The Curse of Shadows

Chapter One

Chapter One — Evelinor

Something is wrong.

There is a weird scent in the air and my eyes aren't opening. My body feels heavy and there is a deafening sound around me. After what feels like an eternity, I manage to tear my eyes open only to scream when I see my mother's lifeless body beside me. Her emerald eyes are open but the life has been drained out of her.

"Mother." I whisper and move her onto my lap. "Oh please, no." I hug her close and cry into her hair. There is a scream that comes from me and tears stream down my face.

"What have you done?"

I look up and see my father and his guards. All of them are pale and the men take a step backwards when I let go of  mother's body and move to stand up. "Father—,"

He raises his sword, "What did you do, Evelinor?"

His men stand taller, all of them raising their swords towards me.

I take a step back, stumbling over something. My hands lessen my fall and before I can gather myself, I notice the blood on my hands.

The blood is thick. As if I've reached inside someone's body and grabbed ounces of their blood.

"No." I whisper. I look over my shoulder and at mother's lifeless body. There is a gaping hole in her chest and that is when I notice the missing part of her.

Her heart. It's missing.  And I have my mother's blood on my hands.

I feel a sharp blade on the backside of my neck and hear my father's booming voice, "Evelinor Fairbourne, Fae Princess of Kingdom Arvandor, shall be sentenced for the murder of Lorelei Fairbourne, Fae Queen of Arvandor." Father's voice shakes. "Evelinor of Arvandor shall be stripped of her magic and be exiled out of the Realm. She will spend two decades in the Northwind before being exiled to Mortalis, where she will live among the humans."

I feel my body move, cuffs that leave burn marks are shackeled around my wrists and legs.

— * —

I wake with a choking breath.

I turn in my bed and try to find the bedside lamp in the dark. I switch it on and grab the glass of water sitting on the bedside table and chug it down. I feel sweat trickle down my back and get out of bed to go wash my face in the bathroom.

I splash some water on my face before looking at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is in a knot on top of my hair and my pointy ears are out for show. I touch my fingers to them and sigh when my eyes move to the silver rings around my wrists. To the humans they looked like expensive bracelets, however, they are full of power which keeps me from using my magic. They can only be released from my wrists with a key that my father keeps in safekeeping.

Before coming to Mortalis, I had spend a good time of my life in the Northwind with trolls and murderers. I had been branded a murderer and one of the worst of them all because everyone believed that I had murdered my own mother. Not being able to remember what had happened that night did not help my case but even though I couldn't recall that night, I knew in my gut that I could never hurt my mother, let alone murder her. 

But nobody had ever listened.

After two decades in Northwind,  I had been exiled to Mortalis which was a bigger punishment.

For centuries, there has been a treaty between the Realm and its four Kingdoms, and Mortalis, in order to keep the peace between the immortals and the humans. People of the Realm were allowed in Mortalis as long as they kept their magic and powers at bay and did not cause any human any harm. Humans however did not enter the Realm because of their vulnerability to magic and power. Being exiled into Mortalis was considered a punishment because in the Realm, people were immortal. To be exiled into Mortalis meant confronting the inevitable fate known to humans — death. Death by other humans, death by poison, death by disease and even death by grief. As an immortal, this was a punishment worse than death, and I know this is why father had exiled me here.