”A curse upon you, son! Your greed is your undoing and doom. Your secret will be discovered and the people will hate you just as I do. Your kind is an abomination!”
I shuddered as the last words of my father flooded my mind. Even after fifty decades, the haunting words plagued my eyelids when they closed in sleep every single night.
That night played fresh in my dreams every day. The way I lunged at him from behind the grand piano after the dagger I flung at him froze and clattered to the marble floor shocked me.
King Dahl Imago staggered a little, horrified by the speed at which the dagger moved. I expected it to pierce his chest and impale him to his favourite landscape painting draped on the wall behind him.
He wasn't horrified by the attempted act of patricide—we hated each other. Or rather he hated me first because his favourite son, Sage, drowned and died when we went fishing at my behest. As a family of strong blood magic, Sage inherited it but I didn't. I had no value in my father's eyes—a weakling and mundane being as he often called me.
I mourned Sage; he was my elder brother and best friend. Father never forgave me. In his eyes, I would never compare to his rightful heir and beloved son.
He vowed to relinquish the throne to a more worthy son. My mother tried several times and failed to birth to a son. She birthed a girl so he banished them both to the far lands and married a younger noblewoman. That was the last straw.
I was only fifteen but I fought him on the night of his wedding and he beat me to stupor with a simple wave of his hand. I ran away that night and did not return until five years later.
I became different and the price was my life.
The entire kingdom was suffering and once this news reached me, I knew it was time to return home. I might not be endowed with magical powers like Father and Sage but I would save my people.
It was a night of celebration when I stealthily crept into the kingdom. The king was marrying another noblewoman, a princess from the Druid lands. The former queen died birthing a stillborn female child.
When the celebration was over and Father was in his private room, sipping wine from a goblet before going to see his bride, I opened the door and stepped in. His bulging eyes brought a smile to my face. His nostrils flared as he sniffed in my scent. He knew.
“From a weakling and mundane to an abomination!” He spat, mouth curled into a sneer of hatred as he threw the goblet into the hearth. The fire hissed and the flame rose high. My smile widened into a grin, revealing the full length of my sharp canines.
Before he could recover from the shock of seeing that his son was no longer human but a creature of the night, feared in all kingdoms, I unsheathed my dagger and threw it at him. His magic froze it in the air just as the sharp tip almost grazed his Adam's apple, causing it to clatter to the floor.
I did not spare another second to let him recover. Instead, I moved at a preternatural speed and next my claws were hooked around his neck, ready to dig in. Father gasped and knew there was no escape for him. Then he cursed me as my claws sank into his warm neck and the blood flowed.
I became the king and worked to set things right in the kingdom. No one suspected or knew what I was. All my governance activities and council meetings only took place at night, when the sun had set. Only my butler, Krow, knew what I was and he swore on his life to keep my secret.
Until he grew greedy and wanted a seat on the council. And I refused his request.
The haunting caw of the crow in the dead of night made my senses tingle. The hairs rose on the back of my neck as my ears picked up riotous sounds from afar. A large crowd was advancing towards the palace and they were protesting the removal of “the beast”.
My heart sank in pain and dread. After devoting a part of my immortal existence to making life better for them, these people forgot the past and listened to the lies peddled by my butler.
The door to my private study creaked as someone entered. I glanced at my baby sister, Nadaya. Well, no longer a baby but a grown adult of twenty years. She smiled hesitantly. “Krow told me…things…I didn't want to believe him.”
I sighed and held her hands. “Do you hate me?”
“Never, brother. Never. Why didn't you tell me?”
“I did it to be better, Nadaya.”
She locked her arms around my waist and laid her head on my chest. I placed my chin on her head, feeling the rhythmic pulse in the centre of her head. “What are you going to do? He's riled the people up and they are coming here.”
“You'll be queen in my place. Can you do that?”
She tipped her back to look at me. “I…me?”
“Yes, you. I'll write a relinquishment on a royal parchment now and give you the seal. That will make the people feel better. But, you must arrest Krow and have him tried for treason or he will unseat you.”
She nodded, her eyes fearful and darting around the room in confusion. Her heart was racing as well. “Nadaya, calm down. The people love you and I will not be far away. This is my home. You are my home.”
I handed the royal parchment to my sister as she sat on the throne chair, adorned in a shimmering white gown with the crown on her head. She held the parchment to her chest like a shield, waiting for the people to come through the door. I instructed the guards to protect her with their lives.
With a final look at the palace, I pulled the hood of my black cloak over my head and slipped away under the cover of darkness into the shadows, to a place where no man would find me. A loner haunted by my father's curse. Yet I was never far away from my kingdom.
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