The Knight's Deception

Chapter 1

Nineteen-year-old Lily Emerick slammed the door to her chambers with such force that the portrait hanging on the wall beside it fell to the floor with a loud crash. Her eldest brother, Sage, followed her into the room, still dressed in the royal rose-colored robes befitting the King of Railark. He wore his best placating face, but Lily turned from him. The blotches of red wine staining her rosy dress reminded her of the arrogant young lord she had doused it on. Her silver magic spiraled around her in response to her utter outrage at the words he had spoken to her.

"I will not marry that--that pig!”

"Lily,” Sage began, “he wasn’t that bad.”

"He compared me to his horse.”

Sage failed to hide his chuckle. “To be fair, he does own a beautiful mare.”

"Not helping.” That wasn’t the worst of it. The young lord had insulted Lily more with his constant brash remarks on how “she would make a perfect bride with a little polishing up" or “perhaps she should wear a more flattering color; the pink makes her look a little too pudgy for my taste." She sat down on the silk sheets of her bed as the magic dissipated. It writhed underneath her skin, but as she calmed, it eventually stilled. Sage moved closer, and she glared. “Don’t you have a kingdom to run? Or offended guests to soothe?”

"I have a sister to care for first. Lily--”

A loud explosion rattled the room, interrupting the beginning of what would surely have been a lecture on the proper way to behave around important guests. Lily stood from her bed, almost grateful for the interruption had it not been the unmistakable and all-too-familiar sound of Bane, the second eldest, practicing Dark Magic. It didn’t seem to be reacting well with Bane’s own magic, and the power he was attempting to harness would kill him before long.

"I’ll go speak with him.” Lily offered.

"No,” Sage shook his head with grim eyes, “he’ll listen to me.”

"Tell him it’s dangerous,” Lily said, “what he’s doing, it’s dangerous.”

Sage nodded and opened the door to her chambers, letting in the acrid smell of the Dark Magic emanating from their father’s old study. Instilled into every sorcerer from the moment they learned to speak were the dangers of Dark Magic. The addictive dark art exceeded the typical limits of magic but drained the sorcerer of their life. It worried her that one of her own brothers practiced it just down the hall from her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. She had pleaded, argued, threatened, but nothing reached Bane through the black haze clouding his vision.

Her eyes fell on the portrait she had knocked from the wall and went to retrieve it. Her mother’s gentle green eyes stared back at her while Lily eyed the splintered frame mournfully. The same locket her mother wore in the portrait now rested above Lily‘s own heart, and though the scorched silver served as a reminder of her mother‘s death, it still comforted her. “What’s this?” She reached between two pieces of the frame and tugged on the yellowed scrap of paper sticking out, pulling it free. Her name stood out in the forgotten handwriting of her mother, and she unfolded it to read the scrawled letters inside.