. He poured more into his goblet, eying the warrior beside him. “You mark my words, Jon. She’s going to regret her hastiness.”
Fadon’s Second only grunted as he poured his own wine. “Mari never regrets, Fadon. Only sets her sights on something new.”
And how right he was. Fadon’s sister, Queen Alpha of the Ongahri, leader of House Trajan, could be a conniving little brat, never learning from her mistakes. If she wasn’t blaming someone for those mistakes, then she was ignoring her bad, hasty decisions, denying they even existed. She had her moments of forethought, but without Fadon and the elders there to rein her back in, their House would be in pieces.
Fadon and Jon had just left the war room, having spent hours trying to reason with their queen on why attacking the alpha leader of House Dega was a bad idea. She wanted his followers, she’d argued, and Fadon wanted common sense. Dega was two-months’ travel, practically on the other side of Titus, by sea. Fadon believed his own people had enough on their hands as it was.
In the end, she conceded to Fadon and Jon’s wisdom. Fadon had a feeling she had decided to concede way before the heated conversation had even started. Sometimes he believed Mari enjoyed seeing her counselors fret.
Now the court had been summoned to the throne room.
Fadon and Jon walked to their seats as Fadon took in the massive room. It still felt empty of life, even though the Ongahri had arrived back to the Mor weeks ago. That dusty emptiness from so long an absence from its inhabitants still remained. A fire was set in the hearth, tables gleamed from polish, rugs and chairs had been cleaned and mended from time, but still the place felt occupied by ghosts and festering grime.
Fadon shuddered, resisting the urge to leave this place and go escape to the stables. Or better yet, burn some of this restlessness out on the training grounds. His men would be game for it, no doubt. Guarding the Mor and all its empty haunts were driving them mad, and until they had a mission that would take them away from this place, he’d have to start getting them into a routine to ward off cabin fever.
He said as much now to his Second before setting his goblet down on the table in front of him. His hand itched for a knife, something to fiddle with while they waited for his sister and her entourage to grace them with her presence.
“I’ll get a schedule together, Captain,” Jon said, easily shifting back into his role. Just like Fadon, Jon wasn’t comfortable with the political pretty. “Perhaps we can start training the lower ranks as well.”
Fadon nodded, glad to have his mind on something useful. He looked around the room to see who else was waiting for the queen to take court. Mari would be running late, having been told a visitor of the Owl had arrived. Fadon wondered if the Servant would be joining them, or, he hoped, whether everyone would be dismissed for the day and continue on with their duties.
A few of the court’s main players were missing, but he spied Caziel, the court’s secretary, sitting next to Lady Lordes, the House Seer, along with Zion and his apprentices. Fadon wondered at the scholar’s presence. Had Mari gathered everyone for an announcement worthy of being written down? Only Zion and his apprentices had the skill with ink and parchment, aside from the royal line, Fadon included. But Fadon’s script was terrible—something he didn’t wish to improve.
Just when Fadon was about to harbor serious thoughts of skipping out, the massive doors in the front opened.
Wearing a flowing gown the color of blood, the diaphanous sleeves long enough to trail the floor, Mari looked every bit the alpha queen of the Ongarhi. Her raven hair was up in some complicated style, giving her extra height, and with her pale skin and lacquered red lips, Fadon had to admit the outward mirrored the cunning, sensual young woman inside.
She’d only been queen for a scant twenty years but had taken to the role like a duck to water. And it suited her. Had Fadon’s brother Lysander not been born before Mari, Fadon could imagine Mari killing him in the cradle so that she could take the crown. Fortunately, she was their father’s last born, and as per Ongahri custom, had inherited the title once Alpha King Gregorus had met his demise.
Everyone stood as the young queen passed by, everyone bowing but Fadon. He should have showed some decorum, but he didn’t fucking feel like it today.
“Wine, Homas,” Mari curtly ordered, snapping her fingers at the servant who stood to the side. Once she was seated at her throne, a silver monstrosity that had been a part of Ongahri royalty for well over a thousand years, everyone took their seats once more.
Mari looked around the room, her lips pursed. “Where is Ander?”
“Prince Lysander has not yet arrived, Your Majesty,” Caziel replied with attitude, having always hated the short form of Fadon’s brother’s name.
“Must we wait for him to begin?” Fadon’s jaw tensed in impatience.
His sister whipped her head toward him. “What I have to say concerns him, Captain.”
Rubbing his face, feeling drained already, Fadon stood. “I’ll go and—”
“No need! By the gods, I’m here.”
Fadon turned around to see a servant holding open the door as his young brother strutted into the room as though the court had interrupted some grand party he’d been having somewhere in the manse.
“My queen.” Ander bowed at the waist, facing his sister, then found his smaller throne at Mari’s left. A servant immediately set a silver tray in front of the handsome prince, offering him a goblet of wine.
Fadon mumbled under his breath as he watched his two spoiled siblings enjoy the perks of being royal; unlike Fadon, who was the eldest, born with the power of the sword in his blood and more suited on a horse’s back than on a throne.
Finding his seat once more, Fadon crossed his arms over his bare chest while Mari began.
