An eloquent voice on the precipice of womanhood rang through the castle grounds. “This is your last chance.”
The knight laughed.
Sera lunged forward, moving with the ferocity of a lion springing toward its prey. Her opponent’s head recoiled, his laughter died, and his eyes went as wide as a gazelle’s as the lion closed in. She planted the rapier’s tip into the Crimsonblade’s abdomen. Enslaved to instinct, he lowered his shield.
Instinct is a whimsical wench, Sera mused. She will betray you or save you without so much as a conscious thought either way.
Princess Serapheena Ruby’s movement was like wildfire meeting an oilfield. In another blink, her rapier jabbed him in his exposed shoulder. Karl stumbled a step, but that lone step might have been a tumble down the highest hill.
Pride falls, Sera quipped in one of her seven focuses.
Another stream of consciousness continued its musings on instinct. Let’s test her loyalty again.
Sera slipped one hand off her rapier. She had practiced this movement thousands of times and exerted her own mastery of instinct. Sera snatched Karl’s wrist and pressed on the nerves that controlled the grasping reflex. In less than a heartbeat, his treacherous fingers opened. The sword plummeted with his pride.
Another betrayal. No wonder he took the oath of celibacy.
Betrayal. One of the seven fragments of her consciousness diverted like a river suddenly deciding to flow in the other direction and start burning. Sera roared. Sir Karlaeon did not ignite these flames, but he would be burnt by them. Much like instinct, flames cared not who they scorched.
Here comes the desperate shield bash, Sera thought in one of her combat focuses.
She leapt back. Her vibrant orange-red hair lashed through the air like a whip made of fire. Karl’s shield bash hit empty air. The force of his blow sent a light breeze toward Sera that barely ruffled her gold robe.
Another breeze, and the scent it carried, captured the attention of a spare focus. Breakfast! she thought in a non-combat focus. Time to finish my snack.
Sera feinted right, then spun to the left, then right again, sending her shoulder-length hair whirling. The speed of her movement was inhuman. Explosive understated her fiery motion. An eruption here. An inferno way over there. A small flare to this side. Then a blazing firestorm where you least expected it.
Sera couldn’t fault Karl for his inability to keep up with her or maintain steady feet beneath his solid frame. Nobody moved like her. Nobody processed information like her. The world was running a sack race and Serapheena Ruby was flying past them with dragon’s wings.
One part of her mind noted where Karl was most unprotected, another predicted his next movements, a third recalled her own movement pattern, a fourth held her vast knowledge of the body’s weak points and how to exploit them. The fifth, and always the most important, fueled her passion and made her hungry for victory. Sera integrated five streams of consciousness, forming a grand intersection called Triumph.
Sera struck the vulnerable point on the inside of Karl’s right knee with her rapier’s blunt tip. The Crimsonblade’s knee crashed to the ground. Karl had to lower his shield arm to stabilize his body. Sera pressed the rapier to his exposed throat before his hand even touched the dirt.
Princess Serapheena Ruby threw her practice weapon like a javelin. The blunt tip struck the training dummy forty feet away square in the heart, then ricocheted to the ground. For Karl, she gave her best imitation of his earlier laugh, loading it with snark until the parody was so absurd that Karl’s teeth clenched with restrained laughter. His façade broke and he burst with a hearty hoot.
“Well fought, Karlaeon.”
Karl snorted. “That was well fought?”
Sera shrugged. “For you it was.”
Karlaeon’s smile took over his whole face as he clambered off his knee and back to his feet. His smile accentuated his attractiveness. His Crimsonblade vow of celibacy was truly a loss for the women of Rubinia. Even worse, he honored his oaths. Mischief crept into his eloquent tenor. “Are you practicing propriety?”
Sera plopped her arse on a cushioned bench and slumped into the seating, magnifying her point. “That carriage left the station eighteen years ago and I think the driver crashed it into a river, watched it shatter against the rocks, and drift out into the nearest ocean.”
Karl closed his maw and contemplated his feet. Sera doubted he would find his words writ upon the ground.
The precocious, but improper, princess clasped her hands behind her head and gazed skyward. The sun seared into view on the eastern horizon, peering over the outer walls of the castle grounds. The morning sun heralded another scorching day. Seraxa’s Moon was known for being the hottest of the year and, unlike her twin, Serapheena loved it. She felt at home in the heat. The cold… well the cold could go and stuff itself somewhere far away from Serapheena Ruby.
The heat sparked a memory of the night before. Sebreena had commanded poor Barnabus Bitterbreeze to follow her and use his cold wind to keep her comfortable. Sera’s lips curled upward for a moment before flattening as a separate focus crashed down the worn trail of sisterly inferiority. Though twins, Sebreena had been born a day sooner than Serapheena. It was not the only time that Sera would be upstaged by her perfect princess of a sister. Yadeen knew that was a trend that would likely last until the end of forever.
Right on schedule. A large puff of orange spotted by black leapt onto the bench and commandeered her lap like a handsome prince claiming his dancing partner at a birthday ball. Sera stroked her feline companion’s back as her thoughts traveled elsewhere. Seven different rivers of thought streamed at once in her mind.
The dragon flew me over Mirrevar and on the Dreamer’s Throne…
Alfread son of Evan. Son of Master Mirielda. Nephew of Archlord…
How to prove Kai Blazelord is bound to the Celegans? Is he acting alone or…
Why is the Blazelord tamed by the Chimaera? What is his…
The Chimaera will strike us soon and my father wants to pretend...
I can’t wait to eat those muffins. Divinedamned tradition, I wish someone would eat my…
How long until Karl asks about the dragon dream? Aye, I bet he remarks on the muffins first.
Linus started to knead her upper thighs as if they were dough. Sera’s legs might have the unfortunately pale complexion of dough, but not the soft composition. Her long body was hard, like overheated bread that had grown harder because none would dare nibble it, and almost every ounce of it was eminently-defined, high-density Volqori muscle. She was reminded every day that it was not the body of a princess. Serapheena had callused hands and hard edges rather than a delicate touch and soft curves. Her too-long, too-narrow face was swarmed by too many freckles. Her lips were too thin. Her nose was too small. Her eyes were not red. Her hair was too red. Sera tried to fight these thoughts away. When she repelled them from one stream of consciousness, they pursued her in two more. Her mind was a haunted house where her thoughts were seven unrelenting ghosts and the whole world was just on the outside of the house, locking her inside, pointing at her, and holding up mirrors so she could see how ugly she was.
The truth was writ in the eyes of the world and seared into her soul. Serapheena Ruby was not her sister. She was something less. Something wrong.
There was at least one being who still loved her anyway. Serapheena scratched the big tom’s ears and he vibrated on her leg. A smile graced her face. “This is our anniversary, Linus. Do you remember?”
The cat twisted his neck to lock eyes with Sera. She imagined his meow conveyed an intelligence that transcended feline nature.
“You do, you clever boy.” Sera kissed his forehead and was rewarded with a pronounced purr. “Staring at Linus’s portrait and claiming his name when I called it. Ten years and you are still the best birthday blessing ever bestowed on me.”
Linus melted into her, pressing his shoulder against her stomach and caressing her hand with his head. Suddenly, her thoughts were her own again, liberated by the love of a big fifteen-pound pussy.
Karl shared the same royal accent that Sera had perfected. “Smells like a certain precocious princess’s favorite.”
Sera stretched back even further and grinned at her favorite person. “And here I thought I had already broken my fast. Twas a soft piece of Crimsonblade cake fit for a princess on her eighteenth birthday.”
Karl laughed. His was the prolonged laugh of a kind-hearted man feigning to be a good sport while pretending to be a poor sport.
The melodramatic façade faded, and her guardian held a fond smile with water-rimmed, copper eyes. “I remember when you were just a little seed of a thing, Serapheena.” He held out his thumb and forefinger with an infinitesimal space between them. “I remember the times I had to try so hard to let you win without letting you know that I let you win.” He sighed and condensation pooled in his eyes. “You always knew and forced me into a rematch.”
“Again!” they declared, sharing memories and mirth.
Karl laughed and rubbed his eyes as they gazed into the past.
Sera nodded along with the happy memories. She split her seven focuses between loving recollection and looking forward to the approaching doom and its herald, Alfread son of Evan.
Alfread was the catalyst that awakened Serapheena to the end of days with his discovery of Celegan-tamed wolves within the Ruby Kingdom. His report had been convincing, but it became undeniable with the inclusion of the master wolf having the silver eyes of a lightseer. The deadliest empire in the history of the world was preparing to annihilate the Ruby Kingdom.
Sera did not give up when her father, abetted by Kai Blazelord, dismissed the truth as three farmboys from Bear’s Crossing exaggerating their kills for clout or out of flea-bitten ignorance. She fought ignorance with data, reviewing the monster reports collected and filed over the past several centuries.
The quantitative results were indisputable. Reported monster attacks in the Ruby Kingdom had risen steadily over the past two centuries correlating with the rise, fall, and rise of the Celegan tamers. The attacks had blasted through the roof during the reign of Gurgaldai ezen Celegan in the Celegan Hollows, fallen back to the ground for a century, then leapt toward the chandeliers in the past twenty years since the Celegan conquest of Isihla. Yet, if the attacks during Gurgaldai’s era were through the roof, the past year was slapping at the top of Covademara. Sera had identified more monster attacks this year than any five-year period in the previous hundred.
The qualitative data were even more convincing to Sera. The type of attacks became more bizarre, often comically incongruent, with the known nature of the beasts involved. The Celegans were taming Leverian beasts and using them to destabilize and weaken the Ruby Kingdom. Master Jaina Rainwater granted Sera the master patch in Ethology, a dragon, for the publication of her findings.
Alas, that all meant little to her father, or really anyone, including Master Ethology. Yes, her methodology and her prose were fireproof. Yes, the correlation between monster attacks and significant historical events in the Celegan Empire was uncanny. Yes, the Celegans possess the power to infiltrate the minds of beasts and control them. Yes, that could theoretically explain her findings. No, Serapheena, you are a foolish little girl to dream of the Chimaera sailing across the ocean! Didn’t you know that they think the ocean is evil? Or that they despise the construction of ships nearly as much as Leverians despise thinking realistically! Why in Yadeen’s divinedamned name would they do something so bloody untraditional when they have demonstrated one consistent behavior of conquering their neighbors! Guess what, King Ignoramus and Archwizard Kai Turncloaker, Leveria is their neighbor now! Even children knew how to put two and two together but apparently kings forget that somewhere along the way if tradition says four cannot exist!
Sera fumed, as her mind processed all of this information in the space of ten accelerating heartbeats. Her fingers closed into fists and images of strangling, maiming, stabbing, burning, decapitating, throwing, and battering Kai Blazelord flooded through her focuses.
Sir Karlaeon sat beside her and deflated into the cushions, unaware of the heat growing beside him. “Here I am, a grown man and Crimsonblade, allegedly one of the thirteen finest knights in western Leveria and a young lady can handle me as easily as she can handle a chocolate chip muffin. She considers me as easy as eating breakfast!”
Karl’s voice tethered her to the moment. She patted his arm and restrained her rage. “Now, now, Karl,” Sera said in a lofty imitation of her twin. Sera bit off the sarcastic comment one focus had generated about the challenges of breakfast and getting food stuck between your teeth. Instead, she took Karl’s hand and stared into his copper-red eyes.
Nary a day went by that she did not wish that her uncle was her father. Her voice softened and her inflections deepened. “You are one of the finest thirteen. For me, you are the best there ever could be. Philladon Leveria could roll his royal arse out of the grave and offer his services and I would shovel him back in myself.” Karl snorted and tears misted his eyes. Sera paused for a satisfied grin before finishing. She squeezed his hand. “You are the best sworn shield to ever live.”
Karl looked away and sniffled as the tears descended his handsome face. “I cannot believe you are eighteen, Serapheena. You have grown into the most wonderful princess this realm has ever known.”
“Karl,” Sera said, elongating her words as if explaining something to a naïve child, “I think you might be the only person in the realm who thinks I am even the most wonderful princess today.”
Linus meowed, and to Sera it seemed he mimicked her elongated syllables. The fire-eyed cat gazed into her eyes. She would have been more touched by the sentiment if the furball didn’t have its incisor teeth dumbly hanging out of his mouth. She playfully mussed his head. Linus shook it off and stared at her out of the corner of his little red eyes, incisor teeth still proudly protruding.
“That is not true, Serapheena,” Karl admonished, his tone paternal.
Sera shook her head, adamant. This was both the most endearing and frustrating part of Sir Karlaeon of the Crimsonblades. He understood how she defied the traditional image and decorum of a princess and he still regarded her as not only good enough, but wonderful beyond compare. He didn’t try to change her or make her ashamed of herself as her father did. Yet, he thought that loving herself was as easy as just accepting who she was and who she was not. When the din of a million voices said you weren’t who you were supposed to be, one voice might as well have been one soldier facing an army.
Sera would never be the ‘belle of the ball’ or ‘the fairest maiden of them all.’ No, she was the ‘wittiest Ruby ear biter, not a visual delighter.’ Sebreena was the princess that was crowned on Pageant by Sir Adelgar after he won the melee. Serapheena was the disappointment that had taken her frustration so far in the training grounds that Lira Tidecaller had needed to preserve Adelgar's life and vision after she had finished with him. Sebreena was the princess who attended lessons at the University to make friends and establish connections with haughty jackasses like Irvaine Celvine. Serapheena was the firebrand that embarrassed Irvaine Celvine in scholarly debate to the point that he stomped out of the lecture hall. Each shake of the head, roll of the eyes, and critical remark burned the truth deeper into her like a brand on her soul. Serapheena Ruby was supposed to be the ugly replica of her perfect sister and she didn’t even come close.
All these thoughts collided inside of her, and in the space of a few moments she shifted from feeling love for Karlaeon to being inundated by intermingled hatred and pity toward herself. Her frown shared but a fragment of the agony she felt as her mind barraged her. Instinct was a whimsical wench, for Sera had trained herself to turn self-pity into the guilt that fed self-hatred.
Who was she to feel sorry for herself? Seven streams of thought proclaimed why she had no right to feel this way. She lived in a castle, was born a genius with unparalleled mental abilities, and her body was a world-class weapon freakishly inherited from her great grandmother Queen Kaidaxus, a Volqori dragonknight. There were people without homes, born with mental or physical limitations, who were held down in a world of oppression upheld by tradition. She measured her pain as meaningless compared to the woes of this world. Alas, by invalidating her own woes, she rendered herself meaningless in her ice-blue eyes.
Thus, though she tried to numb the pain of those lyrics, they stung to the core. Sera dreamt that she would punch the lyricist’s smart singing lips and compliment him on how visually delightful she had made him! Perhaps, she would bite his ear too. That would show him how flaming witty she was!
Alfread. Alfread. Alfread.
Sera stood up and began striding toward the Ruby Tower. It was Seraxa Waxing, Seraxa Moon, 213 3LE. Serapheena Ruby’s eighteenth birthday. Per tradition, it would now be customary for the king to find her a suitable husband to solidify his political power. Whatever. It is not like any man would ever truly love her anyway.
Sera wished in her heart, wishing to Seraxa and any other Divine that would hear her, that this birthday would finally be the day her father listened to her. She would bond an arrogant arse like Irvaine Celvine if that was what it took to see reason return to her father’s skull.
Sera sighed, knowing that her antagonist was the most asinine and persistent opponent you could face. Tradition. Traditionally, the Ruby Kingdom was at war with the Sapphire. They couldn’t possibly be attacked by a merciless, slavery-supported empire from across a sea that’s mission statement was to ‘Tame the World!’ By golly, Meladon, that would be impossible! What’s next? Would someone discover that the Seeress of Meladon hid a hairy bush under that purple regalia!
Sera clenched her fist. She should be ashamed of her perverse thoughts. Yet that was too traditional for Sera. If you could not be a perfect princess, you had to make fun of the notion otherwise she would have just been constantly hating herself instead of only hating herself part time. Alas, kings who believed in traditionalizing gender inequality had deemed that only princesses needed to be chaste and demure in Leverith’s land. To spite that, Sera’s favorite amusement was making Sebreena’s face as red as her eyes or seeing her mother or father’s mouths drop in horror. Even Karlaeon blushed when she waxed her raunchy wit. Her cousin Jaseon tried to bandy words with her, yet that was like Tyronn Trolltongue and an overconfident eight-year-old competing in a storytelling competition. As fun as it was seeing their scowls and loose jowls, it was a lonely existence not having anyone to spit your own fire back at you.
Alfread. Alfread. Alfread.
She tried not to feed that hope, but what were humans if not dreamers of a better tomorrow? Try as she might, Sera could not dam that stream of thought.
Karl rushed to stay in step with her. “Did you have the dream again this year?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“We flew over Mirrevar. The fields were full of blooming flowers. I saw Goddess Hill overlooking the Grand Confluence. Atop the hill, I saw Covademara. The tree stretched above the clouds and held every fruit and flower imaginable. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen, Karl.”
Karl nodded. He leaned toward her, smiling with bright eyes, enraptured in her unconscious fantasies. He wouldn’t dismiss her dreams nor laugh at her and call her childish or silly. She leaned toward him and lowered her voice like she was sharing her secrets with him.
“We flew up and up and the tree ascended above the clouds until we reached the point where it was too cold for us to rise further. Millions of flowers that I have never seen blossomed in a million different hues. We dove down and skimmed the Bear River then we shot up once we reached the Grand Confluence. At the base of the tree, I saw the Citadel of Dreams.”
Butterflies somersaulted in her stomach. The thrill she had felt seeing the man on the Dreamer’s Throne was the most ecstatic sensation in her living memory. She could contain her euphoria as well as dried tinder could stop the spread of a forest fire. “The Dreamer’s Throne was not abandoned! The Children of Leverith were there! I saw a Leverian prince upon the throne!”
Karl exhaled, closed his mouth, and straightened his lips. “The Leverian Dynasty? You went back to the First Leverian Era?”
Sera smiled and nodded but she knew that she hadn’t been in the past. This was a secret she would keep to herself.
Alfread. Alfread. Alfread. Tesmelfrea. Einlevte, Firemaiden.
Sera’s heart quickened and she sucked in her little lips, imagining their kiss.
Love degraded into hate when she laid her eyes upon red flame insignias set against black fibers. The man inside the black and red robes didn’t have a noteworthy figure, but his presence could quiet a room. Since his denial of the Celegan threat, Sera had only seen flame and death when encountering the Archwizard Kai Blazelord. The traitor made way for the Ruby Tower.
Sera hurried after him and chased him up the steps leading to the Ruby Castle’s highest tower. In her rush to eavesdrop on him, she placed her hand against the tower’s outer wall and burnt it against the Seraxa-enchanted redstone. Sera pulled her hand back, marveling at how little the burns hurt. Sera opened one stray focus that pondered whether the enchantment was fading.
The tower that housed the royal family was aptly, if unoriginally and traditionally, named the Ruby Tower. Meladon’s mercy! My ancestors lacked creativity. Sera had taken to calling this primary tower ‘The Burning Tower.’ Alas, she might need to revise that to ‘The Mildly and Inconveniently Hot Tower.’ Her expression twisted as her fury and self-amusing humor tried to coexist.
Serapheena found the Blazelord on the highest floor standing at the doorway to her father’s overlook. He was barred by the massive figure of Sir Goren the Gigas, commander of the Crimsonblades. Sera swore that Goren must have ancestors that emigrated from the Gidiite Empire before their Celegan slaves overthrew them, extinguished their race, and took their place as the most vicious, totalitarian, imperialistic nation in the world. The Crimson Blade, a massive, glistening-red meladonite greatsword was sheathed behind the Gigas’s back, which made him seem even larger. Goren’s pigmentation was even paler than Sera’s, which was akin to saying this snowflake was whiter than that one.
The Gigas had a deep, harsh voice that made less courageous girls than Serapheena Ruby wince. “The king wants no disturbances while his family celebrates his daughter’s birthday.”
Kai followed Goren’s eyes to the stairwell. The Blazelord stepped toward her with a convincing false smile. “Blessed birthday, Princess Serapheena. The eighteenth is a milestone in one’s life.” The traitor had the audacity to extend his hand.
Sera folded her arms, hoping this wouldn’t be the only time she left him hanging. “We both know you are not here on my behalf, Blazelord. Do you bring news from your Celegan masters?” Sera flashed an exaggerated smirk in mockery of his false face.
“You’re a most intelligent and promising girl,” Kai said, his pedantic tone prophesizing his shit sandwich. “I look forward to the day you sit beside me at the Master Table. However, you’re no master on the Celegans.”
Nor am I their slave, a rarity in present company, Sera thought in one of her focuses.
“Their spiritual beliefs prevent them from sailing across the sea,” the traitor said. “Further, correlation isn’t the equivalent of causation. You could tune your brilliant mind into finding the true cause of the patterns you have found and make possibly the greatest academic discovery of our generation.”
Sera’s eyes widened and she put her hands on her cheeks. Her voice was even more dramatic, pitched high enough to sound like a girl half her age. “Dear Yadeen, how did I ever make such silly conclusions? Why would I not suspect a convoluted never-before-contemplated theory when the obvious truth is so inconvenient?” Sera sighed and folded her arms over her brawny chest. “Archwizard, it is almost as if the truth does not care about our traditions or our desires. In fact,” Sera nodded, “I stress the word fact because facts can be a challenge and a bother for many people to process. In fact, I daresay the simplest answer that accounts for the highest percentage of the data is the best answer. If only you could tune your,” Sera hesitated and cringed, “experienced mind into preserving Leveria you might be remembered as one of the greatest heroes in all our history.”
Sera felt the air grow cooler, the sign that a cognitive-affectomancer was pulling on Seraxa’s Flames. Sera was ready for an attack. She wasn’t prepared for the striking sincerity or the passion in his voice. He leaned toward her so close that she could feel the heat emanating from Pandemonium, his famed staff. “I promise you this and I swear it on each of the Divine Thirteen. All I do is to preserve Leveria.”
Prove it! Serapheena wanted to scream. She heard the door open behind Goren. One spare focus noted Sebreena in her periphery, while the others remained on Kai Blazelord. “You say I am no master of the Celegans. Yet, you have studied them extensively. I could think of no finer birthday gift for my brilliant mind than you delivering a lecture series on the Celegans. Perhaps you might convince me of the error of my reasoning, and,” Sera chose to say the quiet part out loud this time, “if I am right, you will have helped preserve Leveria as we face the greatest existential threat we have ever known.” She kept the quietest part to herself. If you are a traitor, this might give me the perfect opportunity to get you to reveal that and possibly the identities of other sycophants who might have defected with you.
“What a splendid idea!” Sebreena enthused. Without saying anything, Sebreena used her magical powers over men and both Goren and Kai moved aside as she stepped toward her sister. She walked like a princess, with shoulders high and back straight.
Sera couldn’t help but feel inconsequential as her sister fully entered her view. Sebreena wore a scintillating white and red dress that was snug in strategic places, accentuating Sebreena’s perfect curves. Sera’s shoulder-length flaming hair was tangled whereas Sebreena’s sleek-and-shiny cool-blue hair was extravagantly braided and adorned with red and white flowers. Worst of all—or best depending on perspective—was her sister’s face. Several of Sera’s focuses snapped onto memories of her own ugly reflection while one focus took in her sister’s unblemished face that was likely crafted by Leverith herself to be flawless in every conceivable way.
Sebreena opened her arms and embraced her. “Blessed birthday, Serapheena, wisest sister.”
Sera returned the embrace more tightly than was proper for a princess and pressed her head against the side of her twin’s. They were evenly matched in height. Leverith couldn’t even let Sera win that distinguished parameter. “Thanks, Sebreena.” Sera sniffed. “Smelliest sister.”
Sera broke off the hug in order to regain her breath. She made a dramatic show of choking.
Sebreena smiled. “Now, now, Sera, do you like the perfume?”
Sera chortled as Sebreena wrapped her arm around her, smothered her in that floral scent, and led her past Kai toward the royal overlook. Sera locked her arm tighter with her sister’s and gagged theatrically.
“It… is… potent,” Sera coughed, only partially performative. “I would wager it is lovely enough to trap an alfur. I think a subtle approach would work in your favor.”
“I might have gone too far with this perfume. The herbalist who sold it really needed the sale. She bought it for a premium from a Kavovan trader and nobody was buying.”
Now everyone will buy it to smell like Sebreena.
“That was sweet of you.” Sera nudged her twin affectionately. They called their mother the Good Queen, but Sebreena would have made a greater queen. Thanks to tradition, Sebreena would instead be a pretty thing to be sold to the highest bidder.
A grand table shaped like a perfectly cut ruby, a masterpiece made from redwood sequoia and topped gaudily with solid gold, looked out over the Dusk Sea. King Adameon, Queen Camellia, and Prince Adamo were already seated. Sir Braed and Sir Philibert of the Crimsonblades sat separately, in the hearth chairs, exotic seats made in Volqor from the bones and scales of a dragon. No fire burned in the hearths. The world already had enough fire during the Moon of Seraxa. Besides, The Mildly and Inconveniently Hot Tower had fire enchantments placed into its very stone that made the hearths no more than decorations during the chill of the winter moons.
Sera took in the view. Ruby Castle was built atop a massive cliff overhanging the Dusk Sea. The balcony provided an overlook from a height exceeding a thousand feet. The sea was a place of endless majesty, especially at dusk. It was the only thing that had kept them safe for so long. Yet, her smile was not for the ocean view. Princess Serapheena Ruby beamed at her family and did her best to be one of them.
“Serve the wine! Send for the comeliest man in all Ruby! The birthday girl is here!” Sera declared.
Prince Adamo chortled, and the queen smiled at her. Sera felt a spark of connection with her little brother and mother. King Adameon lowered his eyes and frowned at his more-expensive-than-a-village table. Sera wished that silent statement did not feel like he was stabbing her in her gut with Ruby Smile, his meladonite longsword. Balbaraq’s Balls! Even Sir Braed snorted at her joke, and he was about as sunny as the underside of a stone.
“Happy blessed birthday, sweetling,” Queen Camellia said in her polished voice. Ever the Good Queen, her mother had to use an extra word of endearment. To her credit, her mother was nothing but warm to her and she only wanted what she thought was best for Sera.
Alas, no matter how gently you shoved someone into a box, you were still shoving them into a box. It didn’t help that Sera would never fit in the box no matter how much her mother tried to squeeze her into it. Even with the combined powers of a queen and a mother, you couldn’t force a circle to be square. Sera merely wished that people could love the circle for what it was and see that it too had a place in the world of squares.
Servants entered with trays of chocolate chip muffins, bacon, sausage, and slabs of honey ham. The last servant had fruit wines from Noraligrove. Sera took her seat and quickly set her plate. “All of the breakfast essentials.” She winked at her mother, knowing she had arranged the meal.
Linus curled up on Sera’s lap and began to doze with his heavy head on her wrist. Sera was flanked by her siblings while her parents were seated on the opposite ends of the ruby Adameon was next to Adamo and Camellia next to Sebreena. Sera, as always, felt like the odd one out. Adamo was the image of a young Adameon and Sebreena had the same royal bearing as their mother, if not her darker, hardier Tandande features.
Camellia put her arm around Sebreena. “We are all together. That is the only thing in this world that is truly essential to me.” She shot a look at her husband.
“The Ruby is strong,” King Adameon added in his smooth tenor, “because we are together.” He met Sera’s eyes. “I have always found it fitting that you sit in the midst of us, Serapheena.” Sera’s mind rushed with skeptical thoughts of being the outlier in her family. Alas, her father slashed right through them. “You are the glue that holds us together. I love you.”
Sera felt a fierce fluttering in her stomach. For all that their eyes saw differently and all that their ideas diverged, her father’s affection had always been the most impactful upon her. It never came in great frequency, but it arrived in great intensity and its coming was more powerful for its usual absence. She smiled and felt her eyes moistening. Her voice seemed small for a woman so tall. “I love you too, father.”
I will protect you, even if you refuse to see the danger that you are in. I will see it for you, and I will shield us from those who would see our line sundered and burnt into oblivion.
“Blazelord!” Sir Goren yelled from the corridor.
The Ruby family glanced toward the door in unity. Kai Blazelord entered with Sir Goren on his heels.
“What is this, Kai?” the king demanded.
The most powerful wizard alive bent to one knee. “Your Grace, I bring terrible tidings.”
King Adameon sighed. “Let it wait until after breakfast. It is my Serapheena’s birthday.”
Kai looked deeply into the king’s eyes. “Your Grace, last we spoke on the subject, you told me to inform you immediately should it arise again.”
King Adameon pushed away from the table and stood. Sera’s attention snapped into focus. She had a feeling she knew who the subject was. The Celegan threat was easy to push away when a more apparent danger was right in front of you. What did it matter if that ‘danger’s’ letter to both kingdoms was clearly a plea for peace?
“The Bluerose girl?” he asked.
Kai’s expression was subtle, but anger tugged at his lips and eyes. His nose scrunched. He was an emotional man that worked hard to contain and control his nature. “The Sapphire would have us call her the second coming of Linus.” Sera’s cat perked up at the mention of his name and his ears stayed attentive. “That is a misnomer. She uses her twisted nature to destroy rather than mend. I would name her the Villain of Vulcan. I regret to inform you we can add another dreaded title to her name: The Monster of Ferrickton.”
“Ferrickton?” Queen Camellia spoke as if a part of her died inside.
The Blazelord nodded. “This Second Great Wizard murdered the Ferrickton town guard and decommissioned the iron mines.”
Sera was horrified by news of the atrocity. One focus commiserated with all the pain and suffering that Alexia Bluerose had caused in Ferrickton. Another focus reflected on the potentials of a Second Linus. A woman, Sera mused. How untraditional. Her remaining five streams of consciousness analyzed the implications of the Second Great Wizard and her attack on Ferrickton.
“She will pay!” Sebreena shrieked as if summoning the executioner. Sera felt for her sister. Whatever empathy for Ferrickton Sera was dealing with, Sebreena was magnifying thirteenfold. True to form, Sebreena had tears in her eyes, sharing in the pain of those who were most vulnerable.
Sera’s father gave no indication of rage or panic, though Sera perceived he had to be experiencing both to some degree. “Report the details, Kai,” the king coolly commanded.
Kai Blazelord released a sigh, then stood straight and delivered a lengthy report of Alexia Bluerose’s assault and sabotage of the Ferrickton mines on the eve of Zamael Waxing of last moon.
One focus branched off to lament how slowly news spread through the kingdom. Twenty-one days since the event occurred and they were only hearing about it now! The Bearbreakers should have sent word of this much sooner. The intensified battle in Mirrevar was no excuse for this delay. She would slap Wayn Bearbreaker so hard next time she saw him that he wouldn’t be able to do anything but wince for the next span! How she longed for the continental communication systems during the end of the Love Queen’s reign!
“We need to send aid to Ferrickton,” Queen Camellia urged. “They need our support. Coin. Food. Maybe even new guards to keep the beasts of the Red Forest at bay? Can our cognitive-affectomancers clear the tunnels?”
Her father thought less about aiding the few and more about the larger repercussions for the kingdom. “All that iron buried in stone.” He shook his head, lamenting the loss of his precious iron more than the people hurt. “This monster will sabotage every resource we have, and we will lose the Gemstone War. We must arrange for her death, Blazelord. Do you think Lira could defeat her?”
Kai opened his mouth but was overtaken by the unstoppable force that was the Crown Princess Sebreena Ruby. “She is not Linus come again!” The cat dug his claws into Sera’s robe and punctured into skin. “What will the people of Ferrickton do without their mine?”
The king was quick to deflect, “Let me know if you have any ideas.”
Sera rattled off her ideas, raising one finger per focus, “They can log the Red Forest. They can become a center of skilled iron workers. We can send Master Clintaeon and his apprentices to salvage the mines. We can levy soldiers to clear the wreckage instead of exacerbating the war that caused it. Ha!” Sera boomed with cheerfulness, “How about that, we could use taxes and tithe to actually help people instead of sending them to their deaths!”
She held up four fingers and gave herself no time to pause for the scowls around the room. “With help, they can hunt real monsters in the Red Forest, depleting the Celegan’s resources.” All five fingers of her free hand risen, she slammed them down onto the table. “Most importantly, they can spread the word of the Second Great Wizard’s mercy. Of how Alexia Bluerose took a miserable situation that spun out of her control and mitigated the misery she inflicted. Then we can answer by sending a delegation to meet with her in Mirrevar, trading an inevitable bloodbath that will kill thousands for the beginnings of the Second Great Peace.”
Sebreena folded her arms and glared at Sera with her fiery eyes. Adamo rubbed his chin, his gaze flitted from person to person, trying to determine what he should feel and think. Even the Good Queen frowned and shook her head, her disappointment a classic response to every step Sera had ever taken. Linus thrummed on Sera’s lap with purrs and nudged her arm with his head. Kai Blazelord kept his expression flat and still as he gazed across the sea toward his masters. Adameon scoffed. “She is a monster, Sera. All I shall send her is an assassin.” He turned to Kai, “Lira—”
Sera slammed her fists on the table. “She is a person condemned by our bloody traditions!” Her anger suffocated her agony. “Alexia tries her best minimize the pain she inflicts while carrying out the orders imposed on her by a tradition of hatred and violence.” She set her glare toward the Blazelord. “The Celegans are the monsters.”
King Adameon’s temper finally gave out. Sera had long been the only person that could break the master diplomat’s meladonite charm. “Do not force me to discuss this again! Not on your birthday!”
“I am trying to save you! Let me be the glue that keeps us bound together! Us used to be all of Leveria,” Serapheena pleaded.
“Us?” the king spat distastefully. “The Sapphire kills our fathers and sons, destroys our mines, razes our villages, rapes our people, steals our lands, and wages endless war. They are not us anymore, Serapheena! The Ruby and the Sapphire do not meld! Alexia Leveria’s blood flows through our veins; we are the true Leverian Kingdom!”
All of her focuses burned in anger and Sera was loud enough to shout over them all. “There has not been a true Leverian Kingdom for seven hundred and thirteen years! We are nothing more than misguided children pretending to be our parents after we killed our parents!”
“The only misguided child here is you!” the Queen yelled.
Her mother’s condemnation took the anger out of her and left her with nothing but agonizing sadness. Sera’s voice shook, “I am sorry to be such a disappointment to you all. I assure you that I hate my failure to be good enough for you even more than you hate me.” She pushed away from the table and launched out of her chair. Linus spilled off her lap, hissed, and twisted to land on his feet.
“We do not hate you,” her mother forced out. Her exasperated sigh did little to reassure Sera.
“No. Perhaps not,” Sera spat. “Just everything about me.”
“Sit down, Serapheena,” her father commanded.
Sera folded her arms and stood her ground.
“If you were not always trying to spoil our mood, maybe it would not be so hard to see that we love you,” the king added.
Sera stayed on her feet. “I would rather piss on your parade than shut my mouth and watch you die.”
“I will speak with you later, Your—
“No, we finish this now, Kai,” Adameon demanded. “How do we kill someone that is as powerful as the Bluerose girl?”
Kai bowed and nodded his head like an appropriately subservient traitor. He was good at it too. Not even the barest traces of a grin on his lips with his triumph.
The Blazelord opened his mouth but was again interrupted by a princess. Sera took her seat and resumed the ruining of yet another family meal. “Did you listen to the Archwizard’s report? Can you not see the love within this girl?”
The king didn’t even turn his neck to meet her eyes. “I must have been listening to a different report. One where she sabotaged one of our most valuable resources and murdered dozens of our citizens. She has as much love within her as a yasmar.”
“She channeled that windstorm and harmed none in her escape! What kind of monster worries about the safety of hundreds trying to kill her? The monster your eyes see would have sent them all into the chasm with no remorse. That monster would have murdered the Peacewatch pursuit rather than prevent them from chasing her! That monster does not exist!”
“The windstorm was a miscalculation,” Adameon retorted with the certainty of a meladonite blade and the dullness of tradition.
Sera smirked. She knew she was right. Truth would close in around her father on this point. She pressed hard. “Which is it, father? Is she an all-powerful monster or such a ninny that she accidentally and flawlessly saves hundreds?” Sera shook her head. “A miscalculation is when you hit the rim of the privy pot in the middle of the night and piss splashes on the floor and dribbles onto your foot. An all-powerful cognitive-affectomancer does not safely redirect a hostile mob of hundreds over an abyssal chasm without a single casualty by accident! How do you not see that?”
Sebreena leaned away from Sera. Her voice chilled Sera. “Say that to the orphans in Ferrickton, Sera. Tell them how much the monster who killed their parents loved them. Tell it to the widows. Tell it to the sons who supported their families in those mines. Tell it to the soldiers and settlers who escaped Vulcan, having lost everyone they lived beside for the past few years. Tell it to the dead.”
The proud glint in the eyes of the king and queen as they gazed at Sebreena was easily the most painful thing to happen in the room. Echoes of a thousand times this scene had been performed resounded in her mind and seven streams of consciousness multiplied their volume. Sera lowered her head and tried to stop the tears from falling. She had almost managed to hold them at bay until she saw her horrid face reflected on the golden tabletop.
The Blazelord broke the solemn silence. “I will consult with Master Tidecaller, Your Grace. When you seek me out at tonight’s ball, I will offer some options for eliminating Bluerose.” He went for the exit but couldn’t resist basking in his triumph. “Master Serapheena.”
Sera raised her tear-veiled eyes to the triumphant traitor. His sympathetic gaze helped her filter rage into the pit of pure sadness she had fallen into. She wanted to rip out his treacherous trachea and gag him with it. “Your intentions are pure. You seek to end the war, preserve your family, and make Leveria whole. Our purposes are the same. I won’t always agree with your conclusions, but I will always listen to them. For instance, you make valid points about the girl’s windstorm. It would have been far easier for her to use lethal force, but she tried very hard to keep them alive. I wonder whether her intent was to preserve lives or tales of her power. Thanks to you, I will search hard for options to restrain Alexia’s powers in gold. If she is the person you believe, I would give her a chance to prove that. Have a blessed birthday.”
Kai Blazelord bowed, having delivered what he must have believed an award-winning performance of sincerity. Sera fixed her eyes on him, trying to burn the lies out with a glare. “I will never give up on my family,” she told him. Even though they give up on me.
Kai nodded. “You don’t have to help them alone, Master Serapheena.”
Kai turned and strode for the door.
“I know,” Sera hollered at his heels. Kai Blazelord smiled back at her, but she had no further eyes, ears, or words for the traitor.
Within her, a focus burned with hope that she wouldn’t be alone for long.
Alfread. Alfread. Alfread…