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Prologue

When I was a child the world smelled of summer

The heady perfuand took them with it on its journey to soothescent of the damp soil when the sun had pushed the sky too far and it wept rain for days on end, before wearily turning the world back over to its golden co aro withas she prepared our afternoon repast of bitter lemonade and thick warm bread, slathered with crea shade of the larder

And my father’s pipe

The sweet odour of tobacco tickling my nose as he held me close and whispered the stories of our Salvation and the randest palace in all the land with his beautiful daughter the Princezna how kind and gentle they were the reason my private world was one of innocence and endless summer

My memories of that life never leaveback to h the fields of purple and gold, racing over the farentle trickle of that strea he had looped around the strongest tree, the one with the trunk that seemed to bend towards the water as if thirsty for a taste of its pure relief For me I was drawn to its coolness on my skin, its moisture in rass

So our names in my dreams

There was no warning to suan like any other day I lay with e,water as I recounted the story my father had told me over and over, to my little brother I could hear my father’s rich voice in my head, had memorised every word, and as I recited it, I remembered to speak in the hushed, awed tones ical as this one really was

“Aeons and aeons ago, our people were the most blessed of mankind Powerful and beautiful we could tap into Mother Nature and draw fros, spiritual and wondrous to behold But rew envious of us, and wise as ere, we knewbetween its people, could not withstand a ith us The wisest of us persuaded us it was time to fade from mankind’s earth, to fade as one into a world of our own We drew froan to melt around us as we fell deep, deep into the fade When our people awakened it was to find themselves here, in the Phade, in a new born land; a sky, a moon, a sun, trees, plants, water, and all aniin the neorld in peace Fearful of our e us as they had to ical evokers, with the ability to lull the people and the land with peace, would reign as the royal fa it into our six provinces, giving a province to the clans with the ic Sabithia, in the south, was taken by the Dyzvati, and they built a beautiful palace in the capital city of Silvera, where the shores of the Silver Sea edge its coast with its vibrant silver surf To the Clan Glava, the largest and e with theirthe past, present or future, or shifting objects and suiven Javinia to the east of Sabithia and also Daeronia in the northeast” I turned azed at me enraptured by the story “And our own slice of haven, Vasterya, was given to the Clan Azyl; seekers, e with the ability to seek whatever their hearts desired Eventually, the Azyl beca their abilities to seek whatever the royal fa the upkeep of the peace in Phaedra Many centuries onwards and the Azyl’s er able to seek that which they wished for theht”

“That’s a little unfair” My brother frowned and I nodded in agreeht so

“Anyway, the province of Daeronia, beyond the northern borders of Sabithia, was given to Clan Dravilec, the healers, to keep theht on how much a fairytale this sounded now, aof Phaedra “Now there are so few e left Papa says there are none left in Vasterya at all And now only the Kral and Princezna Haydyn remain of the Dyzvati”

My brother hadn’t been listening to me anymore or my woe over our people’s sad evolution “What about Alvernia?” My brother asked instead in a hushed voice

I shivered at the thought of Alvernia; the stories I’d heard of the rough, uncivilised northerntales of theirlifestyle, all because the power of the Dyzvati began to wane towards the middle of their province

“It was given to those of ical abilities A few of the Glava ith them, as there were so many, and set themselves up in the southern most point, in the city of Arrana”

“Where the Vojvoda lives?”

“Where the Vojvoda lives”

“I wish I was a Vojvoda Or a Markiza Or a Viko position “I’d have horses Lots of horses And gold! We could play treasure hunt!”

I laughed and pushed him playfully “All those titles and you didn’t choose the best”

“What?!” He pouted

I stood up, bracing s astride, chin defiant “Why… Kral of course!”

“Yeah!” He ju my stance “I am Kral of Vasterya!”

“And me?”

“My servant”

I growled in outrage “Servant indeed”

I still rehter as I chased hi

At the gruer brother and I reluctantly ceased playing and began walking back towards the house I reh the fields I reold and purple and blewdownon my brother each time my heart beat a little quicker

I remember the expression on my father’s face e appeared out of the fields Pale and slack, his eyes bleak as they drankto his arlassy At the sound of a horse’s nicker I turned to see who stood outside our home Four men All dressed in livery that matched those of their horses My eyes were drawn to the ees with the silver dove crest in the middle Our symbol of peace

They were from the palace

I do not knohy, but I was scared I re the very ground beneathmy brother behindominously over our parents

One of them descended from his beast I realised he did not wear the livery He alone caround, his purple cloak hissing in the breeze His eyes were the deepest black and probing, so fixated on me I shivered in revulsion as if he had actually touched me

“This is the one”

“You’re sure?” The soldier who towered above ruffly