After Ursa returned to the palace successfully, she was quiet for the rest of the night. She laid in bed, unable to shut her eyes and let sleep take over her. What those men in the pub said kept replaying in her head over and over again, like a broken music stone.There was so much she still didn’t know about Ivan, and she was so easily blinded by his kind gestures and handsome face. She wanted to know more about him, especially if she was to live the rest of her life tied to him by the strings of Qader. Tossing back and forth, Ursa finally decided to get up and make her way to the library. It was the middle of the night, but that was nothing a small candle and a long shawl to cover herself with couldn’t fix. Cecily and Emery slept in the room opposite of the library, so she didn’t need to worry about waking her up. Avoiding the servants

*TW: r*peA young girl, barely seventeen, was brought to  her knees in front of the imposing king, sitting high and mighty on his throne. Her blonde, almost white locks of hair fell forward, covering her face. “Do you know why you have been brought here?” The scrawny attendant said with false authority. The girl shook her head, shivering from fear. How did she end up in this situation? Leila had come to Ichares with hope in her heart. There had been positions opening in the palace after some rumors had run rampant about the king’s behavior. However, Leila came from a poor family from the countryside, and her father was terribly sick and needed money for treatment. The moment Leila heard how much they would pay, she packed her bags and hopped on the first carriage out of her small v

Leila couldn’t tell how long she had been walking, all she knew was that she had been walking for a long time. Her bare feet ached and were caked with mud, and her loose nightgown was torn at the edges. The sheet she had wrapped around her body was dragged through the dirt road, and smelled of animal feces and grass. Occasionally a carriage would pass by, and Leila would hide behind the nearest cover, be it a tree or a rock. The road was on the open, dead grass, and it was quite hard to hide all the time, so she covered her face with the disgusting sheet, despite its horrendous odor. It took the entire night for Leila to walk the twelve mile journey to the guard’s hometown. No doubt it would have been a shorter trip, if not for Leila’s fugitive status and the fact that she was heavily pregnant. When the sun rose over the horizon, L

Everyday Ivan would be brought to the Vrian Council, where he would learn basic magic skills. When one is so young and so powerless against his oppressors, it conquers the mind and soul, where one is left nothing else but a drive to learn the mysteries of the greater power. He would pour over books about magic for hours on end, exasperating his grandmother to no end. His grandmother didn’t particularly like him. Whenever his grandmother looked at his tan skin and dark hair, she was reminded of the suffering her daughter went through, and the beating that their reputation took. His mother alone was the only person in the entire world who accepted him for who he was. Ivan constantly felt the need to prove himself to his peers, the councilors and even his family. That he was enough, that he wasn’t a burden, but a gift. He even dug out his grandfather’s rusty old sword and would swing i

Kassio Orlov didn’t want to attend court that morning. According to his father, the current Prime Minister, there was an esteemed position waiting for Kassio because of his achievements. Orlov didn’t want anything to do with the current king or his dynasty. His family had long been silent critics of the king’s policies and military pursuits, but Orlov’s private studies had long produced him with the opinion that the current governing body was a ruinous system. But what could he do? Orlov had still yet to graduate from his studies! He sat silently at his father’s side, who was nervously tapping his fingers on the edge of his desk. The doors to the court room opened, announcing the arrival of the special guest. “His Highness the Seventh Prince, Prince Ivan!” Orlov craned his neck to get a good look at the youn