Hi all, I'll be updating a few more chapters today. Thank you so much for waiting all these days for me without any updates. I really appreciate your love, and all your comments encouraged me to make time and write. I'll try to update as much as can before I get really busy with my daily tasks to update. Love you all <3
When dawn breaks, Brendan is wide awake.Sleep doesn’t come as easily, apparently, after forty-eight hours of continued torture at the edge of a blade. He has already slept far more than enough. Besides.Glancing down at the girl sleeping beside him curled half into his lap, one hand tangled tightly together with one of Brendan’s with her cheek resting atop their joined hands, Brendan supposes that sleep is a needless concept when he has this particular vision spread in front of him.Of Alcina, lashes fanned across her delicate cheeks, her skin aglow in the light of the breaking day.Brendan’s thumb shifts and counts the beats of Alcina’s pulse on the inside of her wrist.Wonders, when that rhythm had become the singular center around which the rest of the world revolves.Wonders when and how he had managed the inconceivable: to gain the love of a creature as unsullied as Alcina.It is this thought, then, that begins to spread outwards and consume his thoughts, such that it’s still
When they enter the room, they find the remaining royals already waiting.Nordin looks up, and surprise colors his gaze when he finds Alcina present, but it isn’t an unpleasant one. Rather, he and Alfred both give Alcina a warm, approving smile, one that makes her tuck ever so slightly closer to Brendan, abashed. From across the table, Percy wears a small, knowing smile, one that makes the Duke look as though he were enjoying a private joke to which no one else besides Darla is privy.Darla, on the other hand, gives Alcina a devious little grin, eyes sparkling. Alcina realizes, then, that Darla must have heard the entirety of the exchange outside as the lady Darla’s eyes settle pointedly on her and Brendan’s joined hands.It makes Alcina flush red.Brendan, oblivious or uncaring of the surreptitious glances shared between the others at the table, simply leads Alcina to take their seats.The Duchess, as per usual, has neither the time nor the patience for pleasantries.It comes as a s
Back in their room, Brendan allows Alcina to fuss over him with minimal protest. Alcina first pushes the windows wide open, and Perseus’s head nudges in first, followed closely by Orion’s.Brendan eyes the two beasts, their heads fitted tightly through the window, an almost ludicrous sight when one considers their venerated status throughout the world, and snorts quietly.The fact that the two dragons continue to cling to his wife as they did when they were, but small hatchlings makes amusement flicker in Brendan’s eyes.He watches, from his position tucked into the covers where Alcina had forced him into, as the dragons rumble softly at Alcina, nosing at her with their massive snouts.Alcina giggles, laughing aloud when a forked tongue flicks playfully at her button nose.Perhaps, Brendan supposes, bedrest is not the worst thing in the world.Alcina glances back at Brendan, then, plaintive want clear in her features as she peeks, not at all discreetly, as Alcina mistakenly believes,
For the next few days, Alcina’s mother is wholly preoccupied with the rebuilding of the North wing and the preparations for the ball. Nordin, in particular, has been commissioned to help in the planning, and there has never been a sight more terrifying than the unstoppable force that is Duchess Clair and Nordin working together. At some point, Percy mutters under his breath that the war might even be fought and won in a single day if helmed by those two terrifying creatures, and, well. No one had fought it. Alfred, too, is busy with the rebuilding efforts, often called away for large chunks of the day to deliberate with advisors and nobles, and other politically prominent figures from the Heartlands. Most importantly for Alcina: Brendan continues to regain his strength with each passing day. Brendan hardly fatigues now, the way he had so easily done the first day after waking. At the least, he now has the strength to resist completely, without budging when Alcina tries to manha
Luckily, surface-level burns such as this one, apparently, are an easy fix for the Gifted healer under House Clair’s employ. Healers are some of the more common Gifts, and when found, they are almost always invariably recruited into the ruling House’s employment. Given the hefty pay and abundant benefits that come with being associated with the royal house, no one declines, not without any particular reason to.The one employed by House Clair is a deftly skilled medic, having trained both with and without their Gifts, and Brendan’s cheek is healed of the burn within an hour.When he returns to the room, he finds the bathroom door still closed.He walks over to it, knocking sharply on the wood. “Alcina,” he says. “My cheek has been completely healed, with no lasting damage. It’s perfectly fine.”He hears shuffling inside.“Open the door, Alcina.”And after a few tense, still moments, Brendan hears the lock click.He opens it immediately and finds Alcina, a sight for sore eyes, indeed,
For a while, Alcina’s attention is captured entirely by Brendan, spinning her in dizzying exhilarating circles around the dance floor.She has only ever spent nights, hidden away in the most unobtrusive corners she could find, in this very ballroom in the Heartlands palace.Alcina had never had the occasion nor the desire, to step out into where others could judge and whisper about her. But Brendan holds her hand as though she were the most precious jewel to have been ever discovered, and gazes down at her as though she were something immeasurably cherished.Treats her, as though she were not something to be hidden away, in the unseen corners of the room; but rather, something that belonged in the center of the universe, around which the rest of the world gravitates. A hand taps Brendan on the shoulder. “May I cut in for this lovely lady’s hand for a dance?”Alcina startles.She stares, wide-eyed, at Darla, who stands beside them, a wicked smile on her lips.Brendan eyes her as thou
Later that night, Brendan embarks on a search for his own wife.As per usual, Alcina had left to go for her routine visit to the dragons, just before bed. But where she usually returned within an hour, this time, nearly two had passed when Alcina still had yet to return; another thirty minutes later, Brendan had decided to set out and search for Alcina himself.When he glances outside in the courtyard where she usually remains with the dragons and finds Orion and Perseus, alone, he knows where his wife might be.The only other place, that would call her attention so late at night.* * * * * * * * * * *Alcina gazes down at her father’s face, smoothed by sleep, unconsciousness, rather, in a way that she has never seen it, before.She tries to think of the last time she had ever seen her father’s features, without the lines that seemed to have permanently etched themselves into something disapproving, and she cannot remember.Her earliest memory, after all, is of her father, gazing down
Nine a.m. finds Alcina standing across from Darla in the emptied courtyard, Orion and Perseus seated dutifully a few feet away. Alfred had been called to assist his mother with matters around the palace, and Nordin, begrudgingly, had had to depart to his own family’s home to attend to business there. It had left Brendan and Percy, then, as the only spectators, settled as they are under the shade of a tree some meters away.Alcina stands now, feeling stilted and a bit displaced, hands held awkwardly at her sides.Darla, in contrast, stands perfectly, utterly still; and, as always, demonstrates a sense of incredible self-ease, as though it were effortless to simply exist. Alcina envies her for that, more than anything else.“So, you can summon fire on your hands, you said?” Darla says.Diving right into it, then.Alcina shifts. “I- I’m not sure,” she admits.The only time she had summoned fire, had been...Elton.With Brendan, it hadn’t been fire, but- heat.Darla tilts her head. Her e
A deathly silence descends on the group, with a violent force; not unlike the swooping blade of a guillotine.It is Percy, who seems to regain his composure, first."What do you mean?" his voice is quiet and soft; dangerously so.Alfred rubs tiredly at his forehead with one hand, expression abruptly dripping with exhaustion."Of course, as these are Stella Lockwood's thoughts," Alfred murmurs, slipping unconsciously into the use of the girl's name, as he'd gleaned from her mind.It is difficult, to maintain a detached sense of unfamiliarity, after one has invaded every grueling inch of another's mind."There remains the possibility that it is not the truth of reality, but merely what she has been led to believe." But Alfred sounds as though he doubts his own words, as he speaks them."But as it is..." Alfred takes a shuddering breath, as though buckling under the physical weight of the knowledge. Nordin presses closer. "Cedrick would maintain a kingdom-wide decree, that any child born
“And how long has she been here?” Brandon asks, just as the others arrive at the cell.He can hear a sharp intake of breath; Alcina.“Oh, a few days, I reckon,” Lincoln shrugs casually, his hand still holding the girl’s neck to the wall in a brutal grip. “I’m afraid I’ve lost count, as I’ve been down here all the while.”For a man like Commander Lincoln, sleep is but a trifling and unnecessary luxury.When a man like Lincoln has a prey set in his sights, he does not need such a thing as sleep.Even for days on end."I caught her trying to slip into your study," Lincoln says. The girl comes to life momentarily, struggling against the grip on her neck, but grows limp when Lincoln simply tightens his hold anew without even batting an eye.“I’d hoped to be able to have a nice, civilized conversation with our friend here,” Lincoln sighs, sounding as though it were nothing more than a matter of some friendly gossip. “Without needing to call you here, but.”“She has not been forthcoming,” Alf
There is little time for pleasantries, in light of the note.Brandon does not know what could have possessed Lincoln to send such a note, nor are there any details to be gleaned from its contents: a precautionary measure, given how often such notes are wont to be intercepted in travel.Still, he knows that there is very little - almost nothing at all - that the Commander is not entirely equipped to handle on his own, short of the very war coming to their doorsteps, such that he would be forced to call for Brandon's return.Let alone demand him to bring Lord Alfred, as Lincoln had so alluded.It makes Brandon slip seamlessly into the shadows, for even the scant extra moments it would take to travel by foot is a luxury they do not seem to have.* * * * * * * * * *In the end, it is a lean retinue of the Lords and two soldiers from the Heartlands, that are to make their departure for the Western Plains.Given that the Western Plains are directly en route to the Ranges, Percy and Darla wi
Alcina wakes up alone.It’s enough to startle her, even trapped as she is in that dull haze of the moment in between sleep and consciousness; enough, that she sits up, blearily rubbing one eye. “Brandon?” she calls blindly, voice rising in pitch to come out just the tiniest bit plaintive.Brandon steps out from the ensuite doorway, then, and Alcina turns her head in his direction, still rubbing sleepily at one eye.Brandon has evidently just stepped out of the shower, clad in a black silken robe, tied loosely at the waist and splayed open around his upper body. Alcina, still dazed from sleep, watches the way water droplets continue to drip down from Brandon’s damp locks, trailing down his neck and splattering onto the floor.When her eyes return to Brandon’s face, she finds Brandon wearing a small smirk, dark eyes intent and amused. Brandon raises a slow brow.Had Alcina been more awake, she might have had the presence of mind to be embarrassed at having been caught staring.But at th
Alcina gasps violently awake.Her hands fly to her neck.But her neck is fine. There are no hands curled around them, like manacles pressing the very life out of her with each squeeze. There is no soldier, eyes wild with the adrenaline rush of a battle, forcing her onto the ground to choke her into an eternal slumber.But there are, Alcina dimly realizes, soldiers.All around her.They seem to be swarming in, from far away, but bringing with them a panicked sense of urgency, all the same.From-Alcina stiffens.The marble floors, the elegant pillars, the limp body of-Elton.She is-Alcina is in Elton’s fortress.The thought of it brings the immediate, surging terror for- Brandon-!Alcina whirls around, nearly stumbling with the force of it. And then she sees him.Brandon, here this time, strapped to the pillar behind him with massive, heavy iron chains. Brandon, pale and gaunt and dripping crimson, everywhere-“Brandon!” the cry tears itself out of Alcina’s throat, a wild and devasta
“You would wage a war, For my daughter?”Brandon’s gaze flickers up to meet Duches's eyes, wretchedly amused.“Madame,” he laughs, low and dark, and in it, she hears something ruinous.This man, she realizes then, is one who would wage not one war, but thousands of wars, all in the name of devotion to her daughter.“I would do far more than fight a war, for your daughter,” he says, condescension laced into every word, lips parting to reveal a cold and predatory, calamitous facsimile of a grin. “and I would win it.”And as the Duchess stares into Lord Brandon’s face, she discovers, that there is something frightening like no other nightmare in the world could replicate, in a devotion like this. An ardent, zealous, terrifying brand of devotion, one that is more befitting of a creature they call the Shadowed Beast than a man.For better, or for worse.The man - the monster - to whom she had bartered off her own daughter, with thoughts of a hundred and thirty thousand lives, and hundreds
Nordin, after all, had been Alfred’s closest friend all throughout their childhood and had been there when Alfred underwent his own grueling training with the Duchess.He had been the one person whom Alfred allowed to see all those cracked and broken parts of himself and had been the person who had mended Alfred and made him whole each time.Nordin has had to put one Clair back together and does not fancy having to pick up the pieces of another one after all this time.Years ago, when Nordin had only been thirteen and Alfred eleven, and Nordin had had to put the broken pieces of Alfred back together after his mother’s training--Thirteen-year-old Nordin had looked at Alfred, then, wearing a soft and kind smile despite the pain that had been wrought upon him by virtue of a terrible and harsh world--And that is the moment when Nordin had decided that he would become strong enough to ensure no man would be able to hurt Alfred again.That for Alfred- the boy who spoke of those mysteries
In the morning, Alcina wakes earlier than her husband.It is not often she gets to experience such a luxury, given that Brandon is the early riser between the two of them. But occasionally, on mornings like this, Alcina has the privilege of waking before Brandon, and looking over to see her husband’s face smoothed with slumber.Alcina had never thought she’d grow to adore another’s features the way she has Brandon’s.It is an endless fascination for him, one that she could spend hours tracing the lines and dips and curves of, without end. Even now, Alcina turns and shuffles a little closer, pillowing her head on one arm while her other reaches up of its own accord, fingers reaching out to-She stills.Her fingers, still outstretched towards the slope of Brandon’s nose, hover uncertainly in mid-air. They twitch, before she brings her hand back to tuck tightly against her own chest, biting her lip.Alcina stares at Brandon, now, the man who had fearlessly and lovingly grasped the very h
When Alcina manages to trudge her way to her room in the palace, she has hardly made it past the doorway when Brandon is instantly at her side.Brandon grips her by the shoulders, expression blank but eyes almost frantic in the way they run over her frame from head to toe, as though cataloging any possible injuries. And then, at last, Brandon lifts a hand to rest gently along Alcina’s cheek.Alcina shudders and sinks into it, sighing. “I half feared the Duchess may have buried you somewhere in the courtyard, and I would have to go digging for my wife,” Brandon drawls, teasing and insouciant but with genuine worry in his eyes when Alcina peers up at him.Alcina manages to muster a scowl, though she loses the energy for it right after.Drained, Alcina allows Brandon to help her change into her silken pajamas and guide her right to bed, where Alcina sinks gratefully into the pillows. “I really ought to shower,” Alcina murmurs uselessly, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “I’m quite disgust