Sea of Glass ✔️

Prologue - Two Soulmates Torn Apart

My name is Evil. Don't be alarmed. I was given this strange name by my mother, who on her deathbed prayed that all would fear me so that I would never have to suffer as she did. She had revealed to me that it was my true name moments before she took her last breath. I should have been devastated to know that I was named after all that was profoundly immoral and wicked, but I figured that the one everyone called me didn't sound too different from it.

Evelyn, Evil - it was all the same. Regardless of what people knew me as I was still born of sin and strife.

My parents were soulmates, possessing the sort of bond that most people could only dream of. He was meant to marry her best friend Cordelia, someone my grandparents thought was a more suitable match. In their eyes, my mother Alexandra was not fit to be the queen of their island.

Of course, my father didn't listen to them. Few resist the call of the soulmate bond. And my mother had a bevy of suitors he wanted to stamp out which was hardly surprising given her ability to turn heads and charm even the most stuck-up royals.

That was how she got my grandparents to love her. How could they not? She was blessed with the kindest eyes and the loveliest voice. Alexandra always took care to learn about people, to read them, and be in tune with their emotions. It was how she navigated Myranian politics while her opponents underestimated her for her sweetness.

People loved her almost as much as they loved our Gods. Her beauty left her a trail of admirers despite being married to my father, King Idris. Her wit drew laughs from everyone she spoke to. In the view of the average peasant, my mother was perfect. Her only problem, according to the palace gossip, was the scheming women jealous of her.

But behind closed doors, Queen Alexandra suffered. She was a mortal Seer, someone gifted with visions of the future and cursed with a short painful life. It made her prone to fainting and frequent headaches, mysterious pains that the doctors on the island had no cure for. She was accustomed to gritting her teeth through these ordeals, strategically retiring to a dark room to "read." Even my birth nearly cost her life, making her frailer than she used to be. It was a miracle that she lived this long.

She hated her weakness. But the palace royals marveled at her delicate nature, romanticizing it as feminine grace. They refused to turn on her, fixating their venom on Lady Cordelia, the woman who refused to leave her side.

Their hatred came from simple jealousy. They all clamored for a piece of my mother, fighting each other for a compliment, a kind glance, or the most coveted thing of all, an afternoon tea with her. Lady Cordelia had all of these things handed to her effortlessly.

But no noblewoman would attack her directly. Any fool knew better than to display their resentment so overtly. If they wanted my mother's favor, they needed to pretend to be nice to Cordelia. My mother never hated anyone, but she wove a web of social ties so cleverly that any royal that dared to cross her would be shunned. In that way, she protected our little family from the ill will that was the rot of all great kingdoms.

When she wasn't entertaining the island royalty, she was plagued with bloody visions of the future. She would call me to her room often, complaining of her usual aches while her eyes were wet with fresh tears. I would go to her bed and she would hold me like a doll, sometimes weeping while muttering incomprehensible things. I knew better than to ask what kept her in sorrow. It was always a vision that was too graphic for her to put into words. So I let her hold me for as long as was allowed for the heir of a thriving island nation.

My lessons would inevitably get in the way, but I tried to make sure that I could see her once a day. I dressed well before I met her, draping myself in blue silks and glowing pearls. If there was anything my mother taught me, it was the importance of appearance.