Prologue
Melisandre
I’d never anticipated the moment of my victory would feel this sweet.
“You won’t succeed.”
I turned from the infant’s cradle. Queen Eira’s voice was weak, and an ever-expanding pool of her own red blood surrounded where she lay on the marble floor of her bedchambers. I’d considered tasting the delicious liquid, but moments like this couldn’t be jeopardized for simple pleasures. Besides, I wanted no more trace of her in what I was about to do than existed already.
“I already have.” I smiled at her from where I stood. Candlelight reflected from her blood and the glistening diamonds of her gown alike, making her shimmer like the snow for which she was named. “In a few moments, you’ll be gone and everything you loved will be mine. I’d say that is quite the victory, wouldn’t you?”
“The giants will stop you. They’ll stop all of you.”
“Oh, I’ll deal with the giants.”
Pain twisted her face, and her breaths came hard. Lurches of her silk-clad chest made her entire body shake. I’d witnessed death a hundred times, caused it a hundred more, and I’d never found it as satisfying as this.
“You thought you could escape,” I told her. “That you could save those old fools. That ruling Aneira as their queen would mean I couldn’t claim the throne. But I told you when my sisters and I tore down your precious Jeweled Coven and bathed the stones of your sanctuary in the coven’s blood that nothing would stand in our way, and all your efforts after the Witch War haven’t changed a thing.” I turned, looking down at the child. “You only gave us another tool for our future reign.”
In her bassinet, the baby screwed up her face, her pale cheeks reddening as she began to cry. Silken strands of hair as dark as night lay on her head, a gift from her father, while her lips were like her mother’s, bright as rubies.
But soon…
My fangs slid into place, and when I glanced back, Eira gasped. My lips curled. I enjoyed her fear.
Lifting my wrist, I slid my fangs lightly across my skin. Blood welled from the cuts.
Frantic words in the old tongue came from behind me, and my temper flared. With a sharp gesture, I cast a shattering spell and heard Eira’s pained cry as her bones broke.
I smiled, returning my attention to the child. My blood dripped from my wrist, splashing on the baby’s lips. The infant girl’s face screwed up with confusion at the sudden rain of red liquid, but her mouth and throat moved, swallowing it down. “That’s right, little one. That’s right.”
The baby whimpered, her confused expression turning to fear as the blood went to work.
“White as snow…”
I glanced back at the weak whisper. Her body broken, Eira lay with her gaze locked on the bassinet. Her chest barely moved with her faint breaths, and her skin had lost almost every trace of its color. The pool around her had stopped spreading, nearly all her life spilled out.
“Red as blood…”
I scoffed. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“Dark as ebony… I send the seven to my daughter…” Eira’s gaze crept up to mine, burning with certainty. “And you will never win.”
The light faded from her eyes.
My brow furrowing, I stared at her. That was no spell I’d ever heard. What foolishness had the dying witch queen attempted?
The baby began to cry again.
I turned back to the child. My blood was nearly gone from her little lips, swallowed away by an infant whose instinct was to drink down whatever was given to her. I chuckled. It was no matter. The queen was dead, and my plan was in motion. The twisted creatures of the empty realms would never claim me now.
Running my tongue along the tips of my fangs, I considered simply ending it now and freeing myself of the hold the Voidborn had upon me. But an infant wouldn’t appease them. No, the forces my sisters and I had summoned that fateful night demanded a price for their gift, and though the Voidborn were willing to wait, the clock was ticking over us all.
But we’d found a loophole, each of us, and mine was screwing up her little face to cry again, perhaps sensing that her mother lay dead only a few feet away.
I let my fangs retract and willed myself to take the appearance of a human once more. Picking up the infant, I cradled her to my chest. Beyond the heavy door of the queen’s chambers, I could hear the sounds of footsteps. The king, perhaps, come to check on his wife, where instead he’d find the woman who would become his bride.
“Hush now, little one.” I rocked the child. “I’m going to take good care of you.”
