Rosamund? Are you awake? Don’t panic. No. I’m not dead, and neither are you for the time being. Sonya has placed you under a sedative. You cannot move, nor speak, but I promise that you won’t see anything unpleasant like before. She is… magnificent, with what she can do.

You are the only royalist worthy of an explanation. I have hurt and killed people. I am not finished. Your father will be next, and, unfortunately, you will follow after. It is an unfortunate jape from the world, a cruel thing that you must leave the earthly courts for your father’s sins. I voiced my objections, yet my master remained unmoved by my pleas. The Greenfire bloodline must be purged. Your father took entire families from this world. Now I must take his.

Blink if you can understand what I just told you? Good.

I was a boy of thirteen when I witnessed my own mother and sister burn at the stake in front of my eyes. I was living in a village not far from Ravenhelm, my family foolishly believing that his reach would not stretch so far away from New Jade. His little puritan sect arrived one day, regardless. A plague was ravaging the world. In their desperation, my mother and countless others gave gifts and sacrifices for spirits and demons alike. Slaughtering a goat in an attempt of appeasement was the worst she did. Violet Light thought the plague a punishment on humanity for my mother and many others’ heresy.

My mother went willingly to the pyre. My sister they had dragged out by her hair. I was to burn too, but managed to flee. I watched my whole world crackle away from behind the twig and thorns of a nearby hidden thicket.

The next night, I snuck into the Witchfinder General’s cabin after his long day of burnings. I cut a red smile across his throat.

It was the first time the universe truly felt just to me. If you want bad men to get their dues, you must deliver them yourself. No spirit or God will do it for you.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I spent the next months on the run until I found another village under Violet Light’s occupation. I beat those Witchfinder generals to within an inch of their lives. They awoke tied to a pyre of my own design. I ensured them that the flames would start small, burning around their ankles and slowly making their way to the rest of their worthless persons. They did not deserve to burn away quickly. They would scream and cry, desperately proclaiming their remorse over their actions. I would savour the orange hues caressing my face as I watched their skin shrink and pop.

Some nights passed before I awakened to a figure standing in my room, watching me through the eyes of a hideous mask that you yourself have become familiar with. I thought I had finally met my end, yet he made me a most enticing offer. The Inferno Clan taught me the true power of fire. The deadliest weapon on this pitiful planet.

My master showed me how although it can seem scary at first, it can also bend to your will. It is a beast that can be tamed and directed at people more deserving of its fury. Like those Night Fangs, your little blue guardian adores.

I can see in your eyes that you think I am a monster. Perhaps you’re right. I lost my humanity long ago. I wasn’t physically on that burning pyre with my sister and mother, but my soul was. Truly, I am not the one to blame. Your father is. The Duke even had his own wife burned when he caught her preying to an Arkovian deity that wasn’t his own. Reynard Woodard sat idly by Sigismund’s side as countless women and men were strung up and set alight. Anastasia merely shut herself away from it, pretending everything was fine, pathetically turning to the bottle for comfort. Even Elizabeth. Fair Elizabeth. As much as I did once cherish her, the bitch was happy to ignore her father and King’s vile deeds after learning of them. The victims were not rich and of matching power to her, so what did it matter?

I am sorry that you must learn about your father’s atrocities this way. I must leave now. The sedative will wither soon. Remain in your room until I return. I have a guard stationed outside. He will not be as soft-spoken as me if you try to escape so I trust that you will heed my command.

When it is time for your end, I promise to make it quick. Unlike your father’s.

Remain strong, Rosamund. Fire will free us all eventually.