During dinner, I felt like I was the main course.The local residents questioned me about everything, starting from silk prices in Tevarr to my family, from weather to the royal palace.I squirmed like I was in a hot pan, trying to avoid telling too much. I was pretty good at that.By the end of dinner, Amorta graced me with a smile and a suggestive look from her thin eyelashes, while Sidon thawed out and started to tell me his hunting stories. If they had been true, all the beasts in Radenor wouldn’t be enough for him.I listened to them, nodded, and was finally rewarded with seeing the heir: Sidon’s complete copy. He had Amorta’s ears, but was the spitting image of his father otherwise.Maybe that was why he cherished the child so much. Innis was way too smart, sharp, and independent, not to mention, entirely Andago in her appearance.Blood couldn’t be locked away. I had to coo for a bit, while discreetly collecting a few stray hairs from the baby’s clothes.Let’s see if he’s truly
I was barely moving my lips, but she definitely heard me, as she ran her hand over her hair and all of a sudden, broke down in tears. It had been a while since I had felt myself that stupid.Still, Martha didn’t cry for long. She raised her head high.“Alex, boy, yer alive!”And there was so much love and happiness in her voice. She didn’t care about herself at all, the main thing was my safety.I couldn’t help but blurt out, from the bottom of my heart, “Mother…”Truly, the mother is not the one who gave birth.“I was so scared for you. After we spoke, I ran off here, yer snake led me. Everything’s quiet, but the ghosts are all afraid. Lots of templars in the palace, all tip-toeing ‘round yer wifey. Methinks, ‘twas the bitched viper who started all this, mark me word!”“Mother, but where’s Tommy? Rene?”“Tommy’s on the lam, he’s taking his wife to Rick. Rene and his pa high-tailed, too. Probably hiding somewhere, ‘lest they lose their knobs in the heat.”“Did somebody get—”“Yep. The
“How do you know about the charm spells?”“How could I not! Innis, do you know that your mother had an elder brother?”Innis grew pale.“Y-yes. But he’s...”“Disappeared without a trace. Why would Sidon Andago need him?”I caught the girl so she wouldn’t faint.“Tell me more, you corpse!”That tone finally made him pay attention. The ghost looked at me once more, I released my power, and it was his turn to become pale—or, rather, translucent.“By the Bright! You—”“Yep. Me. And if you don’t answer me right now, I will burn your chicken coop to the ground!”The spirit sighed and began telling his story. He was also a necromancer, who, by a cruel twist of fate, had become a healer.If you make a drawback your advantage, you can heal with the power intended to destroy, that was true.I had never been taught that, but the Andago family seemed no stranger to experimentation.Anyway, Tidann had died like he was supposed to. But during his lifetime, he had conducted trials in that same labor
I am a half-demon.Oh, why have you all gone pale? Afraid I'm going to leap at you and rip your throats out? I'm not. First, that would be really messy, and second, there are oh so many ways to kill a man in a much faster and more efficient manner.Why are you making the sign of the Bright Saint? I am no vampire, no spirit of darkness, not even a pureblood demon. Actually, I could even enter a church without any problems. I don't, though. There are a few reasons. First of all, I'm lazy. The service starts at dawn, as you are well aware, even a bit earlier. Why would I get out of my warm bed to drag myself somewhere and wail together with the parishioners? Dream on. The other reason is no less important. The people are so sure I'm scared of all that holy paraphernalia-no use in disappointing them. I'd rather that become the last thing they learn in their lives. Yeah, you know what I mean. They wouldn't be disappointed anymore af
Upon the arrival of the royal delegation to the dukedom, everything seemed fine...at first. But then, during the first night they spent on foreign turf, a fire broke out in the palace. At that time, Uncle was quite busy...with Abigail.When a noble knight and a noble lady deign to procreate, they won't notice a roof falling on their heads, and they didn't, before it was too late. They managed to leap out of the window, but two of their children and a part of the retinue all perished, suffocating to death in their sleep. It happens a lot during fires. First, it's the smoke, then the flames. The majority of the attendants suffocated as well. The minority, mostly Abigail's aunts and uncles, in-laws, and other forty-second cousins, all survived. Princess Michelle did as well. She was one of the first to escape. She tried to put the fire out, calm it down, make it disappear as hard as she could. She failed.Abigail accused her of starting the fir
I told you about the seven types of magic. Of them all, death mages are the least popular. They're also called necromancers. Why? Say thanks to the Bright Saint and his followers. They needed an enemy, didn't they? Their parishioners needed to be scared and repulsed. And what's more disgusting than the undead? Or ghouls?Personally, I always found gaudy courtiers way more disgusting than any cadavers, but that's me. If you show a peasant a living corpse, his pants won't stop stinking until the cows come home. So the necromancers were exterminated-burned, drowned, beheaded with silver, run through with wooden stakes. Nobody had any mercy for them or their families. Nobody would take mercy on that girl either. Her name was Martha Fael, and like the princess, she was seventeen. Mentally, she was much older, though. Sometimes, life forces you to grow up.Martha was far from pretty. She was thin as a rake and had black hair, dark eyes, and skin a
Prince Rudolph turned red with anger. Meanwhile, the princess didn't waste any time. She turned her gaze to the captain and said, "Captain, it is not right to badmouth a poor girl. Maybe your tongue didn't work because of your spite? Still, you got lucky. They say the tongues of slanderers fall off for good. And their noses rot, as if from a horrible disease. Isn't that right, Martha?"Martha stared at the prince and smiled, baring all forty of her teeth. "'Tis the honest truth," she said. "Your Highness, the Bright Saint puts a mark on an evildoer. His nose rots, his tongue withers, his eyes leak out of their sockets..."And she used some of her power. A wave of cold spread throughout the room, driving both the prince and the captain away-quick and efficient.The next day, the royal party started on their way back. Michelle insisted on it, saying she would recover more quickly in her homeland. Nobody said out loud that Henry needed to get away from the duchy as
I think you've already guessed which boy the princess wanted to bear. That's right, a half-demon. Me.It took two moons for Michelle to reach Torrin. All this time, Martha, Rick, and Henry were trying to dissuade her from her plan. They were too late. Michelle had already set her heart upon that idea as if a flame was burning inside her-a scary, black, mad flame. She had chosen her path and had no intention of changing her mind. In response to all their questions, she simply shook her head. Only once, she gathered her friends and told them her mind."You think me mad? You're wrong. I hoped you would understand everything yourself. Rick must, even if not quite. And yet it's simple. What do people think about me right now? That I'm a criminal, acquitted by her own father-a kinslayer, an arsonist, a witch. Abigail and her entourage made sure of that. Rudolph trusts her as if the Bright Saint himself sent her down to earth. And what awaits me after Father's d