Wicked Steps

Season 1: Chapter 1

Emberlee Ortaga was born from her parents' love and under the Blessing of the Gods of Beauty. She was born captivating, from her infant laughter, to how bright her eyes were as she regarded the world around her. They were nearly the gray of the shining moon, glowing with curiosity, and many were the rumours whispering about how stunning the Marchioness' Heir would grow to be. And if Emberlee had grown up only beautiful, her tale may have been lovely instead of tragic.

As an Heir to the March though, Emberlee was raised knowing that one day it would be her duty to stand as a shield for the Kingdom as her Mother did as Marchioness. She learned to crawl only to have to master running, and her mornings were spent training in the ranks of her father's knights while her afternoons were spent mastering the art of etiquette and social maneuvering. And every night her father wasn't away at battle, he was home to have dinner with them both.

"My darling girl," Emberlee's Mother taught her more than just social trends as they prepared for a child-friendly garden party, "while we're there, keep your ears open and your eyes wary. The Ortaga family have been loyal Marquis since the founding of the Kingdom, so many forget that we can still think for ourselves," Emberlee knew that other girls her age were being told to behave and remain with the other children, but her Mother had always started Emberlee's lessons by explaining that sometimes being the Kingdom's sword and shield came at the cost of blood or innocence.

"People mistake kindness for weakness dear girl," Mother would repeat while brushing Emberlee's straight dark hair, "You can kill your enemies with kindness."

So when eight-year-old Emberlee was unleashed by her Mother to go wander the garden party; she knew her role was to be one of the pretty blossoms; beautiful and overlooked. The other March children were all either old enough to want to stay near the adults or still small requiring nannies, so Emberlee found herself reluctantly immersed into the equally political Princesses and Princes of the Duchies; though none of the Royal family. Like herself, these children had been taught to keep a pleasant smile on their faces even if they fell and scraped their knees; anger could be expressed as a weapon but never vulnerability.

And yet Emberlee paid heed to her Mother's lessons and listened not only to what the other children were interested in, but what they complained about. Magicians were becoming harder to hire, even for the richest Families, and father had always warned that was an omen of war. Not a guarantee though, so Emberlee sipped her strawberry tea carefully and did her best to blend in with minimal commentary. And before long the other children and their respective adults all forgot that a quiet mouth can have listening ears.

The Princes at her table all tried to test each other's egos in the way of high-ranking boys, the Princesses ignored them in a blatant way that meant they were carefully judging and Emberlee heard the whispered conversation of the adults on the other side of the hedge.

"We aren't supposed to meet in public like this," a woman's warning hiss and Emberlee had to guess at either affair or illegalities.

"It would be strange if we entirely avoided each other at these kinds of events, my lovely Duchess," she heard a man's voice, too smug to be apologetic.

Affair then.

That Emberlee didn't understand; although father was often away for Campaigns, when he was home he and Mother were a united front. Their love was so obvious for each other that it was an embarrassment to Emberlee, and she'd asked how it wasn't a vulnerability. Both Mother and father had laughed at that and explained that only a weak marriage was a vulnerability.

But more than her inability to comprehend their reasons for infidelity, Emberlee couldn't avoid realizing she recognized the man's voice. It wasn't difficult to slip from the table she was at and wander into the hedge maze further to confirm her suspicion.