ă€ŠMoonfire &amp; Midnightă€‹


 Chapter 1

    This was an outrage.

    Insulting, belittling, infuriating.

    A lifetime of training, years of acquaintance, endless negotiations for engagement, and in the span of a week, he threw her away for another.

    Now, instead of an ornate carriage heading for one the largest estates in the kingdom, she was in a military transport, hastily decorated by someone who''d clearly never spent any time in High Society and headed to an estate that hosted military drills instead of luncheons.

    Not that she didn''t like a good thrash from time to time, but she also enjoyed an evening of music and dancing, and the Camelia, despite its name, was an estate that hadn''t hosted a ball or celebration of any kind in a hundred years. It was at the far edges of the kingdom, along the eternally disputed borderlands.

    It was a place Eirian Soliel, daughter of the Grand Duke of the Isles of Smoke and niece of the King himself, had never had to concern herself with before. At five and twenty, she had spent her entire life so far in the capitol, Aontacht, enjoying the freedom and attention being the closest female relation to the crown brought her.

    She had expected to enjoy it for another year before entering into marriage with the heir to the Barony of Water. She and Philip had grown up together in the capitol, learning to navigate the complicated and often threatening environment of power and privilege. Their games had dragged on for years before she had given in to the begging, and he had finally broached the topic of marriage.

    Promises he had made in private over the course of the year-long negotiations and all their previous years of acquaintance had apparently meant nothing.

    Eirian had thought they were on the same page, planning to announce their engagement at the last ball of the season, her birthday celebration! When instead, he''d shown up with Lady Abigail Partha. No doubt a beauty, but she was from an impoverished house, a line long out of favor with the crown. She had, in Eirian''s opinion, far too bland a personality for someone of Philip''s intelligence and interests.

    He''d managed to keep up with Eirian after all.

    She''d been so stunned, so enraged, that she''d thrown a glass of wine on the woman when they had come over to tell her of the engagement and promptly left the party.

    According to her stepmother, her tantrum had ended the party early and sent society into a storm of gossip.

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    It was that same stepmother who''d helped arrange this farce of a marriage. She was only a year older than Eirian. They''d been friends by circumstance before, part of a small generation of girls who had entered society after the conclusion of the Twilight War. Eirian had almost considered her an actual friend after a few seasons together, but then she''d set her eyes on Eirian''s widower father.

    What had followed had been a year of ridiculous displays of wealth and coquettish eyelash fluttering that bordered on inappropriate.

    Eirian had known it wouldn''t be good for her the moment it had begun. Philip was supposed to be her way out of that house, but instead, he''d chosen a woman who was practically a commoner, and as soon as her stepmother had given birth to a son, Eirian''s exile to a distant land had been assured.

    Perhaps she had spent too long enjoying herself. For most of her life, she had not ever expected her father to remarry. He had spent nearly a decade in mourning clothes after her mother''s death, and yet, one day with an infant son was enough for him to send his beloved daughter away.

    She understood his logic, of course. A son would carry on his bloodline, while Eirian would always marry into another family. Unless she had multiple sons, the lines would be combined into a new one instead of remaining independent.

    Given her Uncle''s bad luck in siring children healthy enough to survive to adulthood, her father and stepmother no doubt held hopes of a throne in the future.

    Never mind that Eirian was extremely well educated, strong in magic, and skilled in negotiation. Her father was old-fashioned in his beliefs about women, and while he had indulged Eirian, it turned out it had only ever been thatˇŞan indulgence.

    The carriage bounced violently and tilted dangerously. She winced as her head bounced off the wall.

    Weren''t these things supposed to be sturdy? She thought viciously, doing her best not to lean against anything that could jab too painfully with every bump. At this rate, half her things would be broken by the time she arrived.

    It had been a twelve-day journey, moving from dawn until dusk each day, and they would still not arrive until just before twilight.

    She still had hours to go and nothing to do but think about how wrong everything had gone. To wonder what kind of man her new husband was. All those in the capital knew about him was his refusal to visit them. Somehow, he''d managed to keep the favor of the king despite never presenting himself, but she supposed that more understandable. He commanded the defenses along the borderlands and, thus far, had been successful in keeping out any invaders.

    And yet, he was her senior by several years and remained unmarried, childless, and uninterested in alliances in society.

    Was he so boring?

    So ugly?

    So cruel?

    It mattered little in the end, she knew. The marriage agreement was ironclad, and Lili was well and truly trapped. If she tried returning to the capital, she''d be laughed right back out and likely returned to the Camelia in chains.

    She would have to make a new life for herself in this barren land, in this loveless marriage.

    She collapsed back in her seat as the road finally smoothed out and pondered her future.

    Her husband.

    A small smile came to her face.

    He could always die on their wedding night.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 2

    By the time the caravan had crossed into the territory belonging to the Camelia, Eirian was well and truly considering murder.

    There was some element of self-defense, after all. It was entirely possible her new husband was planning the same. Or to lock her away in a tower somewhere.

    There were plenty of cliffs to accidentally hurl her off of.

    The land that belonged to the Camelia was dramatic and dour, with dramatic cliffs, deep gorges, and rushing rivers as dark as the night sky. And nary a level surface in sight. The Camelia''s lands stretched for hundreds of miles along the Borderlands between the Land of Sorrow and the Land of Song and Snow.

    It was one of the largest bloodline estates in the land, but its inability to grow anything substantial and its constant battling with the wild tribes that inhabited the lands between and refused to recognize either made it an undesirable place by many standards.

    It housed the great force, the Crimson Army, which protected the kingdom from invasions from the East. Indeed, from everything she understood of the region, the estate called the Camelia was, in fact, an incredibly large military fortress.

    No wonder they hadn''t thrown a ball in a hundred years.

    The carriage rocked to a stop, and Eirian reminded herself that it was a two-week journey back the other way. If they were in any shape to make it again so soon.

    There was a fuss outside, raised voices, and the slamming of carriage doors. The Camelia had sent her entire escort. They''d been in such a rush to get on the road that they''d even skipped proper introductions, and most of what Eirian got at night and in the morning was. "Hurry, My Lady." and "Rest well, My Lady."

    She had livelier conversations with the carriage walls.

    "...the carpet."

    "Hurry."

    "Make it flat."

    "How''s the carpet supposed to be flat when the ground''s not flat?"

    "Truly, a riveting conversation."

    Well, that last one was Eirian to herself as she gave up waiting and wrenched open the carriage door. There was a faded red carpet spread unevenly over the ground, leading from the doorway of her carriage to...

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    The cliff''s edge.

    Had her dear husband-to-be decided to have his men kill her before she even reached the estate? And in such a dramatic manner.

    Well, if they thought she was going to willingly walk to her own death. They had another thing coming.

    She hopped down from the carriage, pulling her magic around her until it sparked and sizzled. She''d been trapped in the carriage for twelve days. A good fight would be a nice way to stretch her legs and warm her up for whoever came after her next.

    Except when she swept out, she got a series of started yelps and a complete lack of sharp blades.

    It was rather disappointing, actually.

    The guards were all young, clad in the black light armor that bore the symbol of the Camelia. A ruby camelia and sword were carved into the chest plate. It was a symbol that hadn''t changed in hundreds of years, and it showed. It was a bit... clunky. Old fashioned compared to those she''d seen in the capital.

    There was a handful of maids in various tones of grey, and even they were armed. Was there anyone

    They stared at her in surprise, like rabbits caught in snares, and then threw themselves into low bows with a chorus of "Milady."

    Eirian stared at them, "So...no fight then?" Her magic fizzled out, the air around went still and bland.

    The guards and maids shared confused looks. "What fight, Milady?"

    They were no threat, Eirian realized. Most of them were younger than her. They''d probably never left the Camelia, though a few of them bore scars that came from battle.

    There was something... hanging on them. No, around them. Clinging. A misery? A darkness?

    No, she realized, a miasma. Something sickly and terrible that had dug its roots in. There wasn''t enough of it to be anchored in one of them, but they''d spent significant time with whoever it was.

    None of them realized it was there. How had they missed it?

    "Never mind. Why are we stopped?"

    The maids straightened, and the guards rushed to finish straightening the carpet.

    One of the maids, a dour young woman with her hair pulled back into a severe bun, stepped forward. "We thought you might like to stop and see."

    Eirian glanced around.

    There was nothing there. Just the expanse of horizon in every direction and the endless sky. They had to be on one of the highest peaks in the area, overlooking a good chunk of the Camelia''s vast estate.

    Which looked like nothing more than a long expanse of ghost canyons as far as she could see, and from this height, they simply looked like flat ground; only the closest gorges could be spotted. It wasn''t exactly the terrain of her favorite adventure novels or her stepmother''s beloved romantic nonsense.

    She raised an eyebrow. It was her favorite expression. Her stepmother had complained about it constantly, convinced it wasn''t ''lady-like.''

    Eirian didn''t take advice on how to be a lady from a twenty-something who seduced and married a man forty years her senior in the name of wealth and influence.

    Eirian firmly believed that if you were going to be that ridiculous, you should only do it for love.

    She sighed; they all seemed terribly excited, but now that the threat was gone, she was mostly just tired and hungry. She didn''t want to stop and see the sights. "What, exactly, am I supposed to be looking at?"

    They scrambled into formation, lining the faded carpet, and Eirian gave in for the sake of moving things along and stalked to the end of it.

    To the edge of the cliff.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 3

    The world looked much different at the edge of the cliff.

    For one, at the edge, it stopped looking like a flat expanse with a few shadows and became a massive landscape of steep cliffs that fell thousands of feet, leaving gorges so deep she could barely make out the rivers that ran along the bottom and left a few pillar-like mountains that stood alone among the crisscrossing veins.

    A few stubby plants grew in the cracks in the rock but nowhere near what should have been with the amount of water in the rivers below. It almost reminded her of the epic fjords in the lands near the fabled White City far in the south, but it lacked the roar that came with those waters and the greenery that was the stuff of fables.

    Not even its namesake red flower grew here anymore.

    This land was cast in shades of grey and black under a matching sky.

    The only spot of color was the military estate below her. At the cliff''s edge, she could finally see it.

    The heart of the Camelia was a sprawling fortress built across several of the deepest gorges and along several cliff faces. It was a miniature city, spiraling outward from the huge keep that housed several impressive buildings and a large courtyard. Dozens of gatehouses, guard towers, and battlements guaranteed that any attacker would bleed themselves dry trying to take the entire place.

    A series of short stone bridges and longer wood and rope bridges connected all the separate smaller castles with one another and the heart in the center.

    All the buildings were made with black volcanic stone, as dramatic as their design, with hauntingly tall towers and looming xie-shan-style roofs that draped far beyond the walls. Like the fancy umbrellas that had been all the rage in the capital a decade ago. All the roofs were a faded red that had probably been stunning once upon a time.

    How utterly and pointlessly dramatic, Eirian thought. Whoever designed it had been painfully obvious that they were trying to make a point.

    There was one interesting thing, though.

    The same miasma that lingered on the guards and maids hung over the entire fortress. So thick and heavy it looked like a layer of molasses covering everything. The smaller buildings and courtyards were impossible to see through.

    There was a sickness here, she realized. A poison that was slowly sinking into every stone, every tile, every person. She''d never seen a poisoning this strong or one that was dense enough to infect the very foundations of a building.

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    Was it even possible to heal this level of infection? Could any of the buildings even be salvaged?

    Could any of the people?

    She glanced back and started. They were all staring at her, still in formation, with hopeful smiles on their faces.

    "What do you think, Milady?" The dour maid beamed, and it looked out of place on her. "Is the Camelia not the most beautiful place you''ve ever seen?"

    Had the poison driven them mad?

    Did.... did they even realize it was there?

    How could they miss it?

    But they were still staring at her, still waiting for her to speak, to agree no less.

    Like some cult.

    If the common maids and guards were like this, what shape was her future husband in?

    Eirian could fight off the poison. Her magic was first rate and she worked on it constantly. Next to the bow and her horsemanship it was her best form in combat.

    Although, she wasn''t bad with a sword either. The upside of a father who''d desperately wanted a son.

    She''d been expecting to have to fight for her life here. Granted, in a social standing way, not an actual fight.

    Though...she had considered killing her to-be husband on their wedding night.

    Maybe it would be less of a survival killing and more of a mercy killing. This kind of poisoning probably couldn''t be cured anyway.

    And then Eirian wouldn''t have to worry about whatever it was that had kept her husband single this long.

    ...She''d be stuck with this place.

    ...By herself.

    Maybe she wouldn''t kill him immediately. At least, not until she''d gotten a handle on the place or figured out if it was even salvageable. He had to know about the poison. Where did it come from? What was it exactly? Why was it there?

    Who was responsible? Because that would explain the rest, wouldn''t it?

    What was the point of such a long-term poisoning? Besides, it''s complete annihilation, anyway.

    "Milady?"

    Eirian sighed. She needed more information, but at least this would be a nice distraction from all her other problems. "Fine. I mean, it''s...nice."

    They beamed. So eager to please.

    "Let''s go. I''d like to see it up close."

    "Of course!" One of the guards rushed to brush a peddle off the carpet, another to open the door for her, but Eirian wasn''t getting back in that uncomfortable thing on pain of death.

    The road led down the cliffside to one of the stone bridges leading to a smaller castle and gatehouse. Meant to serve as a guard for the main castle, but it was all close enough that she could stretch her legs. Get a close-up look at the palace and the poison.

    She started walking and listened with half an ear to the commotion behind her as they scrambled to adapt to her sudden change of plans.

    What was the lord of this place like? The people of the Camelia were mixed breed. The Land of Sorrow produced tall, fair-haired people, broad in the shoulders and hips. Eirian was on the shorter side at only five foot four, but she had pale blond hair and the fair skin of her people.

    Speaking of which, the gloom here certainly wasn''t going to help her complexion. It was a good thing she hadn''t skimped on bringing all her beauty products.

    The people of the Land of Song and Snow were petit compared to her own. Often with dark hair and matching almond-shaped eyes. They were generally shorter, so maybe Eirian would be the tall one for once.

    That would actually be nice. She''d hated being short as a child, and while she''d accepted being petite as an adult, it had always been a disadvantage, especially when so many of her hobbies were combat-related.

    Was he the typical sotic man of Snow and Song?

    .... No, no, he wasn''t.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 4

    Ye Chenzhou, Lord of the Camelia, General of the Crimson Army, First Sword of the Empire, was nothing like Eirian had been expecting.

    For one, he had several inches on her. Which, while it was a small matter that affected nothing more than her pride, was annoying because this should have been the one place where Eirian was the tall one, and somehow she''d turned up a husband who managed to be the exception to his own genetics.

    Tall and lithe and now she was stuck being the short one again...maybe a wedding night death was still on the table.

    Two, while he had the dark hair and matching almost shaped eyes she''d been expecting, there was almost a gentleness to the slope of his eyes and the tilt of his lips. He had, she was annoyed to admit, beautiful features. Not overly masculine, but not feminine either. A strong jaw and pale skin. Every strand of his inky black hair was pulled into a perfect top knot and set with an intricate guan.

    Dressed in spotless ceremonial armor and robes in red and black, he''d greeted her with perfect steps but a stiffness and a guarded expression that suggested she wasn''t the only one unhappy with this arrangement.

    His court stood a few paces back, an interesting arrangement of men and women of several ages and the mixed genetics one would expect in a borderland between two such different empires.

    "Welcome to the Camelia," Ye Chenzhou intoned, bowing neatly at the waist. His robes fluttered around his feet as he moved. Eirian paid a seamstress a heavy price for dresses that moved that beautifully.

    Eirian inclined her head, unwilling to offer more than that when, by blood and station, she was above everyone else in the room. Before this exile, she''d cared little for the norms of nobility and social practices, had actually relished breaking them to the endless exasperation of her father. But there wasn''t a single person in this room not wearing some kind of military uniform or without a weapon.

    And there were enough of them that if Eirian was forced to fight all of them at once, she stood a good chance of injury, and she''d likely have to bring the building down on top of them all.

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    She wasn''t quite ready to do that, so she gave ground. Just a bit. "Thank you."

    He straightened. "Would you like to change before the ceremony?"

    She blinked, surprised. "You want to do it now?"

    He looked equally surprised, "You do not? The contract stated-"

    She cut him off, "What contract?" She knew the arrangements had been made, but she hadn''t realized there''d been a written contract. Generally, those were saved for marriages that involved a significant inheritance or exchange of property, and while Eirian had plenty of gold and jewelry, she was land-poor. There was no need for a marriage contract unless something had been exchanged.

    Ye Chenzhou looked taken aback, glancing over at an older, stately gentleman with close-cropped hair and a matronly woman dressed completely in black.

    "Show me the contract," Eirian demanded.

    The woman in black gestured discreetly to a maid at her shoulder, and the young woman hurried out.

    A priest stepped forward, "Ah, Lord Ye, does this mean the marriage isn''t taking place immediately?"

    Ye Chenzhou looked a bit lost, but Eirian felt the same, and it made her angry. He was complicit in her exile, but here he was looking as upset as she was.

    "No, the marriage will still happen. We just need a moment. Leave." They filed out one by one, except for the woman in black. The maid returned, handing her thick sheaf of papers, which she passed to Ye Chenzhou before bowing and leaving, the young maid at her heels.

    The heavy doors swung shut behind her, leaving Eirian and Ye Chenzhou alone in the great hall. It had been an intimidating room when she''d first stepped inside. With its great vaulted ceilings, the glittering silk tapestries, and the huge fireplaces lining the walls.

    The same miasma she''d seen from the cliff''s edge was still here, floating just below the roof and in the corners like smoke that couldn''t escape. It settled over the floor like morning mist, and Eirian had to concentrate to see her feet through it.

    Ye Chenzhou held out the papers, lips pursed. "Your family was very insistent on the contract. It is not common practice here."

    Eirian snorted. "The only family of significance here is yours. Of course, you don''t need contracts." Who the hell would even try to negotiate with the Ye family out here?

    She snatched the contract when he held it out, flipping past the first pages of pleasantries and descriptions of the parties to the details of-

    "YOU PAID FORTY POUNDS OF GOLD?!"

    And, "Ten pounds each of sapphires, rubs, and emeralds?!"

    Her husband-to-be was an idiot.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 5

    "Is that not a fair price?" Ye Chenzhou looked honestly confused.

    "You- Are you an idiot?" Eirian shrieked. "Queen Helia''s marriage to King Leander didn''t have a contract this big, and it''s the most expensive marriage contract in the history of the Land of Sorrow! She was a queen in her own right. Their marriage literally created a kingdom."

    Eirian wasn''t self-conscious about her worth. In fact, she could readily admit she thought it was higher than most, given that she could fight as well as she could dance as well as she could negotiate treaties.

    But forty pounds of gold and thirty pounds of precious stones was an insane payment for anyone''s marriage. It equated to nearly two million penning. Queen Helia''s had topped off at seven hundred and eighty thousand and included the Isles of Smoke and a lucrative trade agreement with the Hearthland, a powerful agricultural neighbor to the south of the Land of Sorrow.

    She was going to marry a fool, Eirian realized. Forget killing him to protect herself; she''d have to kill him to protect the estate from going broke.

    "It seemed a fair price, given your education and skills." Ye Chenzhou defended. He hadn''t flinched or backed away when she yelled, had stood his ground, and any other time, in any other situation, Eirian would have been impressed.

    "So you bankrupted your estate? How are you going to feed everyone?"

    "I didn''t bankrupt the Camelia!" Now, he actually sounded offended.

    "Who has two million penning laying around for a bride payment?!"

    "I defeated the northern tribes two years ago. They just finished paying off their reparations."

    "And you spent it all on me? Are you stupid?"

    He bristled, "No, I am not. I- the Camelia needs a Lady." He shifted, fixing robes that weren''t out of place. "This estate is one of the oldest in the kingdom; we have always been the first line of defense against incursions from the borderlands. We have been at war since our inception. We know nothing else."

    The miasma was dropped over him like an over-cloak. Hanging off his shoulders and falling to his feet where it mixed into the miasma puddled on the floor.

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    "But the wars are coming less often now."

    "Isn''t that a good thing?" Eirian pointed out. "The tribes are dying out."

    "Not dying out. Growing, changing. Ten years ago, the Northern Tribes formed an alliance that lasted until I defeated them. Almost ten years. No other alliance among the tribes of the borderlands has lasted anywhere near as long."

    "Evolving," Eirian realized.

    "Yes. And the Camelia must do the same, but I know nothing of life outside this place. Outside war. I realize you are accustomed to a different kind of life. One of higher quality. I need someone who can bring the Camelia back into the kingdom."

    That was....more noble than she''d been expecting. At least he realized the position the Camelia was in and was taking steps to rectify it.

    Albeit extreme steps.

    "How did you learn of me? No one from this estate has entered High Society in years."

    "Who would we send? I am the only one left of my family, and I could not leave the care of this place to another for long." He shifted; nervous, she realized. "Besides, I am..."

    Eirian recognized that nervous shuffle. She''d seen it more than once among her peers when they were suddenly facing marriages arranged by their families and had to come clean about things that could seriously affect the marriage. "Gay or in love?"

    Ye Chenzhou went still and just blinked at her as he processed. "Ah, in love. With a woman." He clarified and then flushed, "Not that I am opposed to the other. My- Ah, someone close to me shares that inclination. The Camelia embraces all."

    "Because you believe in love for everyone?"

    "Because an army needs soldiers, and it is foolish to discriminate over something that does not make a difference on the battlefield."

    Eirian opened her mouth to respond and immediately shut it again. It wasn''t the best reasoning, but it wasn''t the worst she''d heard, either. "Very well."

    "I assume that is not an issue for you. Given that you are from the capital."

    "Meaning what?" She was pretty sure she was being insulted.

    "The capital is well known for its...appetites."

    "Appe-" Oh. The capital did have a reputation for gluttony of many things. Wealth, food, fashion, pleasure in all its many, varied forms, and there were very few limits to that gluttony. And what limits there were were often easily swept away with the right application of gold.

    Hell, Eirian indulged a few of her own without shame, but she hadn''t realized the reputation that capital carried this far. Or that it was seen in quite that light. Ye Chenzhou wasn''t outright disparaging, but he clearly didn''t think much of it.

    And that was probably because he''d been raised to remember his manners in public.

    Everyone loved to gossip and judge, Eirian saw it in the capital all the time, she shouldn''t be surprised it was the same at the edges of the kingdom.

    "I was...told of your own tastes." Ye Chenzhou continued, and it took Eirian a moment to realize what he was saying.

    "Wait, are you calling me a slut?"

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 6

    Eirian felt her anger swell, her magic rose. It had always been more akin to a flame than anything when it manifested. Only a few had ever seen it at such a level, as Eirian had rarely had to call on that amount. It was a natural gift, something she had been born with and while Eirian had worked hard to learn to control it, to wield it with authority and grace and overwhelming affect, she had always been reminded that she had not earned it.

    Her father never hesitated to remind her, "Others will envy you for it because you did not have to work for it."

    Her stepmother, before she''d been her stepmother, had always been quick to remind her, "But you were born with that, so it doesn''t count."

    Even Philip, who''d had a jealous streak a mile wide, hated to acknowledge that Eirian''s magic was stronger than his own. He''d liked to say, "It''s not as impressive if you''re born with it."

    Philip had been born with his magic too, but he''d always turned sullen when she fired that back. His magic had never been strong enough to manifest into any physical form, and Eirian had stopped training with him when her''s had begun to develop.

    He''d gotten back at her by swiping an opportunity to train with a master swordsman that she''d been working towards for a year.

    Ye Chenzhou took a step back, eyes wide.

    Eirian was still a bit sore about it, and she had to focus on bringing her magic back under control.

    "I didn''t mean to insult you." He said. "I choose you because of that."

    Eirian''s eyes narrowed, "If you try and touch me, I''ll cut-"

    "I don''t want to sleep with you!" It burst out of him in the first real show of emotion she''d seen from him.

    "But you want to marry me."

    "So you can help elevate the Camelia. Not because I want to touch you or anything else."

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    Stupidly, she was kind of insulted when she knew she should be relieved. A man who didn''t expect something from a woman was rare. Even rarer was a husband who didn''t want to impose on his wife.

    "I only want you for the Camelia. I-, from the contact with your father, it seemed like you had little reason to stay in the capital anyway."

    "Little reason is not no reason." She snapped.

    He stiffened, anger glinting in his eyes. "I am aware. But you are here."

    "I had no choice."

    That seemed to surprise him.

    She scoffed. "Or did they tell you I left willingly? My entire life is in the capital. Everyone I know and love. The man I was planning to marry. My animals, my books."

    He shifted from foot to foot, nervous. "I sent word that you could bring whatever you pleased. Including your lover."

    "Yeah, well, he decided to marry someone else, so clearly, I didn''t. Who did you talk to about all of this?"

    "Your father and mother. We wrote letters, and then I sent an envoy with the official contract and payment."

    She gaped, "You already paid the entire?" It was tradition to parcel out payments over a matter of years, not to pay entire amounts in one go.

    "Yes. Your mother demanded payment up front."

    "My mother has been dead since she pushed me out. You must have been dealing with my stepmother."

    "....She did seem suspiciously young, but she was very clear that she was your mother."

    Eirian rolled her eyes. "Yes, she thinks that gives her more power over me."

    Ye Chenzhou raised an eyebrow again. "It would seem she was correct."

    Eirian growled in warning. "No one has power over me that I do not give them."

    Then she remembered the situation she was in. "At least not for long."

    "I don''t care what you do to her, so long as it does not harm the Camelia." Ye Chenzhou offered. "I will help if I can, but you must help the Camelia first."

    Eirian took a deep breath and forced herself to calm. She could feel her magic roiling just beneath her skin, a beast demanding blood, but Eirian had learned while she lived in the cesspool of the capital.

    She may have lost this round, but the war was far from over, and if her husband-to-be kept true to his word, she would have a significant force at her fingertips.

    Wise men feared magic because they could see all its possibilities, but fools still feared the brute strength of an Army.

    If she had both, there was no way anyone in the capital would be able to turn her away.

    "What exactly do you want me to do for the Camelia?"

    "It needs a court. A position in the capital. It needs toˇ­" He trails off, and for a moment, she expects him to say it needs to heal. To show some sign that he is aware of the miasma soaking every inch of his beloved estate.

    Because he clearly loves it. If he is being honest, and a tiny part of her suspects he is, he is desperate to save it.

    But does he know from what?

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 7

    Eirian studies the man she''s supposed to marry in a matter of minutes now. The agreement had stipulated that the wedding to this young lord of what is one of the last great military houses of the Land of Sorrow take place the day she arrived.

    Another way to ensure Eirian was well and truly trapped.

    Honestly, she''s a bit impressed. She hadn''t thought her stepmother, the Honorable Lady Brigitta Soleil (nee Stallworth), was that intelligent, but apparently, she''d underestimated her.

    It''s not a mistake she plans to make again.

    The age of glory and conquest in Sorrow is long past. The kingdom has been focused on elevating what it has instead of expanding for the last several generations and there are more internal conflicts than external. Given the stability of the surrounding kingdoms, it couldn''t expand outward without a significant conflict that could easily result in Sorrow''s defeat.

    Excluding, of course, the borderlands where battlefield glory and bloody standards can still be found, the rest of the land makes do with settling gambling hall debts and old family grudges on the dueling fields.

    But even those are not what they were a hundred years ago. The borders have solidified as the treaty between the Land of Sorrow and the Land of Song and Snow has held strong. Rulers in both kingdoms have been surprisingly unwilling to fall back into large scale warfare and the borderlands, while fruitful, are not so valuable to two countries wealthy enough to import what they need to make up for the loss.

    The only ones upset about it are the tribes that occupy said borderlands and who refused to recognize any claims but their own. But that same refusal is why neither country bothered to care about them anymore.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    In its heyday, the Camelia was the gem of the Land of Sorrow. It had glittered just as brightly as Aontacht, the great capital of the United Kingdom. Representing Sorrow''s military might in contrast to Aontacht''s peace and wisdom. In the wars against Song and Snow, it had been that bastion of all hope and at some of the lowest points in Sorrow''s history, pulled out victories that had changed the course of the kingdom''s fate. The Land of Sorrow had added a red camelia to its official symbol hundreds of years ago as a gesture to honor the estate''s sacrifices in its name.

    But as soon as the age of warfare had ended, so had any major interest in the Camelia.

    Warriors were easily shuffled aside in times of peace when no one wanted to remember the horrors that had gotten them there.

    She isn''t sure how long the Ye family has controlled the Camelia, but it has to have been at least five or six generations. She feels a stab of regret that she didn''t look for more information before she was unceremoniously forced out of the capital.

    She could always write to her cousin, but as the King''s only surviving child, he''s busy fighting for his life against others who wanted his throne, and she was wary of distracting him.

    Ye Chenzhou should be around the same age, despite his gaunt appearance. Has he met her cousin the prince? Even if Ye had never travelled to the capital, the prince frequently moved about the kingdom to see the concerns the King didn''t want to deal with and to shore up his own support. They may have run into one another before, though they could not look more different. Her cousin shares her coloring and the tall, broad build of their people. Ye Chenzhou would look small and pale next to him.

    Some men didn''t have egos that could take that.

    The miasma was crawling up his legs now, she noticed. Gaining inches as he stood still, watching her.

    It could gain no purchase on Eirian herself. Her magic was far too strong, but it seemed to-

    Wait.

    She frowned and looked closer. The miasma looked like it was crawling all over him, squirming like worms trying to dig back into the ground, but the movement wasˇ­odd.

    Shouldn''t it-

    Oh.

    The miasma was not infecting Ye Chenzhou. It was coming from him.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 8

    The miasma infecting the Camelia that was hanging over it like storm clouds on the horizon was coming from the Lord of the Camelia itself.

    It was worming its way out of his very skin, thousands upon thousands of tiny tendrils pouring out of him every second.

    He was a walking, talking biological weapon, Eirian realized, horror sprouting to life in her mind.

    This young man with the oddly gentle, exhausted eyes.

    Who was so desperate to protect his estate, and the people in it hopefully, that he''d bought a wife, sight unseen, from the capital for the price of a small country.

    And he''d chosen her solely based on her reputation??

    It was kind of flattering and seriously concerning all in one go.

    How was he still functioning?

    Never mind that; how was he still alive?

    That much poison should have killed him in seconds, and there was no way his body was hosting it without damage. Even if he was getting healing sessions from the best in the kingdom every day, he still should have been dead by now.

    But it took decades for this kind of poisoning to reach the levels she''d seen from the cliffside.

    It would have had to start long before he was even born.

    So how was it coming from him?

    ***

    She was staring at him so intently that Ye Chenzhou started to fidget, caught himself, and straightened until his spine hurt.

    She wasn''t what he''d been expecting.

    She was tiny, for starters.

    Well, maybe not tiny. But she was shorter than he''d imagined, especially given what he''d heard of her reputation.

    A wealthy young woman of leisure who spent her time indulging her passions that ranged from art to warfare and was known for the sharpness of her mind as much as the sharpness of her tongue. She was the closest surviving female relative of the king, baring the Queen herself, and until recently, had been the only child and heir to the second most powerful house in Sorrow.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ye Chenzhou had been expecting, and willing, to pay far more than he had.

    He cared little for the rumors of her many lovers, of her plots and games with her peers in society, or her volatile, rebellious nature.

    Even the mass of hair, the color of the yellow moon, and eyes that were a vicious, unearthly green that seemed to glow when she was angered and her magic roused, wasn''t what he''d expected, but it wasn''t enough to change his plans.

    He needed someone who understood that capital and how to keep the Camelia relevant afterˇ­.

    He needed someone who would care for it after, but that had the clout in the capital to keep it from being brushed aside or just given away to whoever was in favor at the moment, regardless of their qualifications.

    Eirian Soliel fit that bill, and everything he''d seen so far, at least in the last hour, proved that.

    She''d stormed in ready for a fight, unafraid and angry, but not ruled by it. There was calculation in her eyes and her words, as impulsive as they may have been at times.

    Obviously, he''d need more time to know for sure, but so farˇ­ so far it looked promising.

    Maybe there was reason to hope the Camelia had a future ahead of it.

    He was already making preparations for Anna, just in case Soliel was opposed to her remaining in the Camelia after he was gone. But given the way the court in the capital operated, run by the Queen but with an abundance of mistresses in valued positions and that Anna was quiet and preferred to stay out of the official business of the Camelia despite having been by his side for almost ten years now, he hoped there would be a need for her to leave her home.

    If he had more time, he would have worked harder to find a way to marry Anna and have her inherit the estate, and the Army would have fought the council harder, but it''s so hard to summon the energy these days.

    And he''s already made it so much longer than he ever expected to.

    He''d been born to tragedy. His mother lost her life bringing him into the world, and his father had followed only days after he''d taken his first steps. He''d been born weak and sickly all through his childhood despite the best healers in Sorrow working on him.

    They''d never discovered what was wrong with him. Even now, almost three decades in, no one had any idea why he lost his breath walking at any pace beyond a snail''s. Why he coughed up coagulated blood in the mornings and fell into bed so dizzy he could barely tell which way was up at night.

    There were days he couldn''t even muster the strength to life his sword and he was supposed to be the leader of the Camelia.

    The First Blade of the Empire.

    How pathetic he was. That he had failed to carry on the family line. That he''d had to buy a bride from the capital.

    That he would have to leave the Camelia in the hands of a stranger long before he was ready to.

    He''d never marry Anna.

    He would never have children of his own.

    He would never see Yuze fall in love. His best friend since birth. The only child who hadn''t minded that Chenzhou couldn''t play outside with the rest of them and instead spent hours playing cultivator vs demon in his room. Now, Yuze was his right hand and a terribly skilled spy master who''d turned the tide of battle in the Camelia''s favor more than once.

    He''d supported Chenzhou''s decision to find a wife in the capital, but after meeting Soliel in person, he wasn''t sure they''d get along. Yuze was always cautious and controlled, and Soliel wasˇ­clearly not.

    Would he be able to go peacefully if the two people he loved most were forced to leave their home?

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 9

    They served one another the traditional tea. Eirian had no family present, and Chenzhou had no family left.

    Two maids drapped red robes over their shoulders in the tradition of Chenzhou''s line, and the priest bound their hands with a red silk rope in the tradition of Eirian''s.

    Then Eirian bowed to her husband and Chenzhou bowed to his wife and it was all over and they were escorted to the wedding feast by the highest ranked of the court of the Camelia. Which was nothing more than a handful of senior military officers and their partners.

    Eirian was still in her travel clothes, and Chenzhou didn''t even bother to shed his armor as they took their seats at the head table.

    Once Eirian had read through the contract, they''d called the priest back in to carry out the ceremony. There was no point in waiting and unless she wanted to abandon Sorrow completely, she was bound by it.

    A vicious part of her was pleased to realize that Chenzhou wasn''t much happier with the situation. His honesty in discussing the circumstances surrounding the contract had revealed his desperation, and now that she knew the miasma was coming from him...

    Well...

    She was actually curious now.

    There was something deeply wrong here, and it started with Ye Chenzhou.

    But where did it end?

    What was the point of this slow death?

    She studied him as the kitchen staff began to deliver dozens of dishes. Several salads of vegetables and fruits, plates of small bites of bread layered with cheese and savory jams and dumplings stuffed to bursting with plum and pork.

    Eirian allowed herself a moment of distraction to dip a dumpling in a red oil and take a bite.

    Spice and sweet and rich pork exploded across her tongue, and she couldn''t help but let out a moan. It would be too spicy for her father, who barely stomach peppers, but it made Eirian''s mouth water and sent a wave of warmth through her whole body.

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    She pulled the plate of dumplings and the pot of oil closer and took another.

    When the next set of plates was delivered, she caught the kitchen maid by the elbow. "What is this?"

    "Pork and plum dumplings, your grace. With chili oil. It''s a traditional dish of the borderlands." The maid paled, "Is it too hot? I can tell the kitchen to-"

    "No, no. It''s delicious. Bring more."

    The relieved maid nodded and scurried back to the kitchen as Eirian worked on finishing the entire plate.

    They were pretty much bite-sized anyway, she figured, stuffing an entire dumpling in her mouth only to realize Ye Chenzhou was staring at her with wide, surprised eyes.

    She swallowed. "What?"

    "Ah, nothing. My apologies." He turned away.

    Was that a blush across his cheeks?

    "I am relieved you seem to like the food," he added, leaning back to allow a maid to set a plate of silver needle chicken in front of him.

    Eirian tossed her braid over her shoulder and picked up another dumpling. "Life is too short for bad food." She glanced at his plate. "That''s all you''re having?"

    He gave a wane smile, "I don''t eat much." He hadn''t been able to stomach much more than simple chicken for years now.

    Eirian swallowed another dumpling. "That''s terrible." Was it related to the miasma? Certain poisons had a powerful effect on appetite.

    But that could also mean the poison wasn''t delivered via food.

    But he also had to be getting regular doses for it to be that strong, and the easiest way to do that was food or drink. Eirian had once slipped a mild laxative to a rival and escaped all suspicion because she''d slipped into their tea leaves, and it had taken two weeks of doses to take effect.

    Just in time for the biggest summer festival of that year.

    It had been well-deserved revenge for said rival paying off one of Eirian''s maids to loosen the stitches of her clothes in some embarrassing places.

    Eirian still wasn''t allowed in the Royal Gallery after that rather humiliating dance.

    The empty dumpling plate was replaced with a bowl of cold, spicy noodles and a broth Eirian finished in one go.

    That was replaced with a thick steak on a bed of mashed potatoes and cheese and then they started bringing the wine. Voluptuous reds and crisp whites and something that came in a tiny glass and tasted like snow.

    Chenzhou wasn''t the only one staring at her by the time the desserts started coming out.

    "What? It''s for my magic."

    Chenzhou had already pushed away his barely touched chicken. "How so?"

    "What do you think fuels it? It''s just another part of me. It needs to be fed as much as muscle does." She''d withstood years of taunts and judgement about her appetite in the capital, where a woman''s waistline came before her hunger. "Do you not have any wizards here?"

    "There hasn''t been a wizard of significant skill in the Camelia since before I was born," Chenzhou explained, sipping from a glass of clear liquid.

    It was Eirian''s turn to stare then. "How is that possible? Magic is rare, but a military estate of this size..." It should have had at least one decent wizard at all times. Armies loved wizards for the destruction they could wreak, and wizards loved armies because they paid them to do whatever they wanted.

    ...was a wizard responsible for this poison?

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 10

    There were wizards that specialized in poisons, but they were somewhat rare, given that poison was equally as dangerous in the hands of simpleton as it was in the hands of a wizard.

    A wizard was just able to come up with a more creative method of delivery.

    ˇ­Which could account for the slow, steady infection and the fact that Ye Chenzhou was somehow still alive.

    Eirian finished off a delectable fruit tart, sweet and sour, sharp and smooth on her tongue. What the Camelia lacked in looks, it made up for in the kitchens.

    Eirian needed to eat almost half her weight a day to keep her magic at full strength, but trying to convince anyone without magic of that was nearly impossible. Her father hadn''t cared enough to pay attention to her eating habits, but Brigitta had never failed to comment on it during every meal they''d shared.

    Eirian had stopped eating with her barely a month after she''d married her father and refused to do so again even when Brigitta had resorted to demanding her father order Eirian to return to their table.

    Eirian had figured out as a child that if she ate too little or went too long without food, her magic would eat away at the rest of her for fuel. She''d be gaunt and emancipated in a matter of a few days.

    A plate with a slice of layered chocolate cake and blood red berries replaced the empty one and Eirian''s mouth watered.

    It tasted like heaven.

    A dainty cup of strong coffee laced with cinnamon and chili joined it. That was a drink common in the lands west of the Spine of the World.

    "You certainly have eclectic tastes," She commented.

    Chenzhou, sipping his own cup, nodded to the other guests. "The Armies of the Camelia have crossed the entirety of the Rock to defend Sorrow. They have brought back more than just metal and mineral. An army," he said, "Is the most cultured body on the rock."

    Eirian leaned back in her seat, a fancy high-backed thing that wasn''t all that comfortable when she wasn''t leaning forward to eat. "You''ve never left this place, though?"

    Chenzhou shook his head. "All our conflicts in my lifetime have been with the tribes in the borderlands."

    "What are they like?"

    "They areˇ­wild. They refuse to recognize anyone''s authority but their own, and yet they cling to their practices and traditions like they are the very rock on which they live. They have not changed in thousands of years, and they do not see a problem with it."

    "Is there a problem with that?" Eirian asked as her coffee was refilled and a plate of cheese and fruit was placed in front of her.

    Chenzhou got one two and made no move to stop her when she took his. "I suppose it depends on how you feel about progress. How big you want your world to be."

    Eirian mused over a slice of aged cheddar and sweet apple, "And you think we have the right to tell others how big their world should be?"

    Chenzhou tilted his head thoughtfully. "Do you think we should allow others to wallow in suffering when we have learned a better way?"

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    "What''s better for one is not always better for another." Eirian had excelled at arguing with her philosophy tutors in the capital. "Who decides who''s right?"

    "The king." Chenzhou offered the closest thing to a smirk she''d seen so far.

    It was interesting that his mind remained so sharp despite the strength of the miasma and the clear weakness of his body.

    Eirian let it drop to listen to the toasts that signaled the end of the night, polishing off both plates before standing and accepting Chenzhou''s hand.

    He led her through the dark halls. The miasma gathered in the corners everywhere she looked.

    He stopped at an ornate door of red wood, covered in carvings of flowers and stars. He released her hand and gave a deep bow.

    "No wedding night?" Eirian murmured, trying to understand this strange, strange man.

    That faint blush came back to Chenzhou''s cheeks. "Would you like-"

    Eirian sneered. "No. Obviously, that was a test. If you try and touch me-"

    "I have no interest in touching you," Chenzhou''s own temper flared. "I told you, you are here to help me elevate-"

    "The Camelia. Right." It was reassuring; Eirian would not have to worry about fighting off a husband who thought he had rights.

    But it did prick at her ego just a bit that he was so clearly not interested in her in any way.

    "Is there someone I should know about? In your bed?" She clarified. "Surprises are not welcome."

    "Likewise," Chenzhou returned evenly.

    "There is no one in my bed currently," Eirian stated. Not since Philip had slipped into another''s.

    Chenzhou''s jaw worked, but eventually, he forced out. "There is someone. She has been with me since we were teenagers. Her name is Anna."

    "What family is she from?"

    "None of note. Her father was a general, a confidant of my father. We grew up together. She is the love of my life."

    Eirian raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven''t you married her? This far out, the court wouldn''t be able to do much to stop you." Short of the king or queen involving themselves directly.

    "She loves the Camelia as much as I, but our marriage would do nothing to benefit it."

    Interesting, Eirian thought. A woman turning down marriage to a powerful man convinced he was in love with her.

    Who was this Anna?

    "I will not betray her," Chenzhou warned. "And she is not to be harmed in any way."

    It was the first time there was actual power in his words.

    Not that it was strong enough to scare Eirian. It was actually kind of adorable, like a tiny puppy trying to intimidate a bear.

    She managed not to laugh in his face, but just barely. "I have no interest in harming the innocent. As long as she understands the situation."

    "She is well aware."

    "Good. Then we have no issue." Eirian flung the doors open with a burst of magic, swept through, and slammed them in his face.

    She heard him stomp away, further down the hall, and waited until she could no longer hear him before looking around.

    They stacked all her bags and trunks by the door, but it didn''t look like they''d tried to go through any of them.

    How polite, she mused.

    The room was huge, and several doors led to several smaller rooms. It was an entire apartment it seemed, beginning with this large seating room filled with several chairs, tables, a couch, and a huge fireplace.

    The first door led to a large walk-in closet filled with shelves and rods. It might actually fit her entire wardrobe.

    The second door led to the bedroom, taken up by a huge four poster bed draped in curtains, a fainting couch and several decorative screens. There was a series of full-size mirrors next to a make-up desk.

    At the very least, the bed looked insanely comfortable.

    The third room was an empty library. There was nothing else it could be with three floors worth of mostly empty shelves, an ornate writing desk, and even a corner with a easel and stool in front of a floor to ceiling window.

    It was too dark to see much outside, but she could make out the edges of the other castles and towers and the moon was distant in the sky. The paints had all dried beyond the point of saving, but Eirian could order more.

    The fourth room was a luxurious bath that seemed out of place in a military fortress. One of the Ye ancestors must have taken a partner from somewhere else in the kingdom and brought them here. They must have designed the bath themselves. The toilet was sectioned off directly next to the door. A claw-foot tub deep enough to drown in was placed under a window in a roof and next to a long sink.

    But beyond that, through a pair of glass double doors was another tub, built on a patio. She crouched down, there was a flat fire pit underneath.

    It was a hot tub, she realized, thrilled.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 11

    Eirian spent the night unpacking, using the mindless motion to let her think.

    What she knew for sure so far:

    The Camelia was being poisoned.

    Ye Chenzhou was the source of the poison.

    It was too much poison for Ye Chenzhou to have survived without help.

    Things she suspected:

    It had started before Ye Chenzhou was born.

    There was a wizard involved.

    Fixing this was going to be a giant pain, but it was also the most interesting situation she''d been in in years.

    And out here, she was relatively safe from anything her stepmother or Philip might try.

    Not that she was afraid. She just likes to pick the field for her battles and they both had more a homefield advantage than Eirian did at the moment.

    She unpacks most of her things herself. Sets them up just the way she likes, it''s a bit of thing for her, helps her relax and mentally prepare herself for what''s ahead.

    She starts thinking about what she needs to have fixed in the room. Nothing''s broken broken, just needs some new paint, a better design for the shelving, new bed set, and a deep scrub before she could actually relax in it.

    Her books and papers are the one thing she doesn''t unpack, just sets the boxes in the library. Too important to risk setting them out before the dust and dirt and probably mold judging by how much dust lays on top of everything.

    Eirian''s collection of texts is her pride and joyˇ­

    Well, next to her blade collection.

    Among her books are some of the oldest survival medical and magical texts, including the most complete study of poisons on the rock and suddenly that book is valuable for far more than its beautiful handstitched cover.

    Somewhere in there is the answer to what''s happening at the Camelia and if she wasn''t yawning every other breath and her skin didn''t feel like it was crawling underneath the dust and sweat and she had to be up in a couple of hours, she''d tear through the boxes until she found it and read until she had the answer.

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    As it is, she barely manages to scrub off the dust with a bucket of water before collapsing on the bed, hoping the sheets were actually cleaned sometime in the last month.

    Someone shook her awake long before she was ready.

    ***

    Marian Roxley hadn''t been born in the Camelia. Like it''s new Lady, she''d been bored in the capital of Aontacht, to a lesser branch of the House of Vermeer. Her childhood had been quiet, too low on the totem to be dragged into the drama of high society, but she''d also been too low to secure a position of any value or a husband of any use.

    She''d been a spinster by some definition by the time she''d met the man she decided to marry. Nine and twenty when she''d met Colonel Henry Colfax at a luncheon. He''d been twice her age and somehow quieter. He''d been sent to represent the Camelia in a meeting with the King and been sucked into attending the luncheon. She''d found him tucked away in her favorite corner, and by the time the luncheon was over, she''d agreed to return with him to the Camelia as his wife.

    It had taken a while to become love, years really, but she had loved the purpose of her marriage. Henry had risen to become one of the Camelia''s top generals before his death and Marian had worked alongside him every day of their marriage, unofficially serving as the first lady of the Camelia. She wasn''t always the highest ranked one, but she''d been the only one with any experience in the capital, and it turned out serving as the first lady was really just managing a very large, very busy house.

    Marian enjoyed the work, keeping everything on schedule, up to date, and in its proper place. She''d written and re-written the protocols for the castle staff over the years, ensuring they were as well trained as the soldiers who lived in it. Established the trade relationships that ensured they received every order and sent every delivery on time so they were never short on anything, and she was in a place where she fed three hundred thousand mouths three times a day.

    It should have been the responsibility of Ye Chenzhou''s mother and then his wife. But his mother had died in childbirth, and even before that, she''d been more concerned with the battlefield abroad than those at home. She''d been a great woman that Marian had only had the chance to know for a short while between her marriage to the then Lord of the Camelia and the birth of Ye Chenzhou.

    No one had been expecting such a strong woman to pass away during the birth. Ye Chenzhou''s father may as well have died with her and passed a few years later in battle.

    Marian had been the one who had raised Ye Chenzhou. Had seen to his tutors and his tailors. Had argued with the Generals that served as the Camelia''s court over how much time was spent playing and how much was spent studying. Had brought in healer after healer in a desperate attempt to find out what ailed him.

    She''d been the first one the told when he met Anna and the one who''d had to explain why he had to be so careful with his choice.

    A part of her has worried every day since then that he''s put off his own happiness because of her advice.

    And now, there was this girlˇ­woman.

    Eirian Soliel, now Ye. Except it probably wasn''t, given that she was so far above the Ye family in the hierarchy of Sorrow.

    Ye Chenzhou''s hail mary attempt to save the Camelia from its long-awaited doom.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 12

    It was the steadiness of her brushstrokes that gave her away.

    One of the maids had made an attempt on the journey to brush Eirian''s hair in the mornings, but she''d clearly had little to no experience with hair as long or fine as Eirian''s and it had been aˇ­painful experience.

    The woman, the matron who''d worn black to her wedding, who was still wearing black and had shaken Eirian awake far too early, passed the brush over her scalp with just enough pressure to clear the tangles and not rip Eirian''s hair out of her skull.

    "You''re from the capital," Eirian stated, watching her closely in the mirror for any reaction.

    The older woman simply nodded, pulling the brush all the way through the ends of hair. "Yes. I was born and raised there."

    "Which house?"

    "Vermeer."

    Eirian blinked. The House of Vermeer was one of the founding houses of Sorrow but had long fallen from its initial glory, like all the rest.

    But house Vermeer, while not as rich or large as it had once been, was still known for producing artists of incredibly high caliber. What they lacked in political clout, they made up for in the world of beauty and creativity.

    "A branch house, Roxley." The woman continued. "You may call me Marian if you wish, but Matron Colfax will also do."

    "You are the Lady of the Camelia?" Eirian asked, skeptical.

    "No, but I am the closest you will get. There are few that want that job." Marian finished brushing her hair, musing to herself that Ye Chenzhou had not been lying when it called the color of moonfire. It was a shade of pale blond that she''d never quite seen before, outside paintings of the current royal family.

    It matched her oddly bright green eyes.

    "Tell me about Chenzhou and the Camelia," Eirian demanded as Marian''s fingers began to twist her hair into a crown braid. It was a slightly outdated style, but as it came together under Marian''s fingers, Eirian decided it didn''t look too bad. It highlighted her neck, the curve of her shoulder, and her jawline.

    "Ye Chenzhou''s parents were soldiers. His father was the only child of his generation of Ye''s to survive to adulthood. He met his mother on the battlefield, and they married only a week later." Marian''s lips tilted into a soft smile that quickly faded. "She died in childbirth only a year later. He followed not long after."

    "So, you raised Ye Chenzhou?" Those sharp green eyes were assessing through the mirror.

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    "As much as anyone did. He was a quiet child. Ill more often than most children are."

    Which was a neat way of skirting the issue, Eirian thought.

    "He was always quiet. Friendly, but he only had one close friend. Rong Yuze''s parents were servants in this house. He was the only child that didn''t mind playing inside."

    "Is he still around?"

    "Yes. He serves as a vital part of Chenzhou''s command."

    Which didn''t tell her what he actually did, Eirian noted.

    "The Camelia is home to approximately three hundred thousand people. One hundred thousand of those are the actual fighters; the rest fill various rolls of support. There are forty thousand horses in the stables, the largest in Sorrow. Along with various other animals used for scouting, tracking, and communication."

    Eirian interrupts, "How about a wizard?"

    Marian doesn''t even pause as she finishes tucking the ends of the crown braids in place. "There had not been a wizard in residence in the Camelia since before the births of Chenzhou''s parents."

    "Why not? A military house of this size ought to have a few, don''t you think?"

    It''s a test, Marian realizes. Those sharp eyes followed her in the mirror as she selected one of the beautiful, jeweled combs from Eirian''s collection.

    Chenzhou had said his new wife had magic.

    Powerful magic.

    She selects a gold comb lined with pink sapphires and rubies to match the pale pink robes with red and gold accents Eirian told her to prepare for the day and sets in center of the braid as she considers her answer. "I am not fully aware of why, but the last wizard to serve the Camelia left after being accused of treason."

    "Treason? And they left alive?"

    Marian met her eyes in the mirror as she pulled a few strands of hair loose, softening Eirian''s entire appearance. "The way it was stated to me, your grace, was that the Camelia did not allow them to leave willingly."

    Eirian hums in understanding, tilting her head to admire her hair. That certainly explained something, didn''t it? "Well done. You haven''t lost your touch."

    "Thank you, your grace. I''ll get your robes."

    A wizard accused of treason, Eirian thought, standing and stretching until her muscles protested and her stomach grumbled. That could certainly explain the miasma.

    She let Marian adjust the robes and didn''t bother with more than a touch of color to her lips. This didn''t seem like a place that cared much for ascetics.

    "I believe Lord Ye is holding breakfast for you in the east solarium." Marian fell into step behind, a pace behind her left shoulder.

    She definitely hadn''t forgotten anything about the capital, Eirian noted. Marian Colfax, nee Roxley. She''d have to write to some contacts to see what they could find out about the Matron of the Camelia.

    "Fine. I want to speak to someone about cleaning and touching up my rooms." Eirian stated as they walked.

    "I will tell the steward to bring the housemaster before lunch."

    "What''s after breakfast?"

    "I thought perhaps you would like a tour. The Camelia is quite large, but I will be able to show you what you will need to know with time to meet the housemaster."

    "Very well." She''d prefer to explore on her own, but a tour wouldn''t hurt. Marian was clearly working hard to stay a step ahead, and until she knew if the woman was friend or foe, it would be smart to keep her somewhat close.

    The west solarium was in the opposite direction from their feast the night before, but Marian''s quiet directions led Eirian to a large room with a glass ceiling and plants lining the walls.

    Ye Chenzhou was seated at the head of a long table set with fine bone china.

    And next to him was a young woman their age.

    "Your grace, Lord Ye and the Lady Anna."

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 13

    Well, it''s the nicest ambush Eirian has ever been a part of.

    But it is still an ambush. Chenzhou, Marian, and Anna look nervous in their own ways. As does the butler standing politely at Chenzhou''s shoulder.

    Eirian could almost admire their courage if she wasn''t running on so little sleep and starving.

    Dishes lined a nearby table, and the smell of roast bacon and spices filled the air.

    Eirian''s stomach grumbled as Chenzhou stood.

    He was going to escort her to her seat, she realized. Proper etiquette for a husband.

    It''s clear this morning is meant to establish boundaries. They wouldn''t waste their time ambushing her if they weren''t trying to make a point or gauge her willingness to go alone with things.

    But that also means it''s a good time for Eirian to draw a few of her own lines.

    She hasn''t missed that this is whole situation is, at heart, a business transaction. Chenzhou is attempting to ensure the survival of what he cares about when he''s gone and trying to maintain some control over the gamble he made with Eirian.

    But Eirian''s the one who''s going to have to live with all of this whenever he''s gone -she really needs to figure out this miasma- and he''s already said he wants Anna protected.

    Eirian''s not a terrible person; she wouldn''t toss the woman out to starve.

    For fuck''s sake, she''s not even in love with Chenzhou to be jealous.

    She''s not a fool either. Anna can have his heart so long as he does his job as Lord of the Camelia. They don''t need to be friends; they just need to be polite.

    In public.

    Eirian strides to her seat before Chenzhou can even fully leave his, waving him off and the kitchen maid over to dish up breakfast and pour a cup of strong black tea.

    Eirian''s never needed a man to pull out her chair for her and giving that much ground to someone who only wants her for one thing. For one single part of her instead of all of them seems like a waste.

    Especially because it seems more like a business arrangement than a marriage.

    As soon as she''s rested and has figured out what''s going on with the miasma, she''ll find herself a pretty bedwarmer.

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    Hell, maybe she''ll find herself two.

    Fuck Philip.

    Chenzhou sits awkwardly, shifting to reset his chair so he can eat comfortably. Next to him, Anna stares down at her plate like she was willing it to take her anywhere else.

    Eirian studies her over her tea, willing to let the awkward silence drag out until one of them is forced to break it.

    Anna last name currently unknown.

    Bloodline unknown.

    House affiliation unknown.

    Position mistress?

    Personality unknown.

    History unknown.

    Anna of the shiny brown hair and, when she finally glances up, the big doe eyes. Her skin is fair, annoyingly blemish-free, and finished with a perfect pout.

    Eirian''s own lips were a tad thinner, her features sharper in contrast to Anna''s soft, feminine appearance.

    Chenzhou''s love wore a simple but elegant gown in warm neutrals. It stuck out from the dark and gloomy setting of the Camelia, whose jeweled tones were all muted by the miasma hanging over them.

    To Eirian''s eyes at least. She was beginning to doubt that anyone else could see it, despite its strength.

    Magic remained invisible to most, especially to those who didn''t have it. Visible magic was magic of incredible power, a force so strong that is crossed the plains of existence and became visible to everything living and dead and in-between.

    This miasma was powerful enough to smother life in the Camelia, but it wasn''t yet as powerful as it could be. Until it was stopped, it would just continue to grow, infecting and consuming everything in its path.

    Which also severely limited who could be responsible. A slow-release poison could be managed by any fool that could read and find a book, but a miasma meant there was magical assistance.

    Which needed a wizard. Or a mage, or a witch, or a sorcerer, or a magi. Whatever it was, you happened to call someone with magic.

    Anna stood out against the shadow.

    Well, her clothing did. Since everyone else Eirian had seen so far was in dark tones or straight shades of black.

    It was odd. There were windows lining the room, but the only light seemed to come from weakly burning torch lamps on every surface.

    Eirian made it through an entire plate of eggs and bacon and a deliciously tart sweet roll before someone spoke.

    Anna kept flashing hesitant looks at Chenzhou, who''s own gaze flitted from her to Eirian to Marian to the butler waiting at his shoulder, but Marian and the butler seemed content to stare off into some distance and ignore the glances imploring them to break the silence.

    To his credit, it was Chenzhou himself who finally broke it. He only took a few bites before sitting back with his coffee and finally looking straight at Eirian. However, their views of one another were blocked by the dried flowers decorating the center of the table.

    Dried flowers had their place, adding to the already moody atmosphere, though Eirian had always preferred fresh, and the pale, muted colors lining half of Chenzhou''s face were rather striking.

    Especially against his dark, depthless eyes.

    So unique, Eirian mused. So expressive despite the care he took not to reveal anything through his expression.

    Even now, his face was a blank mask, though he had to be at least a bit annoyed by her attitude.

    She''d prefer it if he was straight pissed off but he didn''t seem the type.

    "Good morning."

    Eirian blinked, surprised. "Good morning."

    "Did you sleep well?" His tone was bland, almost pleasant.

    "Yes." She had to fight down the urge to laugh. What was he doing? "Yourself?"

    "Very well." His eyes flickered to Anna, but he caught himself almost instantly, and they were back on Eirian.

    Ah, he was worried, Eirian realized. Worried about offending her and putting Anna at risk.

    She smiled.

    It was rather flattering that he was so scared of her.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 14

    "So where are you from, Anna?"

    Both Anna and Chenzhou looked surprised at Eirian''s sudden attention.

    "I was born here, your grace. I have never left the Camelia."

    God, even her voice was soft and feminine, like the gentle strum of a harp.

    "And your official position?"

    Anna flushed, her eyes darting down and away as Chenzhou stiffened. "I have no official position, your grace. I have merely been his grace''s companion."

    Despite his control, Eirian could tell Chenzhou was angry at Anna''s embarrassment. At least he loved her enough to defend her. Philip had preferred to let Eirian fight her own battles.

    "I fail to see why you''re embarrassed." Eirian snorted, letting the maid refill her tea. "In the capitol, a mistress is often a lifelong profession given their involvement in helping run the estate."

    Anna and Chenzhou relaxed fractionally.

    "And, of course, freeing a wife from her husband''s demands."

    Eirian wasn''t a horrible person, but she wasn''t a saint either.

    Anna and Chenzhou flushed, and she snorted. "Neither of you would last a second in the capital if that''s enough to unsettle you."

    "Neither of us has any interest in visiting the capital," Chenzhou muttered.

    "Why not?" If the Ye family hadn''t been officially reprimanded or unofficially exiled, because there was no officially exiling a house -that was when entire bloodlines disappeared and lands and estates got renamed- there was no reason why a powerful estate wasn''t making the appropriate appearances at court.

    But Chenzhou didn''t even bother to hide the grimace of dislike at her mention of the capital. "I have more important enemies to fight than a bunch of spoiled, power-hungry sycophants."

    Eirian scoffed, "I thought you were a warrior?"

    Chenzhou bristled. "I am."

    "And yet you''re avoiding a fight?"

    "Only a fool fights every battle available. A true warrior fights the ones that matter."

    "A true warrior is ready to fight whenever they are needed." Eirian corrected. She had never been called to battle; there had been no wars beyond the borders during her lifetime so far, but Eirian was close enough to the throne and powerful enough that she''d been training since she was a child. She may have spent more time on political battlefields, but there were some things all battlefields had in common. "The Capital is not a constant fight. It''s a war, with the occasional battle and stretches of maneuvering and feints and prolonged sieges." Eirian purred. "It''s wonderful."

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    Chenzhou and Anna lookED horrified, which seemed odd for two people who belong to a military estate like the Camelia.

    The door swung open before Eirian could continue.

    Rong Yuze, Chenzhou explained later, master spy and brilliant tactician. Right hand of the First Sword of the Empire.

    His best friend since childhood.

    He''s a bitˇ­attractive for a spy, Eirian thinks. How good could he be when he stood out like that with his storied bone structure and warm amber eyes. Like Chenzhou, he''s put together perfectly, hair in a tight top knot and black robes that make him look like some sort of dour ghost.

    There''s a sword on his hip, and Eirian can smell iron emanating from it. It clashes with the smell of cold snow that comes from Chenzhou''s.

    They must be blooding blades. Eirian has her own that she has locked up in her rooms. It had taken her most of her life to complete her blade, and it was still new. It was nearly impossible to complete them outside a war, but Eirian''s adventures in the capital and her travels around Sorrow had made it possible for her.

    Blooding blades were magical objects, but a person didn''t need magic to wield them. Blessed iron, folded a thousand times and bathed in the blood of a hundred, the blades took on a life of their own.

    Each one was incredibly unique, and some, if they continued to be fed, even developed a spirit of their own.

    Eirian''s was an annoying little voice that always wanted to fight and criticized her technique when she did.

    What were Chenzhou and Yuze''s like?

    And how, she thought, did the miasma interact with them?

    Did Yuze see it?

    Yuze manages to hide his surprise at Eirian''s presence at breakfast rather well, but it''s telling when he leans down to whisper in Chenzhou''s ear instead of standing to report.

    Chenzhou doesn''t respond either, just nods, tight-lipped. He waves over the butler, who starts clearing his plates.

    "Excuse me, I need to step out." Anna stands when Chenzhou does, but Eirian doesn''t bother. Sharp eyes watch over the edge of her cup as he presses a quick kiss to Anna''s cheek, bows to Eirian, and follows Yuze out.

    He''s clearly not coming back, Eirian thinks. Something that couldn''t wait for a breakfast like this one to end would probably take a few hours.

    She has the kitchen maid bring her another plate, her fourth, as Anna retakes her seat.

    Anna accepts a refill of her own cup before turning to Eirian. "I apologize for not saying it earlier, but welcome to the Camelia, your grace."

    "Thanks." Eirian studies her again as she chews, "What does your family do?"

    "They''re merchants, your grace. My father runs one of the larger trading posts along the border."

    "Is that how you met Chenzhou?"

    Anna looks a little perturbed at Eirian''s familiarity. "Yes. We met at a festival when we were fourteen." And we''ve been together ever since, she doesn''t say, but Eirian hears it anyway. If she came from that kind of money, then Anna wasn''t completely unfamiliar with the life of the nobility. No wonder she''d slipped into the place at his side so easily.

    It also means, she''s probably more willing to fight to keep her place than Chenzhou has made her out to be.

    "I hope you will find the Camelia more welcoming than the capital, your grace."

    Eirian''s eyes snap to hers, and those big doe eyes have gone hard.

    Much more willing to fight.

    But so is Eirian. Anna''s fight may be to keep her place here, this life she''s become accustomed to, but Eirian''s is a fight for survival.

    "I should hope so since it will be mine eventually."

    There''s the tiniest twitch to Anna''s mouth, but it''s enough to tell Eirian her barb hit home.

    "Naturally, there will be a period of adjustment," Eirian continues, "But it will all settle with time."

    I''m not going anywhere, she doesn''t say, but she''s sure Anna hears it anyway.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 15

    Anna left not long after that, leaving Eirian to finish breakfast by herself in that terribly gloomy solarium.

    Marian had remained quiet and still, clearly intending to follow Eirian wherever she went.

    Eirian finished another plate before she finally felt full. "Who else?"

    "Hmm?" Marian gave her a questioning look.

    "Who else besides Anna?"

    "Ah, Lord Ye has been loyal to Lady Anna since they met."

    Eirian''s look of disbelief is what finally makes her smile.

    "It may be hard to believe after having lived in the capital so long, but it is love between and nothing more. Lady Anna''s family is well off but not that well off. Lord Ye has had plenty of marriage proposals from more valuable families, but he has never wavered."

    That leaves something hard and uncomfortable in Eirian''s stomach. A pit she can''t assuage or heal with her magic.

    How wonderful that they found love and such a strong one at that. A decade after meeting as teenager, all the temptations of money and nobility and they haven''t wavered.

    What must it be like to be loved like that?

    She''d thought she had that with Philip. They were so perfectly well matched in every way, and in the few they weren''t, they were willing to overlook.

    Or at least, that''s what they''d promised, said to one another when they were alone.

    For what that had turned out to be worth.

    Which was nothing.

    Eirian''s magic sparked with her temper, and she caught Marian stepping back in surprise.

    "If you handle managing the estate, what does Anna do?"

    "Anna does not take part in leading the estate. She assists with managing care for the smaller children on the estate. If you''re finished, I can show you."

    Defiant, Eirian grabbed another pastry and stuffed it in her mouth.

    "Is it true it feeds your magic?" Marian asked, looking curious.

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    Eirian nodded as she chewed. "I''ll be skin and bones in days if I just stick to three average meals a day."

    Marian''s face pinched in concern. "I''ll inform the kitchens."

    "Remind them I''m allergic to fish and shellfish, and I don''t like mushrooms."

    Eirian remembers a few other things to have her tell the kitchens and the house maids as Marian spends the rest of the morning giving her a tour of every inch of the Camelia''s main castle.

    She remembered to remind her that she didn''t like fruity teas while Marian showed her the gardens. Only the indoor sections were still growing, Marian explained, it had been years since they''d managed to grow anything in the outdoor wing.

    She reminded Marian she preferred cedar and spice scents for the candles and oils in her rooms as they examined the orangery.

    She also said that she preferred a vibrant color palette to muted pastels, though jeweled tones were acceptable since they''d go so well with the black stone the Camelia was made of.

    "And I want the tapestries cleaned and rehung. When was the last time new ones were put up?" Eirian asked as they walked the long hallways.

    "Before his grace was born," Marian answered, "He never wanted to waste the funds or time, but there is a large selection in storage. I''ll have them taken out and prepared for viewing."

    "Don''t bother with anything in the Venetian or Han dynasties. This place is gloomy enough."

    "There''s a significant collection of kesi," Marian suggested.

    "Did the color hold up?"

    Marian nodded. "They were stored in sealed elmwood. They''re in perfect condition."

    They stepped out onto a wide balcony that stretched the length of the castle. The sun was high, but any warmth it should have brought was absent. Even the stone was dull when it should have shined.

    Eirian looked out over the expanse of the estate, the towering spires balanced so carefully on the knife edged cliffs, the roaring water so far below.

    "This place is dying," Eirian says, feeling Marian stiffen next to her.

    "The Camelia has survived the worst the gods can offer. She will survive this too."

    "Do you know what this is?"

    Marian looks out, her hands clasped together in front of her so tightly her knuckles are white. "We have had every available healer in the Empire here. They can no more heal Lord Ye than they can heal the Camelia."

    And yet they haven''t made the connection, Eirian thinks to herself. "How long has it been like this?"

    "It was not this bad when I arrived, but it was not new then, either," Marian admits. "Sometime during the reign of Lord Ye''s great grandfather, the Camelia began to decline."

    "There must have been something, a root cause. This," Eirian gestured to the sprawling estate, "This does not just happen. Someone willed this into existence."

    Marian''s gaze snapped to her, desperation in her eyes. "You know what is wrong?"

    "I can see the miasma." At the older woman''s confusion, Eirian explains. "The illness, a poison seeping into the very stones."

    "Poison- poison can be cured," Marian breathes, hopeful.

    "A miasma is magically assisted poison, for lack of a better term. Whoever is responsible did this knowing it would be long and slow."

    "Whoever?" Marian hardened. "This was deliberate."

    Eirian scoffs. "Miasmas do not occur in nature. They are a man-made monstrosity. And as such, nature cannot cure them."

    Marian''s hands were shaking now. "Is there a way to save us? To save the Camelia?"

    Eirian debates her answer. She is not one to give blind hope or reassurance. She doesn''t think it helps. But there is a chance because there is always a chance.

    And Eirian is not one of the most powerful sorceresses in the Empire for nothing.

    "If anyone can save this place, I can."

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 16

    Eirian''s blooding blade named itself Ardain. Some made up thing inspired by the word ardent and an ancient people that had lived in the red lands far to the East thousands of years ago.

    It was a long, slim blade, smaller than most falchion, and bore a basket hilt of gold and ruby that looked like the flames of Eirian''s magic when it rose.

    Eirian had folded the steel blade herself when she was thirteen and had first heard of the elusive blades. Her father hadn''t been pleased, but back then, he''d spent more time with his drink than her, and she''d finished it by the time he found out. It had taken her months, first to learn how to forge the sword and then to do it correctly.

    The poor blacksmith she''d paid had contemplated retirement a few times when Eirian''s annoyance at her own lack of skill couldn''t be contained.

    But she had finished it. The blade was a mere two inches across by the time she''d folded the steel a thousand times and so sharp it had cut a blade of grass that had fallen on it in half.

    It had a three-foot reach and weighed a good ten pounds, but to Eirian, it was light as a feather. She''d been so excited to finish it that she''d ignored her father''s demands to stay in the city and gone out with a guard patrol to track down a group of bandits preying on travelers along one of the lesser roads to Aontacht.

    She took down five of the twenty herself, bathing the still-cooling blade in their blood until it gleamed like a ruby in the sunlight.

    But it hadn''t started to sing until she''d been approaching the hundredth.

    Blooding blades were ancient magic from when the children of Arrawn first left the World of the Dead for the World of the Living. They''d brought with them blades that had taken so many lives they''d become sentient.

    Not quite magical weapons, but not something just anyone could carry either. They were known for driving lesser minds mad, even taking complete control on a few storied occasions.

    Ye Chenzhou''s blooding blade was named Huaban. A delicate blade with falling camelia petals falling down it and a ruby and leather hilt. The blade had been a gift for his first birthday that he hadn''t actually gotten to touch until his sixth when he was big enough and coordinated enough to pick it up without hurting himself. His parents had been dead by then, and his training with it had been overseen by Henry Colfax, husband of Marian, who had served as Chenzhou''s chief tutor until he was a teenager.

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    It had taken three years for Huaban to become a blooding blade, when Chenzhou was eighteen and just finished leading his first campaign against the border tribes. A few of his generals had wanted to host a festival to celebrate, but Chenzhou couldn''t justify the cost and he didn''t particularly think killing a hundred people was something to celebrate.

    Huaban didn''t speak, not even as she''d grown stronger through the battles that had followed, but she did whisper. A rush of wind that only Chenzhou could hear. She warned him of danger, of threats in his blind spot, but she couldn''t do anything about the illness that plagued him.

    She exacerbated it, a few healers believed, advising him to melt the blade down until she was silenced.

    Chenzhou couldn''t quite bring himself to destroy it yet. Especially since neither Yuze nor Anna believed the blade had that kind of power.

    Huaban was also the sister blade to Qiang Ye, Yuze''s blooding blade.

    Yuze''s blade was a traditional nandao blade with leaves engraved on the blade with a hilt of bamboo carved into the shape of closed leaves. He''d inherited the beautiful sword from his master when he was sixteen and it had taken until he was twenty for it to become a blooding blade.

    His master, despite being one of the greatest swordsmen of his generation, had been a sort of pacifist. He fought but didn''t kill, as such the blade had never been more than blade in the fifty years he''d born it.

    Yuze, while he''d learned his teacher''s skills, did not share his philosophy, but he was a lineman in the army. His work as a spy didn''t often result in bloodshed, unless his mission went straight to hell, so it had taken much longer to get the hundred required.

    And like Chenzhou, he didn''t see it as something to celebrate. Qiang Ye was also much more vocal than Huaban, often filling Yuze''s mind with constant chatter.

    Chenzhou had always found that fact amusing, given that Yuze was known for his silence.

    It was rare to have so many blooding blades in one place. Only one in a thousand blades developed into one and the general practice of attempting to create one had fallen from favor when the Age of Constant Warfare had ended. They were seen as a bit more gruesome than was acceptable by good people, but among the warrior classes they were still seen with some reverence.

    But the blades themselves were possessive, territorial, and often sparked bloody conflict when brought into contact with one another.

    They couldn''t have started the poisoning that grew into the miasma, but they could exacerbate it, Eirian realized.

    In her room, she dug out the sealed elmwood she''d hidden Ardain in and slipped her magic into the lock. Sealed elmwood boxes were inlaid with magic and Eirian had made her own that only she could open. Her magic was the only way to turn the lock.

    Ardain sang as she tasted fresh air, the smell of smoke and tinder filled the air, and Eirian felt her own blood sing as her magic rose.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 17

    It took several hours to handle the situation that called for Yuze to interupt his first breakfast with his new wife. A long running investigation into missing supplies had finally resulted in an arrest when the suspect was caught in the act.

    The only hiccup had been the identity of the thief, the son and heir of General Yue, one of Chenzhou''s highest-ranked commanders. His parents had not been pleased by the arrest, but they''d been less pleased when Chenzhou had laid out the evidence Yuze had gathered.

    General Yue wasn''t Chenzhou''s biggest supporter, but as critical as he was of the current Lord Ye, he was more critical of his oldest son.

    "Well, Yue Chang''s life is over," Chenzhou muttered as he and Yuze left the Yue family to their outrage.

    Yuze snorted, "He''s a useless, spoiled brat. Maybe now his father will get through to him."

    "Or crush him completely." Chenzhou wasn''t any fonder of the Yue heir, but he was the result of an overly strict father and a dotting mother, and no one in the family seemed to want to take responsibility for their roles in one another''s behavior.

    It was times like this that Chenzhou was thankful he and Anna had never succeeded in having children. Only the gods knew how badly they''d raise a child when he barely had time to breathe, let alone be with his family. It had been hard enough to maintain a steady relationship with Anna. Even her patience wore thin when he was away for weeks at a time.

    They stepped out into the morning light, and Chenzhou''s guard fell back. Threats to him in the Camelia were limited to power-hungry rivals, of which there were only a few serious contenders.

    "Your new wife seemsˇ­interesting." Yuze ventured. He''d been the sole voice against Chenzhou''s plan, at least in the beginning. Chenzhou had worn him down eventually.

    Or at least, his continually failing health did. Yuze had spent years looking for some kind of cure, sending his agents across the Empire and beyond to the other lands of Byd Seren, but they''d never found anything, and last year, when he''d come up with the plan to find a wife in the capital, he''d told Yuze to stop wasting resources.

    If a cure existed for Chenzhou, it would have been found by now.

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    "She''s definitelyˇ­something," Chenzhou''s lips twitched against his will. "She is not what I was expecting." He admitted. It was amusing in a way, given that he''d been so specific in his search.

    Yuze snorted, sending him a sideways glance.

    "Her family lied to her."

    Yuze leaned against the bridge wall, looking surprised. "About?"

    "The marriage contract. She didn''t know about the bride price. Or how long we''d been having negotiations." Chenzhou leaned against the wall next to him and looked out over the estate his family had served since the very first mixing of blood that had created the Ye''s.

    The Ye line was going to die with him now.

    And he wasn''tˇ­

    He wasn''t really upset about it.

    The importance of his bloodline had always hung over his head. His tutors always preached the importance of maintaining the line, teaching him about his illustrious ancestors and barely even mentioning the less illustrious ones.

    Chenzhou had never known his parents, at least not enough to remember them now. Yuze had stopped speaking to his parents when he''d left to learn under his master, and Chenzhou would have done the same if he''d had Yuze''s family.

    "I think she will be good for the Camelia," Chenzhou admitted. "She has no home in the capital now. Her family has abandoned her."

    "That sounds more like a recipe for revenge than salvation," Yuze muttered.

    "She has power. You can feel it when her temper rises. The air around her turns to flame."

    "Wonderful. She can burn the whole place down around her."

    Chenzhou shook his head. "No. Life is born from fire. It illuminates the darkness. Chases away the chill. The Camelia has been cold for far too long."

    "Fires can rage out of control in a heartbeat," Yuze warned.

    Chenzhou scoffed, "How bad is it then, that I think that wouldn''t be a bad thing?"

    It was a sad thought, one of the many that kept him up at night. But Chenzhou could feel the rot and decay spreading throughout the estate like it was in his own blood. Several healers had even suggested that leaving the Camelia would improve his health, but Chenzhou could never leave. He was responsible for this place and every person in it and there was no one qualified to take over from him.

    If there was, he wouldn''t have needed to resort to a wife from the capital. He could just hand it off and go die in peace.

    "She''s beautiful, though," he mused and grinned at Yuze''s raised eyebrow. "She''s not as beautiful as Anna, but she is striking. I''ve never seen hair that color before."

    Yuze turned thoughtful, "Strange eyes, though. When are you going to tell her about yourˇ­" He motioned to Chenzhou''s heart. Yuze''s theory was that all of Chenzhou''s health problems were heart-related.

    "When I''m dead."

    "I''m sure she''ll take that well."

    "Won''t be my concern."

    "Unless she''s powerful enough to bring you back."

    That had definitely not occurred to him before now, and he gave Yuze a panicked look. "You don''t thinkˇ­"

    "What''s with that look?" A female voice made them both jump.

    Chenzhou and Yuze turned.

    Eirian stood there, robes and hair shifting in the afternoon wind.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 18

    Eirian had to fight to hold back a laugh at their panicked expressions. They looked like two schoolboys caught cutting class.

    She had her blade with her now, sitting on her hip, and Ardain immediately stirred, calling out when she felt the presence of Huaban and Qiang Ye. Chenzhou and Yuze both jerked back in surprise.

    All three swords started to sing, a cacophony of conflicting notes that only the three of them could hear.

    Like magic, blooding blades could only be heard by people other than their bearers when they were at the height of their power, in the heat of battle, or freshly bathed in blood.

    The realization that all three of them had blooding blades had all three of them eyeing one another all over again.

    "How did a princess get a blooding blade?" Yuze''s hand fell to rest on his own.

    "How did a poor boy?" Eirian returned, and they stared one another down while Chenzhou looked awkwardly between them.

    "Eir- Lady Ye, this is Rong Yuze, Chief Eyes for the Camelia."

    "And your best friend since childhood, right?"

    Chenzhou flashed Marian a look of warning. "Right." Marian looked back, unrepentant.

    Eirian huffed and joined them at the wall. "Eirian is fine."

    She studied them for a moment while Chenzhou worried and Yuze fidgeted.

    "So what''s the big secret?"

    They shared a sideways glance.

    Eirian sighed, "Come on. Spit it out. I know something''s going on here."

    Yuze''s eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How?"

    Eirian rolled her eyes. "Please. You might not be able to see it, but I can."

    Chenzhou took a deep breath. "The Camelia has been in decline for decades now."

    Eirian shook her head. "It''s not in decline. It''s being poisoned."

    "How- how is that possible?" Chenzhou looked stunned.

    "Magic," Eirian explained. "Someone used magic; it''s a miasma. It''s hanging over everything like a poisonous fog."

    Chenzhou and Yuze looked around.

    "It''s strange that you can''t see it, with how strong it is," Eirian said, watching them.

    "Could that be on purpose?" Chenhzou wondered. "If it''s magic?"

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    "Maybe. I guess it''s possible." Eirian admitted she hadn''t actually considered that someone would try to hide it. "It''s a hell of a thing to hide. Almost seemsˇ­out of character."

    "Don''t you need to know who''s responsible to know if it''s out of character?" Yuze pointed out.

    "If you were killing a prominent estate like the Camelia, the gem of the Empire, who would you hide it?" Eirian countered. "Wouldn''t it be the ultimate show of power?"

    "It can''t just be about taking down the Camelia, though." Chenzhou interrupted, and they both turned to him. "Taking down an estate this size would cripple the Empire. That''s, this isˇ­"

    This is what?

    He didn''t know what it was.

    Yuze frowned. "You think someone is trying to use the Camelia to bring down the Empire? You haven''t even been here a full day."

    "I doubt that was the plan," Eirian scoffed. "It wouldn''t work for one thing. But there''s also no way to guarantee when it would happen. What if whoever it was did it as part of some convoluted plan to take the throne, and then the collapse happens after they get it? Or it hangs on for a decade longer than they planned? It''s too uncontrollable."

    "But why would they do it in the first place?" Chenzhou wondered, more emotional than he''d felt in years. Why would someone try so desperately to destroy the Camelia?

    He turned to Eirian and froze, her icy gaze pinning him in place.

    "I don''t know, husband. Why would someone want to destroy your family?"

    Confused, Chenzhou glanced at Yuze, who shrugged. "Why would someone target my family?"

    "Why would someone target the Camelia?" Eirian returned. "It could be as simple as a personal grudge. Maybe you demoted someone? Killed someone''s family member."

    Chenzhou blinked, a long list of bodies fallen to his sword suddenly swimming in front of his eyes.

    "Could be a rival?" Eirian suggested. "Or, I guess, a rival of one of your ancestors."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean, this level of miasma doesn''t just show up. It takes decades."

    Chenzhou laughed. He couldn''t help it. "So it''s not even about me. It''s not something I did. All this suffering."

    "Wait," Yuze put a comforting hand on Chenzhou''s shoulder. "If it''s that old, that means the plan, whoever it was, didn''t work. Right?"

    Chenzhou''s chest twinged, a weight he couldn''t see pressing down on everything. "Unless the plan was just to destroy us. The Ye''s, my family, we used to be so big. All of the branch lines are gone now. It used to be common to have six or seven children, but my parents could barely have me, and my grandparents could barely have my father."

    "The Camelia is bleeding," Yuze muttered. Eirian looked confused. "It''s a saying. The Camelia is bleeding. It''s been going around for the last decade or so. Ever since Cehnzhou''s parents died, the decline became more obvious."

    "Where did it start?"

    Yuze frowned. "I''ll find out."

    Chenzhou pressed a hand to his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat, but it was so faint he couldn''t feel it through his robes.

    But it had to be beating since he was up and talking.

    Right?

    Eirian gave him a funny look. "What''s wrong with you?"

    Chenzhou dropped his hand. "Nothing. The miasma. Is there a way to stop it?"

    "Have to find out how it started. Who started it? There are lots of ways to trigger something similar. The magic that was used will be the best way."

    Chenzhou studied her. This stranger he''d summoned from the capital. A woman he''d already been pinning his hopes for the future on. Before he''d even realized how big they were.

    When he''d started his search for a wife, he''d been worried about the weight of it all. Of everything, the Camelia required when it was healthy and how much more it required now that it wasn''t. A single life could be an insurmountable weight at times, but a few hundred thousandˇ­

    Finding someone strong enough to lift it had kept him up at night. Drafting arguments and pleas to explain that his people were worth it, that these stones were worth it. That it wasn''t yet their time to crumble and fall into the ravines they were built over, scattering families that had lived here for generations to the six winds.

    And yet somehow, the woman he''d found, this sorceress with hair like moonfire and a blade drenched in blood on her hip, with eyes that gleamed like starsˇ­

    Somehow, he''d found someone who wasn''t afraid of it.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 19

    Even the children in the Camelia are warriors, Eirian realizes, walking the market with a somber Chenzhou and a distracted Yuze. They run around with little wooden swords, reenacting the battles they studied in school. Some of them even carry real blades, mere daggers to an adult, but they are real nonetheless.

    They''re all in black, too. Everything is. The signature red of the camelia flower the place estate is named after is almost just an afterthought, which is odd. Red is the color of love, luck, and wealth. It''s been the color of the Army of the Empire since its inception.

    She thinks Camelia is in mourning without realizing it. Could the miasma be poisoning their minds while it poisons the stone?

    Chenzhou is a steady presence at her side, lacking the pomposity that Philip had preferred and her father had always insisted on, afraid someone would forget who they were and why they were important.

    Chenzhou''s people recognize him and nod politely, but he doesn''t seem to need more than that.

    No one seemed to recognize Yuze, which is fitting, she figured. Master spy and all.

    "How big is this market?" She asked, examining the long row of stalls selling everything from food to weapons.

    "A few hundred stalls," Chenzhou answered. "It runs the length of the Center Bridge."

    "That connects the Northern and Southern sections, right?" Eirian had seen the map but hadn''t had time to memorize it fully.

    Chenzhou still looked impressed, those unfathomable eyes landing on her more and more often. "Yes. It''s the main gathering place for the public when the army isn''t using it for drills."

    It was certainly big enough, Eirian noted. The stalls lined the edges, along the building walls and the guard rails of the bridge, and there was still space for six people to walk side by side in the middle. There were squares that probably had grass once upon a time and trees that hadn''t sprouted leaves in just as long.

    It was nothing like the carefully curated marketplace in Aontacht, where colorful banners hung above manicured flower beds.

    But it could be.

    And it probably had been at one point.

    "Tell me the history of this place," Eirian said, and she meant it as a question, even though it came out more like an order.

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    Chenzhou launched into the same spiel they still taught at all the schools. "The first stones were laid in the Age of Warfare. The exact date is unknown, but it''s believed they were laid by Eldric Arnheim, the Western General who defeated Lao Tzu Lin. After his victory, the war between Sorrow and the Land of Song and Snow ended, and he built the first castle here. The main house is built around it. It was meant to be a watchtower to alert the empire of an enemy from the east, but it grew with the Age and the conflicts that followed. Arnheim''s descendants manned it until the line died out completely in the Five Year Battle. It passed through several families, but none of them lasted as long as the Arnheims until my ancestor took command."

    "How was he chosen?"

    "He was the last man standing," Chenzhou admitted, and for the first time, Eirian saw a small, bashful smile on his face. "Towards the end of the Age of Warfare, the Land of Song and Snow attempted to conquer the Land of Sorrow. The Tinling Emperor of All Under Heaven led a million strong through the borderlands." He pulled her between two stalls, to the bridge''s railing, and pointed.

    A huge gorge cut through the earth under them and as far ahead as Eirian could see. Two smaller castles and guard towers rose on either side, and beyond them, Eirian could just make out steep slopes leading down to the rapids.

    "They met on those slopes." Chenzhou continued, Yuze looking bored beside him. "The Camelia had the better terrain, but the Tingling Emperor-"

    "Had the manpower." Eirian supplied.

    Chenzhou nodded. "They pushed Camelia''s forces all the way back to the main castle. Both those guard towers were destroyed and had to be rebuilt after the war. Both of the smaller castles were overrun; everyone inside was slaughtered. The main forces of Camelia managed to fortify the main castle and lasted through a thirty-day siege."

    "Tinling''s forces were actually poised to break through and take the castle when the storm hit." Yuze interrupted. "A week-long storm with winds strong enough to bring down watchtowers and the kind of allgreen trees that grow on the Spine.

    The allgreen species of tree was known for trunks wider than a normal man''s reach and roots that ran deep. They were famous for their ability to withstand even the strongest storms, including the avalanches that happened in the higher peaks.

    A storm strong enough to bring them down would be extremely difficult to survive.

    "It washed most of Tinling''s army into the fjords. Most of them are still down there." Yuze glanced down at the water, though if he felt bad or found it amusing, Eirian couldn''t tell.

    "Tinling''s generals revolted and refused to continue the siege." Chenzhou at least sounded sympathetic. "By the time the dead were tallied, the only officer left alive was my ancestor. In his diary, he wrote that he became general by good luck and got the Camelia by bad luck. He was only in control for a decade, but he had four sons. I''m descended from the second oldest, whose line ended up being strongest."

    "Hmmm, that''s not too different from my own." Eirian mused. "The Soliel bloodline came to the throne a hundred years ago, but we''re famous for second children outliving their older siblings. My father always assumed my uncle would die before he could have children and he would get the throne."

    Chenzhou hummed, looking thoughtful. "Your uncle has been king for almost five decades now."

    "Yes, I suspect my father is terribly disappointed, though he''s not stupid enough to say it out loud."

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 20

    "All three of my uncle''s oldest children have died. Only my cousin remains. And I am the only child my father ever managed to sire." Eirian froze, and that sour feeling came back. "Or I was."

    She had a little brother now. She''d seen him once, right after the birth, when her stepmother had announced a new Soliel heir, and her father had been too enamored to argue.

    Eirian had refused to hold him. Or to stick around for the celebration. She''d gone to Philip to cry on his shoulder, and he spent the night assuring her that her father wasn''t going to suddenly change his mind. They hadn''t even known if the babe was strong enough to survive his first year yet, and the Land of Sorrow had long held the tradition of holding off the naming of heirs until the child proved strong enough to survive the first few years of its life.

    That Eirian had been replaced within the week had been its own bit of gossip.

    Chenzhou and Yuze must have sensed the change in her mood because Chenzhou quickly changed the subject. "I''ll have the Masters pull the Histories for you. Because the Camelia has always been a military base, it has a detailed historical record. Perhaps you''ll find something we''ve missed."

    "Probably," Eirian muttered and then winced when both men''s expressions shuttered. "Not like- I meant, things blur when you focus on them too long. Fresh eyes often help."

    Chenzhou''s shoulders fell. "That is very true." He admitted and stood in awkward silence until Yuze got tired of it and intervened.

    "There may be some distant relations of the Armheims and the other families still alive. One of them would be the obvious culprit. I''ll find them."

    "And that lyric. The Camelia is bleeding." Eirian reminded him. Something about it sat wrong with her, and Yuze nodded. "I''ll look through my own resources and figure out how the miasma started."

    "There are Inventories that may help along with the histories. Everything coming in and going out was noted for accountability."

    "All of it?" Eirian couldn''t imagine how much information that would be.

    "Military base." Yuze reminded her.

    "I can assure you, the other military estates in the empire do not have records that in-depth." Eirian snorted. She''d often accompanied her Uncle or Cousins on their visits, and there were always questions about where this and that had gone. It often came down to who wanted to keep what trophy, but on a few occasions, it had been greed.

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    And on one notable occasion, straight incompetence. Thankfully, her Uncle was no fool, and he''d come down harder on that occasion than he had on any other.

    "I''m assuming the Camelia has a Book of Standards?"

    Yuze nodded, "Yes. Though much of it is unchanged. There have been a few recent additions to account for the influx of civilians and the increase in imports."

    "Which imports?"

    "Food mostly. There used to be extensive gardens that provided a good amount of vegetables and fruits, but it''s been a long time since they''ve produced anything."

    "Any idea why?"

    "Chief Gardner says the soil must have gone bad, but they did a complete turnout and still can''t get anything to grow."

    "Turnout?" Gardening had never been of interest to Eirian, despite how much she loved having flowers and plants decorating her space.

    "They got rid of all the original soil and brought in new. Paid a ridiculous amount of gold for it, too."

    "Gold forˇ­dirt."

    Yuze rolled, "That''s what I said."

    "I guess that''s not surprising for someone who paid millions for a wife." She and Yuze turned judgemental looks on Chenzhou, who gaped at them.

    "That was you! You''re the wife!"

    Eirian scoffed. "And even I think that was a ridiculous amount."

    Yuze nodded in agreement. "I told him that."

    Chenzhou looked between the two of them in disblief. He''d hoped they''d learn to get along eventually, but he hadn''t realized that meant they''d agree with each other and not him.

    He was kind of cute, looking so put out, Eirian thought. His lips were pursed, his brow furrowed.

    He was pouting, she realized. Upset that his best friend and his wife were ganging up on him.

    Adorable, she thought and then stopped herself. Her husband was in love with someone else. It wouldn''t do any good to start down that road.

    And honestly, she was a bit burnt out after Philip. It would be great to find someone to sleep with. Sex was always such a good mood booster, but she wasn''t getting tangled up with someone whose loyalty would be torn.

    Not again.

    Yuze was attractive enough, though he lacked the gentleness that Chenzhou seemed to carry. That might make him a safer option.

    But he was also Chenzhou''s best friend, which wasn''t really far enough removed from the tangle if she really thought about it.

    She sighed. There were three hundred thousand(ish) people in the Camelia. She''d find someone when she was ready.

    For now, she''d just focus on making sure the Camelia survived until then.

    She reached out and tucked an errant strand of hair behind Chenzhou''s elvish ears. "Calm yourself, husband. You have good taste in friends."

    Chenzhou looked like he didn''t know whether to be flattered or insulted.

    "Thank you," Yuze said, managing to dispel the awkward air.

    Chenzhou gave him a flat look, but there was no heat to it.

    It was easy to see how deep their friendship ran, Eirian realized. People in Chenzhou''s position rarely had true friends. The lure of wealth and power was too much for most people to resist. He''d been lucky to meet Yuze when he had, been even luckier that Yuze, from what she''d seen so far, didn''t heed the lure of gold.

    She couldn''t tell yet if he''d truly earned his position as the Camelia''s spy master, but nothing suspicious stuck out.

    "What am I supposed to do while the two of you are doing all that?" Chenzhou asked.

    Eirian blinked at him and glanced at Yuze, who glanced back. They both stared at Chenzhou and said together, "Lead the Camelia."

    Chenzhou looked oddly disappointed at their answer.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 21

    Chenzhou hadn''t seemed entirely happy with the outcome of their discussion on the bridge, but he hadn''t said anything, and Eirian wasn''t going to waste time trying to make him.

    He could either be strong enough to say it himself or keep to it himself. Eirian wasn''t in the habit of babying full-grown adults. She didn''t even like babying actual children.

    In all their talk about the Camelia and what might be wrong with it, Chenzhou never said anything about his own health even though Eirian could see the miasma pouring out of him every second.

    After they''d split on the bridge, Eirian had spent an hour explaining to the House Master exactly how she wanted her rooms redone and arguing over the need for more bookshelves when there was a fully functioning library in the castle already.

    Eirian hadn''t said it outright, but there were pieces in her collection that were best left out of the general public''s hands.

    She had original copies of Mendelsan''s Origins, which detail the locations and uses of various medicinal herbs and creatures, much of which had fallen out of general knowledge in the three hundred years since he''d died, and Corvius'' extensive writings on poisons and cures. He''d never formed them into a single volume, but his papers had been published repeatedly until a king eight hundred years ago had decided they were too dangerous. Eirian''s copies were carefully stored in charmed ellwood to prevent them from aging.

    She even had DeVourny''s Record of Blood Blades, a one of a kind, detailed recording of Blooding Blades and their abilities that existed during the Age of Warfare. Many of which went missing after their bearer''s death.

    She even had first-edition copies of the Wizard''s Encyclopedia, all twenty-two volumes, compiled and edited by Malbec himself over a thousand years ago. The City of Illumination had desperately been collecting them all after his death, arguing that they belonged to the city Malbec had founded, even though it had been Malbec himself who had sent them out.

    Now, the city charged ridiculous amounts for access to them, and Eirian had one of the few sets that had escaped their grasp. Not that they hadn''t tried stealing them back since they''d learned she''d found them. Unfortunately for them, Eirian was stronger than anyone they could afford to send without making a spectacle of it, and she''d made easy work of them.

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    She''d been banned from ever visiting the City of Illumination or hiring a wizard for anything until she gave them up, but Eirian wasn''t holding her breath about needing to do either of those things.

    Marian showed her the library after spending lunch, looking reluctantly impressed by the sheer amount of food Eirian could put away.

    The library itself was the first thing about this place that impressed Eirian. It had ten levels of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, broken up by small study areas with desks and chairs and even a few small classrooms. Torchlights illuminated the floors, but there were a few reading nooks tucked up against large windows along the spiral staircase that was the focal point of the entire building.

    Eirian had stared at it long enough that Marian and the Grand Master of the library had started to look concerned before she''d realized why it was so captivating.

    "It''s a Fibonacci spiral."

    She decided to ignore the stunned expression on the Grand Master''s face.

    "When was it built?"

    "Two hundred years before Fibonacci was born," Marian answered, a small smirk on her lips.

    Eirian glanced at her. "Is this place in the Histories?"

    "There are several detailed chapters about its construction and collection." Marian gave the Grand Master a pointed look, and the man scurried off. "They will have the Histories pulled and set aside for you at one of the desks."

    "The Inventories Yuze mentioned, too."

    Marian''s eyes widened. "You think someone could have brought something here that causedˇ­all of this?"

    Eirian ran her fingers over the spines of a row of books. "Magical poisons need an anchor, an origin. It''s not like a regular poison that just exists until it burns out or is cured. I''ll have to destroy the object to destroy the miasma."

    She loved the smell of old books, the scent of vanilla that ages parchment emitted. It was the only time she liked the smell of vanilla, as she found it too simple when it came to oils and perfumes.

    A library like this, with its golden torches, dark emerald carpets, and dark wood accents, was a haven. A place Eirian could see herself coming to think and plan, to relax and escape.

    Maybeˇ­

    Maybe when all was said and done and Eirian was the only one in charge, she would add her own collection to its shelves. When she could be sure it would be safe.

    What special volumes were hidden here? Such a large library, such a storied place, there had to be some of the great missing volumes left on a shelf that everyone had forgotten about.

    So much information that everyone had thought lost to the world.

    She definitely needed to go through those Inventories.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 22

    Rong Yuze grew up poor.

    So poor that his parents were attempting to sell him for food when they ran into his Master, and he''d bought Yuze instead.

    Years later, when his Master had made a name for himself, they''d come back. Yuze had thought they were returning for him, but they''d only demanded more money and not even asked to see him.

    The disappointment from that day had colored every day since and Yuze hated it, even though he hadn''t managed to outgrow it yet. He hadn''t spoken to his parents since, had turned them away anytime they''d shown up at his Master''s residence after that.

    Once his Master had died, Yuze had sold his residence and moved into the main castle of the Camelia, where he was closer at hand to help Chenzhou and run the intelligence branch. It had been years since he''d last heard anything about them, and he had no interest in finding out if they were even still alive.

    A lack of loving parents had been one of the things that had bonded Chenzhou and Yuze when they were young. Even though they''d lost those parents in different ways, they''d understood the gaping hole in their lives.

    Because of it, Chenzhou had clung to the few adults in his life: Marian and her husband and two of the Generals who had mentored him in his teen years. When he met Anna, Chenzhou clung to the hope that they could create their own little family, but each year that went by without Anna becoming pregnant chipped away at what little hope Chenzhou had left.

    Yuze knew that his best friend had all but given up hope completely as his health continued to decline, and Yuze''s inability to fix it for Chenzhou broke his heart. He would be a great father, far better than Yuze would have ever been. Thankfully, his parents had dispelled any desire Yuze had for children of his own.

    He knew Chenzhou was still holding out hope that Yuze would sire a child he could declare his heir, but since Yuze had figured out as a teenager that he preferred the male form to the female oneˇ­.

    Well, there was a reason Chenzhou had resorted to buying a wife from the capital.

    It was sad to think that the illustrious Ye family was going to end in his lifetime. His Master had always said, "All things end, but from all endings come beginnings." He thought it was comforting, but for Yuze, who got twitchy when people ignored the rules or things veered wildly off course, it was anything but. He much preferred the comfort of what he knew to the mystery of the unknown.

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    The unknown was dangerous.

    The unknown was filled with threats and monsters and all manner of things that hurt the things Yuze cared about.

    Ironically, his fear of the unknown was what made him so good at his job. There was no mystery in the Camelia that Yuze couldn''t solve with a little bit of time and effort and that ability had made him the best spy in the Empire.

    The tribes in the borderland, who barely had functioning governments, only practiced the barest of intelligence gathering operations. Their spies were easily found, though Yuze preferred to monitor and control what they reported instead of capturing and executing them outright. It kept him several steps ahead of their enemies, and in the last few years, he''d started stretching his reach towards the capital.

    What he gathered about Eirian before her arrival was only basic information. Chenzhou had dismissed quite a bit of gossip about her, and her closeness to the throne had kept her out of his reach in the capital.

    Somehow, she was everything he''d expected and nothing like he''d expected at the same time. She certainly seemed capricious and spoiled. She wore unnecessarily expensive robes and jewels that belonged in lock boxes, not out in public. She was somehow respectful and above everyone else all at once.

    Marian was intrigued by her.

    Anna was scared.

    The rest of the court insisted they were reserving judgment, but Yuze knew there were at least a few old-fashioned minds that had already decided they didn''t like the flamboyant socialite.

    Yuze couldn''t care less if she ran around in silk and gems. If she made everyone bow to her whenever she walked by. His interest was in the rumors of her strength.

    Of the magic two of his sources insisted she displayed that Chenzhou and Marian had already confirmed they''d seen glimpses of it.

    Magic was rare among humans, and most of those who showed any sign of it were quickly spirited away to the City of Illumination, home of the House of Wizards. They claimed dominion over anyone who bore magic, and there were few kingdoms that wanted to risk angering them by refusing to let them take someone.

    It would be interesting to find out how Eirian had escaped their grip if she had been so careless in displaying her magic.

    He sent sparrows for Snake and Fox. Two of his best agents, they would be able to keep an eye on Eirian without her noticing.

    He sent another sparrow to the Grand Master of the library, requesting the Blood Records. The Land of Sorrow was more western in its thinking about bloodlines. They changed frequently, and there was much less focus on keeping them pure than the population of the Land of Song and Snow and the other Eastern lands.

    The Camelia benefited from her position on the border of both; detailed records of the families that had resided within her walls since the beginning were kept.

    The downside was that they changed and intermingled just as frequently as they did in the other Western lands, so there was a truly staggering amount of Blood Records to go through.

    The Grand Master of the library''s response was less than polite, but it did make Yuze smirk.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 23

    Chenzhou had a pounding headache. An afternoon of meeting after meeting and no time to stop and breathe.

    And he was still out of shorts about everything on the bridge. He had brought Eirian here to help the Camelia, but he''d thought he''d be beside her while she did it.

    At least, until he wasˇ­

    He''d thought he''d get to be a part of something one last time. Something that would help this place he loved so much. The home that had craddled him, raised him, and given him everything that made him happy and even everything that made him sad and tired and exasperated and everything else.

    He had never considered life outside the Camelia. Despite Eirian''s insistence that a presence in the capital was necessary, Chenzhou had never wanted anything that was available here. The Camelia, despite the responsibility it carried, was also blessed by that responsibility. People came from all over to serve in the Crimson Army. Merchants from all over the rock came to trade at the outposts, and they had to travel through the Camelia to reach them. The market street in the Camelia contained items from every corner of the rock.

    Sometimes, those items even turned out to be dangerous enough that Chenzhou had to confiscate them before they ended up in the wrong hands. Eirian was sure to be amused by some of the items in the Inventories. She might even be able to destroy a few of the more dangerous onesˇ­

    Provided she didn''t want to keep them.

    ˇ­

    Maybe he''d wait a bit before letting her take anything out of the vault.

    "Lord Ye." The judgemental voice of Lord Zhao brought him out of his thoughts.

    Of the three families closest in stature and wealth to the Ye''s, the Zhaos were probably third, but they often acted like they trump even the Ye''s. Zhao Mingzhe was a few years older than Chenzhou and had spent all of his informative years on the battlefields in the borderlands. He hadn''t returned to the Camelia until Chenzhou''s Rite of the Assending Blade when Chenzhou turned sixteen and took full command of the Camelia. Zhao senior had been one of Chenzhou''s regents, leaving Mingzhe to take over his father''s role in the Zhao family. Mingzhe had stayed behind at the Camelia after the ceremony, and his father was no longer regretful, while his father had taken his place on the battlefield.

    Zhao senior had been killed in his first battle, and Mingzhe had immediately left to avenge him. Something had happened behind the closed doors of the Zhao family after that, and Mingzhe had returned to the Camelia, though it was obvious he didn''t want to be there. He picked apart any plan, any order, any issue that came up. Whatever happened, Zhao Mingzhe had a hundred things to say about it.

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    And the worst part was that he was usually right.

    Chenzhou glanced at Mingzhe, who was sitting at the far end of the table. The other lords didn''t like him any better than Chenzhou; as bad as Mingzhe was to Chenzhou, he was much, much worse to his peers. Aside from a few official and unofficial alliances, Mingzhe was rarely part of their social circles.

    Actually, Chenzhou wasn''t sure if he had any friends among his peers. Or if he ever stopped working long enough to make any. He wasn''t married, had no concubines, and showed no sign of getting any of either. Not that he wasn''t attractive; according to Yuze, the young Lord Zhao was one of the most attractive people in the Camelia. His long dark hair was common among them, but his light blue eyes were one of a kind. They were eerie, almost like Eirian''s, but both Mingzhe''s parents were from the Camelia.

    Although the Zhao family did manage to keep the majority of their scandals under wraps. It was possible one of Mingzhe''s parents wasn''t who the family claimed.

    It was always hard to tell with noble families.

    "Yes, Lord Zhao?" He tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice, but sometimes it was hard to tell if he was successful.

    "Congratulations on your marriage." There was a complete lack of emotion in Mingzhe''s statement.

    "Thank you." Why was he bringing this up, Chenzhou wondered. He had not asked the opinion of any of them when he''d started searching for a wife. He hadn''t kept it secret because there was no way it would have stayed that way, but he''d also refused to acknowledge it when it came up.

    Lord Yin scoffed, "Yes, congratulations. She seemsˇ­strong-willed."

    Chenzhou gave him a flat look. "She is. She will be an excellent Lady for the Camelia."

    "And yet we''ve had no introduction." Lady Yang put in. The Yin and Yang families were cousins and diametrically opposed in their opinions of everything. Lady Yang was tall, willowy, and commanded the contingents of archers in the Crimson Army. Lord Yin was short, stout, and commanded the defensive line of the infantry.

    They argued about everything.

    "She''s still settling in."

    "She seemed well settled during the wedding feast. I think she ate more than everyone in this room." Lord Yin snorted.

    Chenzhou''s eyes narrowed. "Her magic requires fuel."

    "She has magic?" Lord Zhao suddenly leaned forward, and Chenzhou cursed himself. Magic was rare, and while Eirian seemed to have no issue displaying it, they had not discussed any of the circumstances around it.

    There hadn''t been a wizard in the Camelia in generations, and he wasn''t sure how her magic could be employed to benefit the Camelia.

    Although, even if all she did with it was cure this miasma she spoke of, that would be more than enough.

    Magic was a rare commodity, and now that it had returned to Camelia, every one of the lords and ladies around this table would be fighting to control it.

    It was comforting that nothing about Eirian suggested she was controllable at all.

    Which felt rather odd because Chenzhou had no hope of controlling her either.

    An uncontrollable magical element running around the Camelia doing whatever she wanted was actually rather terrifying when he thought about it.

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 24

    Wizards, mages, sorceresses, and the like had a colorful history on the rock. They even claimed they were the ones who named it Byd Seren, but so did pretty much everyone else, so it was unlikely.

    Before the time of Malbec, the first great wizard, anyone born with magic had suffered terribly. There''d been no laws to protect them, and they''d been fair game for anyone strong enough to take them. Most were taken as children, by force or purchased from parents who gave into greed. Those who managed to escape until adulthood were often captured and enslaved as soon as their abilities were discovered. They were used until they died, and few made it to old age. In the darker period, there had even been breeding programs designed to produce more wizards.

    Not that they had ever worked. All they had managed to prove was that magic did not travel in bloodlines.

    Magic had been wild then, and there was little understanding of how it worked.

    Malbec had been sold by his parents but escaped as a teenager and spent his first adult years growing so strong no one could ever put chains on him again. Power like that which Malbec had developed attracted people like moths to a flame, and by the time he was twenty-three, he''d formed a small village of followers. He''d started to free anyone with magic that asked for his help, whether their controllers agreed or not.

    Whether he''d intended to or not was still debated, but he''d ended up in open rebellion.

    His rebellion had upended the civilizations on the rock at the time, but he had succeeded. He''d built the City of Illumination in a small unclaimed corner of the Land of Antiquity, just north of the Land of Sorrow, and made it a safe haven for anyone with magic, and they''d flocked to it.

    The kingdoms of the time had banded together to destroy it and him, laying siege for months before Malbec had destroyed their army in a single night. After that, the mere existence of his power was enough to force the surviving kingdoms to change their laws. Malbec had outlived every wizard that came before him, living long enough to ensure that the laws had become too deeply embedded to be changed.

    When he had finally died, the City of Illumination had been a beacon in the Age of Darkness and one of the most influential powers on the rock.

    What Malbec hadn''t accounted for, or maybe he had and it just wasn''t in any of his writings that had survived, was that the accumulation of power for those who had been subject to its whims for so long had produced several generations of wizards who believed they should rule the rock. When the Age of Darkness had begun, they''d refused to aid any kingdom that didn''t acknowledge their authority, and those who refused had died out completely during the Age.

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    The wizards had become the tyrants they''d once suffered under.

    The Age of Darkness ended when a few small kingdoms stood up to them and managed to last long enough for the leadership of the City of Illumination to collapse in on itself, destroying its hold on the rock.

    As the Age of Darkness had given way to the Age of Illumination, the city that shared its name had barely been standing, and people with magic were seen as evil. The Age of Illumination had seen a significant change in societal and cultural beliefs across the rock, along with drastically changing borders. Wizards and their ilk had settled into a mercenary advisor role, exercising control over those willing to follow them but focusing more on controlling all knowledge of magic.

    One of the major agreements that had come from that period was the barring of Wizards wearing crowns. Wizards could not rule any land but the City of Illumination, but in exchange, any wizard was free from serving or belonging to any kingdom they did not wish to, no matter what position or family they were born to.

    The Camelia had employed several war wizards throughout its history, but they usually only remained as long as the conflict they''d been hired to assist with lasted. None of the great families of the Camelia had ever produced a child with magic, though not for lack of trying.

    Likewise, the ruling families of the Land of Sorrow had never directly produced someone with magic until Eirian Soliel, and despite how little attention she paid that fact, it had played a significant role in her family''s wealth and influence.

    Eirian was still in the line of succession for the United Throne of the Land of Sorrow, but she''d fallen after the birth of her little brother. If her father and stepmother managed to have more children, she''d fall even further. It was possible her Uncle could still name her heir if her last surviving cousin died, and her father and stepmother could use the Agreement of Barring to argue she couldn''t inherit the crown, but it was an Agreement, not a law, and as history had shown, crowns often adjusted the laws to fit their preferences.

    It would be a fight, but it was one that Eirian could possibly win.

    Chenzhou wasn''t sure if she had any interest in doing that, but being Lady of the Camelia would certainly give her an advantage. Even with her magic, she was vulnerable to overwhelming numbers, but with an army like the Crimson Army of the Camelia backing her, she was significantly less vulnerable.

    Chenzhou had brought her here to save the Camelia. He hadn''t given any thought to whether she had any interest in the throne, if that was why she was so unhappy to lose her place in her family.

    Yuze''s intelligence hadn''t said anything about plots for the throne, but it had revealed that she was close to her surviving cousin, the prince and current heir apparent to the throne.

    Chenzhou had never met Prince Eric Soliel in person. As the youngest of the king''s children, he hadn''t been in line for the throne until the last of his older siblings had died two years ago. He was a soldier who''d often been away from the capital dealing with all the conflicts the Camelia wasn''t fighting.

    He''d been away from Aontacht in the Isles of Smoke during the entirety of the negotiations with Eirian''s father and stepmother. Chenzhou wasn''t even sure he''d returned to the capital now.

    What did Prince Eric think of his cousin''s marriage?

    ~ tbc

 Chapter 25

    The Soliel family estate was on the western side of Aontacht, overlooking the Sunset Waters, the nickname for the western half of the Still Water, the lake that surrounded the city-island of Aontacht.

    The estate, which included four towers, a stretch of the city wall, and ten blocks of the city, was the third largest in Aontacht and had been in the Soliel family for two hundred years. Their ancestor Ellia Soliel had won the War of the Waters against the Isles of Smoke.

    The two dozen smaller isles that made up the Isles of Smoke were a hundred miles southeast of the three connected isles that Aontacht was built over. In the Age of Creation, the kingdom of Hallallee ruled the entirety of the Land of Sorrow before Aontacht and the Isles of Smoke split during a succession war that turned into a never-ending back-and-forth between the two kingdoms.

    At times, they were united; other times, they were at war, and despite several pivotal intermarriages, the unification never managed to last. The Soliels had come to power during the last war and were still hanging on two hundred years and another war later.

    Eric hadn''t spent much time in the sprawling city-state in the last few years. He''d been the youngest of five brothers, and the first years of his life had been the kind of peaceful that came when your parents and siblings had little time for you.

    And then, in the span of years, from age fourteen to twenty-one, he''d lost all four of his older siblings.

    Now, he was heir apparent, and the king''s failing health had him travelling constantly to handle any situation in the distant parts of Sorrow that Aontacht still ruled. He''d had to give up his military career, as well as most of his hobbies, and he and Eirian hadn''t been able to see one another in over a year.

    He''d forgone the celebratory return, sneaking in one of the smaller side gates to expedite getting home and away from the endless revolving door of people who wanted his attention now.

    Instead he''d sent a messenger to Eirian.

    She always came when he needed her and he needed her more and more as the responsibilities piled on.

    By the time he''d eatened and bathed, he''d expected Eirian to have arrived, but when he made his way to his office, he only foudn his messenger waiting.

    Will had been his messenger for years, a scout in the same unit Eric had come up in when they were both teenagers. When Eric had moved up he''d followed and when Eric had become heir, he''d followed then too.

    They''ve worked together for so long that Eric doesn''t even have to ask before Will is explaining, "She wasn''t there."

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    Eric frowned, off balance and took a seat at his desk. "Where is she?"

    "Married, apparently."

    Eric stared at him, stunned. "What? What did Uncle say?"

    "That he and his wife would like you to come to dinner to meet your nephew."

    "I didn''t realize the pregnancy was seccessful."

    "Babes a few months old from the looks of it."

    "I don''t care about the babe or them." He''d been putting off invitiations from them for years. Despite his close friendship with Eirian, he had little attachment to her father. Nevermind, the new stepmother he''d never met. "She''ll be at Philip''s then."

    Will shook his head. "She didn''t marry Philip."

    "That''s a relief. Who the hell did she marry then?"

    "According to the maids, the Lord of the Camelia."

    "The Camelia. She married Lord Ye? When did they even meet?"

    "Yeah," Will signed. "This is the part you''re really not going to like."

    Eric''s eyes narrowed.

    "It was arranged by her father. According to head maid, Eirian didn''t find out until it was done and dusted. She left pretty much immediately after it was announced."

    "Who the hell gave them permission to arrange a marriage?" Eric hissed, fury rushing through his veins. Eirian would never have settled for an arranged marriage. "She was engaged to Philip when I left!"

    "Apparently, that''s a whole different story," Will muttered. "Maybe the King asked for it. The Camelia is an influential estate, probably one of the that would be appropriate for her to marry."

    "Eirian would never settle for an arranged marriage and my father would never make her." Eric seethed. "My Uncle must have done this in secret."

    "That''s pretty bold of him." Will pointed out. "Probably aligns with something else the head maid told me."

    Eric''s eye twitched when Will didn''t immediately continue.

    "It''s just a rumor, I haven''t had time to run it down."

    "Obviously," Eric growled.

    "The new babe is the heir."

    "What?"

    "The maids were gossiping, they said they overheard Lord Soliel changing the titles. Which he can do without the King''s permission."

    "Why the hell would he make a months old babe heir? Eirian is more than qualified."

    "The new babes a boy. Lord Soliel''s always been rather old fashioned."

    "He''s never stopped Eirian from doing anything?"

    "That doesn''t mean he wouldn''t pass her over for a son. Or a generally more controllable child."

    "Eirian is perfectly undercontrol."

    "Yeah, of herself."

    "My cousin is hardly a pawn."

    "No, you''re cousin has the potential to be a queen and trump her father completely. And your Uncle got a new young wife less than a year ago."

    Eric stared at him as the words sunk in. He''d known his uncle was ambitious, gods new the King complained about him always sticking his nose where it didn''t belong, about overstepping, but to make such an obvious playˇ­.

    Will shrugged. "The deaths of your siblings must have him thinking there''s a chance."

    "And he''d know Eirian wouldn''t be a puppet ruler. She''s already much more powerful than him."

    Will snorted. He''d been lucky enough to see a rare display of Eirian''s magic when Eric had first joined his army unit. He''d had a bit of a crush on her ever since.

    The rage was near boiling now. His Uncle had sold her off to some stranger on the other side of kingdom because of some delusion of grandure and a throne that would never be his.

    "Wake the stable boy. Tell him to have my horse ready in thirty minutes."

    Will cocked his head to the side, "And where are you going?"

    Eric stormed to the doors, flinging them open. "To speak to my Uncle."

    ~ tbc