Rafael
Once upon a time, I smiled. Once, I laughed as sunshine warmed my skin, and I took joy in the glow. And once, I looked down upon my brother, Ever, the Black Blood heir with sorrow storming through his mind and black poison icing his veins. Once, I thought him weak.
But, no longer. Because now I know.
Now I understand.
Savage darkness creeps and crawls like cold iron through my being. Blackness digs and bites, always pulsing, pounding through my heart. Thrashing until the end. Till I’m no more.
Who will the curse fall to should I die before no sons are born? Back to Ever’s children?
Who knows? Salamander does. Salamander the mage with her hair afire, who will not answer my pleas for help.
Ever is gone. Aer, for now, is tethered. Salamander hides. Therefore, the poison wins.
The poison will always win.
Unless I find her first.
Time. How much of it do I have?
I do not know.
And so, I wait.
I wait for a girl marked with a phoenix consumed by flames. My cure. My queen. And perhaps more than that—the cure for the land of Talamh Cúig? The Black Blood will one day be annihilated, Aer, the Sorceress of the Seven Winds has said it is so. The end has been written. The end is certain.
But when?
I drop my head against the wooden throne, carved scorpions, sunflowers, and thorns digging into my skull. Such bright symbols for one now solemn and bleak. The absurdity astounds me.
I close my eyes and fire rises around me, flames licking at my core. A girl stands in the middle of the pyre, her pale skin charred and burning. Her hair is richest buttermilk, her eyes a blistering blue, and her smile—her smile is a flame in itself—fierce and taunting. For she is not afraid as the flames leap higher and take her over, pull her down, drag her under. Consume her.
My black heart pulses in time with her screams of agony.
Every time I close my eyes, this is what I see. The girl with the orange and purple tattoo. The girl with laughing eyes.
I will find her.
I will.
For I am not my brother, and I am determined to win.
I want my queen.
I will live and rule and end this darkness.
These words are written:
Black will fade to gray, gray to white, and white to never. Never was the darkest taint and never will it ever be.
But these are the words I dream of: Take the chosen for a bride, and the poison ceases deep inside.
The poison ceases deep inside.
So it was written.
And so it shall be.
