The Second Daughter

Chapter One

Ice Mirror

The Cursed Season was coming, and with it, Death. On the night of the Winter Solstice, Daivyanna Valda and multiple other young women would be dead. The cold was coming, and with it, a promise. A promise that Death would be there, that Death would come to fulfill its promise to the Kingdom of Treiabeth.

Daivyanna stared at her reflection in the shard of ice. She stared at her hair, her eyes. Unconsciously, she felt herself reach up, her fingers grazing over her sharp cheekbones before extending her arm toward the ice in front of her. When her callused hands came in contact with the ice, she hissed from the impact but did not pull her hand away. Instead, she ran her fingers over her reflection. Her fingers became numb as she outlined her features, and running her hand over the sharp edge, cutting herself in the process.

The mirror was rare. Forged from the First Queen of Treiabeth, the ice was raw magic. When the First Queen died, the ice stayed on the earth of the world, along with all of her other magic, which was rare within itself. No one knew why, or how, her magic did not die along with her--and no one would, because when the First Queen disappeared, her knowledge went with her, unlike her magic.

Daivyanna's fingers continued to numb from the harsh cold of the mirror, but she was not bothered by it. From her father's intense training, Daivyanna's body had hardened, along with her mind. She was not bothered by normal cuts or the burning cold of her mirror. Such things that bothered normal people did not affect her. She hoped that could save her--that she wouldn't die along with the others when her day came.

Three weeks. Three weeks and the Solstice would be here. She had been dreading the say since she knew her own name. And soon, it would be upon her. Every day that the cold got colder, and the snow kept falling, was one day closer to Death.

"Daivyanna." She did not jump, even though her father's voice surprised her. She merely turned her head to the doorway, awaiting her father's words. "We are leaving."

For a fraction of a second, she was confused. Then, she realized. "The Ceremony." Her father nodded, his already downturned frown becoming even more filled with dread. "I'm sorry." Daivyanna looked down in shame. "I. . . I got distracted."

"It's okay, Vy." Whenever her father used her nickname, Daivyanna felt his love, deep down to her bones. The love that she never received from her mother, and she knew that was why he had been calling her by "Vy" more than usual lately. Because he wanted her to feel loved her last few weeks of life. "Just be at the door soon. Your mother and siblings went ahead. I'll be waiting."

When her father retreated down the stairs, Daivyanna stood up and grabbed her cloak from it's hook on the wall. Wrapping it around her body, her slim, strong, fingers worked the buttons. The fabric of her cloak was a deep, blood-red color, and resting at the base of her neck were two silver buttons. They were intricate, and held deep red rubies at their centers--her father had found them at the market and wove them into her cloak when she was six years old. It used to engulfed her then; now, the hem of the cloak rested a good few inches off the ground. 

She reached for her beast skin shawl, the silvery white fur laying on top of her cloak and stopping at her elbows as she rested the metal clasp over her shoulder. Daivyanna pulled her hood up, hiding her Second Daughter hair, her eyes hidden in the shadows. Carefully, she wrapped the extra strap at the edge of her cloak around her bracer and buckled it to hide the gold from view.

Every Second Daughter was bound by a bracer molded to their forearm and wrist. Daivyanna's was made of gold, with small silver detailing. It had no straps, or ties, or buckles; it was impossible to take off. Some warriors wore bracers on their forearms, but they were normally leather and had straps. A Second Daughter's bracer was unmistakable. Keeping it out in the open, for anyone to see, was not safe. Commoners would often attack a girl if they believed her to be a Second Daughter, even though it went against the laws put in place by the King and Queen. A Second Daughter was shameful; a taint on a town, a stain on a family name. 

Daivyanna stroked her bracer through the thick fabric of her cloak, tracing along the swirls and designs plastered on silver. "A reminder of our faults," she whispered faintly. The bracers were meant to be a reminder to the Second Daughters; the bracers are permanent, just as their mistakes and punishments are. Daivyanna never understood that. She had never done anything wrong--she never hurt, killed, thieved, betrayed, or anything of the sorts.

Daivyanna took the steps in pairs, her footsteps light, and silent. Her father was waiting for her at the bottom, standing with his arms crossed. Before she could open the front door, Daivyanna's father reached his arm out and stopped her in her tracks. Confused, she yielded a step and looked up at him. 

"You're certain that you're ready?" 

It took Daivyanna a few seconds to realize what he meant. She had been to many Dark Executions before; since she was an infant she had been forced to attend them and perform what many call the "Death Daughters Ritual". At first, she thought her father had asked her if she was ready for the execution and the ritual until she realized that he meant to ask if she were ready for her last Dark Execution. There had already been one months before, and there could only be two performed within the span of a year. 

"Yes," Daivyanna said. She was more than ready to do this for the last time.

No, not all chapters will be this short. Instead of using my page break and continuing on to the Dark Execution, I decided to leave it short. I will be posting it as a teaser chapter, and it will be up for a while before any further chapters are posted. 

I really want to have the next chapter up by the end of January (probably the last week), but I don't know if I will be able to. I have a lot of school work and don't have much free time, but I'm planning to fit Wattpad into my daily schedule. I recently added a lot to my plan for this book, so hopefully my burst of inspiration that got me to re-write this chapter (yes, it got deleted and for months I was so upset and un-inspired that I didn't do anything with it) stays with me long enough to write at least a few until I start getting motivation from readers (hopefully *nervous laugh*).

-RV