Eris looked at Mama, who looked as confused as she felt. Something was off. How could her mama forget who Soraya was? Was her mother sick? She looked to Papa. Why was he also looking at her with that confused look on his face? She set down her spoon and tried to swallow the remaining food in her mouth, but her mouth was suddenly too dry.
“Soraya is my sister.”
Mama turned to Papa, who shrugged his shoulders. Mama took a deep breath. She set down her spoon, looked Eris right in the eye, and said, “Eris, you don’t have a sister.”
Chapter 2
Knox
Out of habit, Knox attempted to wiggle his toes, though consciously he knew it was pointless. After all, he was still a corpse, at least until sunset. He continued to lie frozen, somewhere between life and death, on his back staring up at the dark blue fabric draped over his four-poster bed, praying the stiffness would fade soon. He wondered if anyone else in Jara City prayed for the darkness of night like he did.
Knox heard a set of feet shuffle across the marble floor, though in his current state the only thing he could move were his eyes. Toran, his head butler, was the only one brave enough to ever enter his room. All the other servants and castle workers avoided him entirely when he was awake. He knew they whispered about him when they thought he wasn’t around, and he didn’t hate them for it. How could they not? His situation wasn’t exactly normal. All the other rulers in Erila were respectable, awake and ruling during the day, whereas for Knox, a single touch was the same as a death sentence.
The deep shadows in the fabric overhead began to disappear one by one as Toran slowly lit candles all around the room. If Knox wasn’t stuck, he could simply wave his hand and will all the candles to light at once. The gift of all Dark magic-born, the ability to control fire.
When the room was finally aglow, Toran approached Knox’s bedside. “Sire, the sun will set in approximately half an hour,” the older man said in a gentle voice that matched his stature. “Tonight’s menu is roasted lamb with garlic potatoes and a squash soup. I’ve brought in several more girls to test. I’ve explained the risks, and they are all adamant to continue with the process. I’ve set your clothes out on the chaise, and I’ve notified the gardener that he is to completely remove Dark Thorn from the greenhouse before the end of the day tomorrow. There are also a dozen petitions that require your immediate attention.”
Knox blinked once, signaling he understood, a system they had worked out many years ago.
“Is there anything else you require before the sun sets?”
Knox blinked twice. Toran bowed and left the room, leaving Knox alone to stew in his thoughts again. The monotony of his life threatened to suffocate him. None of those girls would be the one he was looking for. Just as none of them had been every night for the last ten years. He knew that, but every night the disappointment of not finding her again sank like lead in his stomach. It might not be tonight, he reminded himself, but he would find her eventually. He had to.
Slowly his fingers and toes began to burn with such intensity that he closed his eyes to focus his mind on something other than the pain radiating up his arms and calves. It felt as if the fire he was able to control was trying to burn him alive from the inside out.
The first time he’d turned from a corpse back to the living, he’d been still a boy. The pain was so intense that he’d vomited over and over, until there was nothing left in his stomach. As he’d lain on the floor shaking, he’d prayed that he would never have to live through it again.
The second time, Toran had sat beside him as he wept. But after a month of turning from a corpse to the living and back again, Toran had told him to accept the pain for what it was: a sign that he was still among the living. A sign that he wasn’t completely trapped in death yet.
Now as the pain intensified, he dove deeper into a memory from his childhood. A summer day when both of his parents were still alive. The three of them were smiling as they sat beside a large pond full of swans. Though he couldn’t remember what they had talked about, it was the kind of memory that reminded him he hadn’t always been like this. For at least a few years of his life, he hadn’t been half dead.
He reminded himself to breathe.
Once the burning had ceased and his body was fully functional again, he sat up slowly and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Toran had picked a simple pair of tan pants, a white shirt, a dark blue overcoat, and a pair of white gloves trimmed in dark blue. Knox quietly dressed and headed for the dinning room, ravenous from turning.
After a hearty dinner, he made his way to the main parlor. When he entered, he climbed into the ornate shrouded chair and rang the small bell that sat on the large oak table beside it. Shortly afterwards, Toran walked in the with the first girl and ushered her to the chair on the opposite side of his fabric screen. The girl sat, head down, and wrung her hands, clearly nervous.
“Good evening,” Knox said, causing the girl’s head to pop up.
“Oh. Er. Hello, your Majesty,” she said.
“Are you ready to answer my questions?” he asked. The girl nodded. “What is precious, but costs not a coin? Gained over time, but lost in a second?”
The girl looked from her hands to the ceiling, as if the answer would be hidden in the molding tracing the top of the walls. Knox counted his breaths. When he got to ten, he repeated the question.
After another long silence, the girl finally answered. “Reputation,” she said, smiling.
“That is incorrect. You’re excused.” He sighed, waving her off.
The girl stood, looking confused, but did as she was bade. A few seconds after the door closed behind her, Toran brought in a girl with long black hair. She sat in the chair Toran indicated, but rather than keeping her head down, she stared at him through the fabric screen. He smirked, amused by her confidence. Not that it would get her far. Only a clever girl would be able to pass the tests.
They had been testing girls for years, looking for the girl with the mark of the flower. Currently they were working under several theories as to what constituted the mark of the flower, but everything from a birthmark to her name seemed to fit. If any girl passed the flower mark test, she then had to prove her cleverness.
“Are you ready to begin?” he asked.
“Of course, your Majesty.”
“What is precious, but costs not a coin? Gained over time, but lost in a second?” He began counting his breaths. When he got to three, the girl answered.
“Friendship. True friendship.”
Knox, only half listening, opened his mouth to dismiss her, but caught himself. “Wait. What did you say?”
“The answer is true friendship, your Majesty.” She crossed her arms, as if daring him to tell her she was wrong.
“You are… correct.” He sat up in his seat. She was the first girl to get the question right in over a month. He reminded himself to not get too excited. She’d only managed to answer the first question, after all. Knox readjusted in his seat and reached for the bell. This time he rang it twice.
Toran and Knox had come up with the idea to test the potential curse breakers with a series of riddles because of a prophecy gifted to him a few days after he’d turned for the first time. There had been no name on the scroll, just a note saying that one day he would meet the prophetess who had seen his future.