#Lovelace turned out a little bit too tall

[sophieswundergarten]

I made a Lovelace!! She's not perfect, but I felt that Sam needed a friend :)

[the-al-chemist]

Artemis Hexley and the Mystery at Hogwarts

Prologue: November, 1981

A/N: it all begins here: with a young man, and a little girl, and night sky lit up by fireworks... saddle up, you guys. Warnings: child abandonment, false sense of security that all my chapters will be this short. Sorry, they really won’t.

It started with the fireworks. They’d been set off up and down the length of the country for four nights now, and they showed no sign of stopping just yet. What with that, and the number of owls everywhere, even in the daytime, it was a wonder that the Muggles hadn’t noticed that something was going on.

Of course, there was good reason to celebrate. Unbeknownst to the Muggles, the wizarding community had been fighting a bitter war for eleven years, and it was finally over. Everyone deserved to breathe this collective, if ostentatious, sigh of relief.

But, in one tall, narrow house, nestled within a terrace of others which were identical to it, was one wizard who couldn’t have been less relieved.

Jacob Hexley had been just six years old when the war began, and he could barely remember a time where the Daily Prophet hadn’t printed whole lists of deaths and disappearances, where adults didn’t talk in hushed tones about the Dark Mark and the Death Eaters, where his classmates wouldn’t occasionally be pulled out of lessons only to be seen later in the day, puffy-faced and red-eyed from crying. Jacob was glad that the war was over, no doubt about that, but it just didn’t seem real yet. Besides, he had bigger problems of his own. Problems that he could put off facing no longer.

He stood in the kitchen of his mother’s house in Lovelace Crescent, rummaging through his bag, making sure he had everything he would need for the journey he’d be making. He patted down his pockets, instinctively checking for his wand, but it wasn’t there. Of course not, he thought bitterly. That was another thing that he still had to get used to.

It was nearly midnight now, and outside the fireworks were still going. He’d have to leave soon. He closed his bag and slung it over one shoulder, stepping silently through the house towards the front door.

“Where are you going?”

A small voice called out through the darkness. Jacob turned around, and saw the outline of a small girl sitting on the windowsill, her face illuminated by the flashes that still came from the sky outside.

“Missy, you scared me,” he whispered, and moved towards the window where his sister was seated. He should have known that Artemis would still be awake. She loved fireworks.

“Where are you going?” Artemis said again, her eyebrows furrowing deeply.

“I’m just going out for a bit,” Jacob said, half-truthfully. He knew better than to tell an outright lie to his sister. Since the day she had been born the two of them had been so close that they could tell what the other was thinking.

“Can I come?”

Jacob laughed and shook his head. His sister frowned even deeper, and he looked away, not wanting her to look him in the eye.

“You’re hiding things again. Like you did before you had to leave school,” said Artemis. Jacob sighed.

“I just have something that I need to do,” he told her. “Something secret, okay? I’ll come straight back once it’s done.”

“How long will that take?”

“Not long.”

“That’s a lie,” Artemis said, and another firework flashed outside. The little girl wasn’t watching the fireworks anymore, she was watching Jacob. “You can’t leave yet. You promised to take me up to the heath to watch the fireworks tomorrow.”

“You’ve had days worth of fireworks to watch, Artemis. Magic ones, too. You don’t need me to take you to some Muggle display.”

“But you promised.”

“Look,” Jacob sat on the windowsill next to his sister and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Her hazel eyes - so like his own, with the cat-like ring of green around the pupils - were filling with tears. “Look, Missy. I promise that there will be plenty more fireworks to see when I get back. Okay?”

“No, it’s not okay,” the girl shook her head. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“I have to.”

“Why do you have to?” Artemis was crying now, and her cheeks were wet with tears. She sniffed and looked Jacob directly in the eye. He tried his hardest to clear his mind, but he didn’t need to. Artemis was too upset to know what he was thinking. She spoke again, her voice little more than a whisper. “Please don’t go.”

Jacob’s resolve almost broke, but he steeled himself.

“Missy, I don’t want to go,” he whispered, “but I really do have to. I’ll tell you all about it one day. It will be a good story, like one of Uncle Newt’s. You’ll love it.”

This seemed to soothe Artemis a little. Jacob had guessed it might.

“Will there be a Niffler in the story, or a dragon?”

“Maybe,” Jacob laughed, and he wiped Artemis’ tears away from her cheeks with one thumb, feeling the small scar on her right cheek from where his Uncle’s Kneazle had scratched her a couple of years previously. “You’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime -” he undid his watch, the one his mother bought him for his seventeenth birthday the year before, and pressed it into Artemis’ tiny palm, “- you can have this. Make sure you take good care of it, and of mum, too. I’ll be back before you know it.”

He stood up, and picked up his bag once more, ruffling Artemis’ dark hair with his free hand.

“Liar,” said the little girl. Her eyes were welling up again.

“Please don’t cry, Missy, you’re making this harder than it already is,” said Jacob, and he walked out of the house before his sister could start to cry or scream. He couldn’t change his mind now.

The front door clicked shut behind him, and he walked down the pale grey steps to the pavement outside the house. Turning back, he saw that Artemis’ little damp face was pressed against the windowpane, her breath fogging up the glass. Jacob pressed his fingers to his lips, and raised his hand to her, before he turned away and walked down Lovelace Crescent, past the terraced houses and paused at the corner of the road.

There was a bang of a firework, and a flash of light in the sky. Jacob looked both ways to make sure that no one could see him, other than his sister, still watching him from the window. He took a deep breath, and with a loud crack, he vanished.

By the time the flare of the next firework lit up the corner of the street, there was no sign that Jacob Hexley had ever been stood there at all.

[loki-fanfic-whore]

Venomous Curse ch.1

Loki x Female

A young highschooler comes to a startling realization as she is in the wrong spot at the wrong time and thrust into a world so underground she didn't know it existed. Her only saving grace? Her chemistry professor Mr. Laufeyson

Trigger warnings! This is a very very dark piece. Rape/ non con/ self harm/ bad head space/ victims guilt/ physical and emotional abuse/ sexual scenes. A lot of triggers! Please be safe!

Chapter: 1 Serendipity

Alice stood in the kitchen in her underwear and a tank top. She was tembling trying to hold back the tears. Her eye was swelling and she could taste the bitter taste of blood.

"Calm down. Just tell them you fell." His voice spoke softly as he stood in the doorway. He was blocking her escape again.

"I-I...Conner no one will believe that-" he moved infront of her quickly causing her to flinch.

"Then sell it to them baby. Make them believe it." He spoke condescendingly. He licked his lips and grabbed her hips firmly.

"Why dont we go have some fun? Get some hormones flowing to help with the pain. Yeah?" He smirked at her. He was taller than her and built. She was average in size and shrunk down to look even smaller.

"Conner...my dad will be home any minute...we cant." She spoke the lie hoping it would persuade him to leave her alone. Her father worked late every night to provide for them. She was a senior in highschool, and didn't want the independence of adulthood just yet. She had grown up with just her and her dad and they had barely enough to live.

"Come on baby. We will be quiet. I may even use a condom this time." He said commanding her. It wasnt a request. This was going to happen no matter what.

She laid in the bed bruised and raw. Looking at the clock it read 2:43 am. Conner had not used a condom. He made sure she knew that too. He smacked and pinched and bit and every time she protested... he hit her.

He had left two hours ago but she had laid in a daze trying to just be anywhere but here.

The noise of the front door caused her to sit up.

"Honey?! Are you up? I'm home." She could hear the sound of her father's keys jingling, and the familiar pattern of him putting his stuff down and grabbing food. She stayed still and quiet...something she was an absolute pro at. She sighed knowing she needed to get the plan b...before she ended up pregnant with his baby...he could beat her...but she was terrified he would take the child from her, or worse hurt them.

Her stomach lurched and she moved to the window wrenching it open to vomit. A cool breeze swayed against her face and through her hair. After wiping her face she threw on a bra and underwear, then shorts and a hoodie. She grabbed her purse and slipped out of her window, being careful to avoid the vomit. The store was only about a 15 minute walk from here.

Walking quickly, she turned onto the sidewalk beside the long strip that was the 'downtown' of her town. Suddenly a shadow moved behind her. She quickened her pace and tried to ignore it. An arm snaked around her waist and ripped her into a shadowed alley way. She didn't scream, she held still and allowed the pent up tears to flow. The smell of blood permeated the air as a hand clamped over her mouth. She could hear voices near by. Yelling, they were pissed and looking for someone. She opened her eyes to see dark green eyes and a sullen face, framed by slicked back long black hair

He put the other hand to his lips and told her to be quiet. Her tears streaming freely as she nodded her head. The man released her mouth as the voices grew louder. He had her just out of sight pressed against a building in the shadows. She took in as much detail as she could in case she needed to remember this situation later. The man infront of her was tall, thin and pale. He was just standing still waiting for the voices to move on.

Finally the voices dissapeared with the fading sound of foot steps. The man sighed and moved away from her.

"You need to go home." He said curtly. She let an audibly sob wrack her chest as she stayed pressed to the wall.

"I-I cant. I need medicine." She spoke through the pent up sobs.

"You need to run. You don't want to get caught up in this. Your medicine can wait." He spoke authoritatively to you as he turned to leave.

"It cant...I need it to make sure I'm not-" she clamped both hands over her mouth.

An engine roared to life and a set of headlights flooded the alley in bright white light. The man hissed angrily and grabbed her wrist pulling her with him to the back of the alley.

"Close your eyes and do not open them. Understand?" He commanded. She did as she was told, the fresh trauma filling her head as she began to hyperventilate. The man grabbed her by the waist and held her against his chest. She wrapped her legs around him terrified. He was running. She could feel her body jerking. They moved upwards before bouncing in the air. Up? How were they up in the air when they had just been against a brick wall in the alley. She could feel the butterfly's in her belly as she felt the descent back to the ground.

Finally she felt them thud down and he released her.

"You need to go inside. You cant be out tonight...not right now. They will find you. Whatever medicine it is. Get it first thing in the morning. Before school." She opened her eyes to find they were standing infront of her house. Her eyes wide as she realized he knew where she lived. She quickly scrambled up the wall of her house and into her bedroom window slamming it shut. She ran into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Climbing in she scrubbed herself raw trying to get the feeling off of her skin. Of Conner, of this man, of everything! Deep streaks of red burned her skin where she had scrubbed too hard. The stripes just adding to the blue purple and yellow bruises that aborned her body.

Sinking down the wall she let the scalding water soak her and burn her skin.

She awoke to the sound of her alarm in the other room. She had fallen asleep under the shower which now hit her skin with cold water. She stood and turned it off. Quickly dressing in her school uniform, a grey sweater with a white button undershirt and grey knee length skirt, she tried to hide her eye and lip with make up.

It was Monday, April 17th, and she was running late. Grabbing her backpack she ran out of the house to see she had missed the bus.

Groaning she began running towards the school. Her skirt flaring up with the wind, when had to hold it down as she ran. She hated those damned skirts, but the schools did not allow the girls to wear pants. Something about culture and sexism, she didn't know.

Panting for air she got inside the front entrance right as the bell rang. She darted up the stairs and down the hall towards her locker, she skidded to a halt as she saw the girls leaning against her locker waiting.

Selena, the queen bitch in this school, stood in her untucked sweater and hiked up skirt. She was glaring daggers at Alice.

"Well well well....I can see you had an eventful night." She snorted as her posse laughed.

"Back off Selena. I need to get to class." She retorted as she tried to force her way to her locker. Selena slammed her hand onto the metal box next to her head.

"No. What you need to do is stay away from Conner! He would never want a skank like you!" She chided angrily. Selena pushed past making sure to hit her shoulder and walked towards class as the late bell sounded.

Quickly getting what she needed for chemistry class Alice closed her locker and skidded off to class, being late as the door opened in the silent classroom all eyes fell onto her. Avoiding all eye contact, she took a seat silently in the back.

"Ahem...Miss? If you cannot show up to class on time then dont show up at all." A deep voice called her out on the tardy. She shrunk in the seat, closing her eyes wanting to desperately dissapear.

"Now. Your original professor has taken an indefinite leave of absence and I, Mr. Laufeyson, will be your new professor. I hope we can have a fruitful class from here on out." With that her eyes popped open at the voice. Standing at the bottom of the auditorium was a tall, thin and pale man with dark green eyes and slicked back black hair. Her eyes widdened as she realized it was the very same man who had pushed her into the alley last night. Here he stood in a button up white shirt with the sleeves crisply rolled to his elbow a slim black tie and dark pressed slacks. Her head swam with questions as the lesson progressed. She took few notes and paid even less attention until the bell to signal the end of class sounded.

"The little tardy sheila, please stay back and have a word with me." He spoke over the sound of rustling papers. The cliques began to gossip over why Mr. Bennet had left, some saying he had sex with a student, others saying he was in an underground thing. They laughed and giggled and continued their conversations as the auditorium emptied. Alice moved down until she was infront of him again.

"Mr. Laufeyson, I apologize for being tardy, I-I ran into some trouble with my locker." She lied effortlessly.

"And your eye? Your lip? The fact you are miles away? Who has hurt you Miss-"

"My name is Alice. Alice Lovelace." She chimed in softly.

"Yes well Miss. Lovelace....you should get better excuses for your abusers....telling people you fell will never be believable." Her eyes widdened.

"I-I never told you I fell." She spoke softly as she backed up towards the door.

"I have to go. I need to get to my next class." With that she ran away. The next two classes were nothing to her and went smoothly. After English was lunch period, she drilled through the line to get the hot tray of food as she heard the high pitched laughter. Turning she looked to see Conner and Selena against the wall, Conner's face buried in Selena's throat as she giggled. She felt her belly tighten. She needed that medicine. She had three days to make sure she killed off whatever he left inside her.

"Move damnit! I want to eat today!" A large kid pushed past her. She went to a table and sat alone. She did a lot of things alone. It wasnt so bad...up until a month ago when Conner started showing up and...

She pushed the images away in her mind as she shoveled the food down. One last class before she could run to the drug store. She was counting down the minutes.

The last class, Math, was her least favorite class because she shared it with both Selena and Conner. She always sat in the front to block out everything else.

Finally after an hour of the professor droning on the last bell rang. Alice jumped up and ran out of the school and to the drug store. The cashier knew her and knew what she needed. The 75 year old woman tsked at her as she eyes the black eye.

"You know...there are safe havens around where you can get away... no questions asked." She offered to her, trying not to sound pushy. Alice sighed and exchanged goods for cash. She swallowed the blue pill before she even left the store. Throwing the box away inside the store. Only then did she breathe a sigh. No pregnancy for her. No babies with Conner. She took her time to walking around as she thought of everything that happened the night before. Her dad would be late coming home like every night. She didn't want to go home, incase Conner wanted to visit again. It used to be once a week, but here lately he was showing up every night, and staying well into the night. She shivered and sat on a park bench next to the town memorial park. A statue of some dead general stood next to her staring down at the bench she sat on. He was pointing at her on the bench, and it made her feel even more small. She sat quietly just drinking in the silence and beauty of the sunset.

"I'm going to fucking kill you. You sick prick." A deep voice called out from behind her. It was trembling in rage or fear. She froze looking straight ahead until she heard a second voice laugh.

"No no. That won't do. See...I've been watching you Anthony and you haven't been very nice recently. You prey on women and try to take advantage of them. You have even taken some and forced them into slave rings...that won't do at all." The voice chimes back. There was no shaking or fear in it. She turned her head to watch as a hulking man with a knife swung at- Mr.laufeyson? She stood up in an instant and ran towards them. She watched as her professor kicked the man sending him flying. He then smashed his face with his fist and pulled out his phone hitting a few buttons.

"Now Anthony. I have called a friend to come get you. You need to sit here and wait like a good boy. If not, then I'll hunt you down again and a broken nose wont be your only injury." He chuckled then stood and turned. His eyes met with her wide ones.

"Ah. Miss. Lovelace....enjoying the fresh night air I see?" He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. She pointed to his chest where the huge knife was jutting out. Blood staining the crisp white shirt.

"Oh hell...and I really liked this shirt too." He said before turning and beginning to walk away.

"Wait!" She called out chasing after him.

"L-let me help! I know first aid." She said softly as she followed him to his dark car. It was sleek and had equally dark windows.

His steps faltered as he opened the door and looked at her panting from chasing him.

"I dont recommend that Miss. Lovelace....The help I need I could not ask of you." He said before sliding behind the steering wheel. She moved to the front of his car and slammed her hands down onto the hood.

"Let. Me. Help! Please! I know...he was going to take me if you hadn't have showed up." Tears pricked her eyes and her nose was red from the cold air and her beginning to cry.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Get in." He said firmly as he rolled the window back up. She opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. She could smell the blood. It was amazing he was still even alive. He drove out of the town about twenty minutes away to an old house. She recognized it instantly, it was famous for being the base of so many ghost stories, an old war era mansion. She gasped as he pulled into the loop infront of it.

"You live here Mr. Laufeyson?" She asked sheepishly.

"Its Loki, Alice...when we aren't in school call me Loki. Please." He spoke as he turned the engine off and stepped out. She stumbled from her side and followed him up the massive stairs to the front door which opened as soon as they approached, an older woman with dark red hair and brown doe eyes appeared and held her hands out. Loki sighed and ripped the knife from his chest placing the dripping blade into her hand. She curtsied and dissapeared through a door under the stairs.

"Alice...what you hear and see here needs to be kept to yourself. Give me your word please, that you will take a vow of silence." He turned to hold her gaze. One hand firmly holding the seeping wound.

"Yes, yes, but you need help! You are bleeding!" She stepped up to him just as he stumbled and fell against her. Fear gripped her as she felt pinned to the wall. Swallowing it down she wrapped her arms around him trying to help pull him up to help him out of the front lobby.

"I need help! Mr. Laufeys- Loki has passed out! Help!" She called out trying to keep him up. His head fell into the crook of her neck where he inhaled deeply.

Her eyes widened, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her throat on fire as her blood dribbled down her chest. Gulping noises filled her ears along with her own panting. Her head swimming into a hazy static. Loki slipped his arm around her holding her by the nape of her neck as he greedily drank. He felt his chest healing, but he didn't want to stop. She was so pure, and clean, like a refreshing drink after a hard day in the sun. He drank until he felt her grow limp against him. He detached and stared down at her unconcious form, his irises pinpointed in euphoria, he was panting, blood smeared down his chin, and his double set of fangs still exposed. He could feel her heart beat still. He was experiencing the temporary bond that came with drinking and being drunk from. He hoped she would feel it as well, once she awoke that is. He was flooded with a slew of her memories and sighed picking her up in a cradled hold against him, her head lolling back.

"Do you want me to dispose of her?" The maid chimed in breaking the silence. She was standing at the doorway beside the stairs.

"Quite the contrary Rose. I want to protect her at all costs....she is the purest blood I have had in a long time." He chuckled as he slid his tongue over his fangs retracting them away. He carried her back to the car and slid her body into the seat buckling the seat belt.

Yes, he would protect her, and treasure her in return for her purity and innocence. She would come to expect him and all he would offer her in return for her crimson nectar, but at this moment he needed to get her home...then he needed to pay Conner a little visit.

[marquisoforder]

A kingdom by the sea

In honor of MerMay heres a Malec Mer AU none of you asked for

Read on AO3

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It was many and many a year ago,   In a kingdom by the sea...

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“Kingdom of Idris has angered a foe they have never encountered before. It falls on the shoulders of the young crown prince to battle the evil hidden beneath the silent waves of a deadly ocean.”

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The sea was undead.

Though it had appeared alive like a monster with a thousand watery tentacles rising up, nothing about the nature of this stormy sea warranted the word ‘Alive’, in description of it. The malicious winds had acted the part of a necromancer and brought the smooth sleeping ocean to desecrated life and given it the rage of a thousand drowned warriors. And as the fates would have it, the good ship Cassiel had found herself trying to navigate her way through these enraged waves, crashing overboard and doing their damned best to drag her under. And standing atop the main deck of this ill-fated vessel was a young sailor, barely out of boyhood with the subtlest hint of a dark stubble on his otherwise smooth face, on his very first voyage across the sea. And unknowing to him and everyone else abroad, his very last as well. The boy was trying his best to act brave, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. There were tears in his eyes as he tugged at a rope with all his might, in an attempt to obey the captain’s orders and hold the sails. He had seen his fellow sailors falling over and drowning. Heard the scream of Old Tom as he lost his footing and went tumbling over the rails. But the boy had not lost his balance or grip. Yet. The waves tossed the ship around as if it was nothing but a plaything. As the boy struggled with the rope, it seemed that finally his luck had run out as he slipped on the wet deck and fell over into the dark and churning sea beneath. For one infinite moment the boy was suspended in limbo, falling through air, feeling weightless and breathless. Then he crashed into the water, his clothes weighed him down and all he could taste feel and unfortunately breathe, was salt water. He was drowning and there was absolutely no hope in Hell for him when a piece of driftwood jabbed him in the ribs. With the last bout of strength that often came over the dying and the desperate, he grabbed it, hoping against hope to stay afloat as he broke the surface of the water and gasped in a lungful of fresh air. The boy’s luck had not run out yet.

Or so it seemed, until the his head went under once again. This time it was a quick and unpredictable motion. Almost as if something, someone, had dragged him down. After a second of initial fright at drowning, the boy’s mind came to a strange state of lucid alertness, making his closed eyes snap open, and what he beheld made him exhale what little air he had breathed, in one unfortunate silent scream. Holding him down with an arm around his neck was a man of ethereal beauty; wild black hair framing sharp features on a smooth golden face. The boy noticed luminous necklaces adorning his bear chest and his lips were curled up in to a sharp and bright smile. Even as his grip tightened around the boy’s neck, his smile never wavered. And as the final bit of air left his lungs and merciless salt water began to fill the boy’s lungs, he cast his eyes downwards, unable to look in to this angelic face of death, and witnessed a fresh horror.

Where the man’s legs would usually have been, there was no such appendages at all but one long tail of a thousand shimmering scales. The boy’s breathless struggle ceased, and beside him, the merman laughed.

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The council is abuzz with dread murmurs. It seems as if everyone has something to say but nobody has the courage to say it out loud. Perhaps if they were at least a little courageous, there would not have been a tragedy to whisper about in the first place. Alexander Lightwood thinks bitterly and sighs. He is not too fond of his father’s Council, but as the Crown Prince and the Lord Commander he is duty bound to appear whenever the Council is in session and lately, they have been forced to gather with increasing frequency.

“This is the third ship we lost this week!”

Lord Treasurer Blackwell speaks a little too loud for Alexander’s liking. There is an accusatory edge to his words and Alexander is sharp enough to catch the quick glimpse of disapproval that flashes in his Father, the King’s eyes.

“We are quite well aware, Lord Blackwell,” Lady Inquisitor Herondale’s wizened voice holds much sarcasm as she peers at the tall man from behind her half-moon glasses. “There is no need to raise your voice. All of us here know how to add numbers.”

Alexander cracks a smile at the old woman’s words. Imogen Herondale might not be a pleasant companion but she certainly was an adept politician and a valuable ally. Alexander had grown up watching her rise through ranks in a court dominated by powerful men and held a respect for her unwavering determination and unparalleled cunning.

She also happened to possess the second biggest army of trained foot soldiers in the Kingdom of Idris. Second only to the Army of the Crown. The Herondale army was led by young lord Jonathon, a boy close to Alexander’s age and whom the King had wisely appointed as the Sworn Shield to Prince Alexander on the day the boy turned sixteen.

Whoever held the House of Herondale in this political game, held Idris.

“Wouldn’t it be wiser for us to avoid the sea routes where these accidents happened?” Alexander knows young Lord Lovelace, newly appointed Lord Physician, knows of sea fare as much as he knew about war fare, which is to say absolutely nothing. Yet he was trying to help which was more than what could be said for the other bickering lords.

“It’s not quite possible, Lord Lovelace,” Alexander glances at Lord Admiral Branwell, a red headed man of strong build who nods at the young prince before returning his gaze to the map on the table, his eyes fixed on the patch of blue that marked the Pentagram of Doom, the ocean area where all the Idris Vessels and their crews were meeting their untimely doom. “The closest trade routes to six of our biggest trade partners cut through the Pentagram, we don’t have the time or the resources to send our fleets around the Adamas Islands just so they will miss the Pentagram. We have to find another way.”

His father sighs and rubs his temple.  Losing ships, both trade vessels and military ones, at this rate would mean a serious threat to the Kingdom’s economy as well as its security. The Fleet of Idris was famous for their ruthless battle strategies and large numbers. But if they lost half their best ships to the Pentagram, rival kingdoms would smell their weakness from miles away, probably resulting in all-out war.

“What is causing these sudden storms?” The king asks finally, his tone stuck somewhere between a question and a complaint. “This is not the usual time of the year when such storms happen!”

“You know what is causing them, Your Grace,”

The voice that speaks up is one that Alexander is not used to hearing at the Council meetings, even though the speaker was never absent at said meetings. Lady Gray introduced herself as a healer and a wise woman, but everybody knew there was more to her than that. She had appeared in the court around the time Alec was about ten years old and his father had hired her immediately. Rumors said that she was something more than human, something from the myths and legends. She neither dismissed nor confirmed them, remaining a constant mystery of King Robert’s Court.

“What are you implying, Lady Gray?”

“These freak storms started to happen after the Rebellion, your Grace.” The healer spoke in calm and quiet tones. “And we all have heard about what that rebel Morgenstern did hidden in his castle to gain power.”

“If you are talking about the rumors about the creatures of the Downworld, its just a vile story spread to demoralize our armies!” King Robert speaks a little too strongly and Alexander catches a secret look being passed between Lady Herondale and Lord Branwell, almost as if they knew more than they were letting on about the rumors that stated Valentine Morgenstern had summoned creatures from a world unknown and experimented on them until they yielded him some sort of magical power in combat and prolonged his life. “They are nothing but a myth! Morgenstern had no special power about him or his armies!”

Lady Gray gazes at the King for one long minute of sizzling anticipation but sits back in her chair without another word, but her words and her look had caused the Council to break into nervous murmurs again, and Alexander himself feels oddly ominous about the situation and suspicious about his father’s sudden lashing out as well as the look that passed between Lady inquisitor and Lord Admiral. Alexander hadn’t been the one to lead the troops against Valentine in his castle, but he knew both his father and Lord Branwell had been there and they seemed to have witnessed something that warranted utmost secrecy if even Alexander wasn’t privy to it.

“We’ll discuss this again when we gather next week, I expect all of you to come forward with a plan to avoid more such tragedies.” His father sounds resigned as he waves a hand and dismisses the Council. “Lady Inquisitor, Lord Admiral and Lady Gray, please remain behind.”

At that moment Alexander knows there is more to this than what meets the eye.