A Court of Light and Shadow

Chapter 1

THE HEIRESS

Darkness.

It has become my friend. It has become my only sense of comfort.

Over the last two hundred and sixty four years, darkness has been all I've ever known. Light became my enemy, a thing I tried to avoid no matter the cost.

The shadows, at times the only darkness I could find, were my savior. I hid in them, they comforted me at times when I needed them most. It has become my home.

The place my dearest father kept me, it gave me these newfound 'friends'.

I was hidden from the world, shunned and neglected. I was nothing.

The cold cell floor, the cement, it bit into my naked skin. I have grown used to it, the cold bite became home just as much as the shadows have. My naked body pressed to the cold cobblestone of my cell became my home. It became something I looked most forward to whenever I was taken out.

My father had no use for me. A purebred Illyrian daughter. It would only cause stares and unwanted attention. So he tossed me in a cell as a child, and kept me there. Completely nude.

My wings ached, day by day it got worse. The membrane screamed. What would be powerful, the things that would carry me into the world. They were broken. Just as neglected as the rest of me.

The only time I got to bathe the grime of my cell off of my body was whenever my father has a 'client'. A male, one whom needed satisfaction. Who better to do that than the female he held in the cells below his estate. His own daughter, sold and used.

Did it bother me? At first, yes. But I became numb to most things. Over two hundred years of agony, my emotions were nothing but a dark abyss.

It was that night, that my father opened the screeching doors to my cell. Allowing light to flow in. The enemy.

I backed into the shadows, my arms covering my exposed breasts. More to shield myself from the cold if anything.

The male stepped inside, his broad, beautiful, impressive wings following suit. Jealousy wasn't a foreign emotion. I felt it more often than sadness or anger.

His hands grabbed my arms, and I did not fight. He probably had another client.
I was pulled to my feet, and covered.

Wait. Covered?

My hands instinctively grasped onto the fabric now around my shoulders. A blanket. What for?

There wasn't a single exchange of words, for I was dragged out of the cell. Covered in only a blanket. The light, it was blinding.

All I could do was whimper as my father dragged me out of the house. A similar feeling bit into my feet. Cold.

The snow from the Illyrian Steppes was famous for its deadly cold. It could kill even the most powerful Illyrian within the timespan of a single night.

The shadows beckoned me, the darkness alluring as ever. I wanted to go back.
Though before I could struggle, the freezing winds of the Steppes bit into every inch of my body. We were flying.

I have never been outside the estate. Though it didn't look like much of an estate. It was a house, which looked more like a cabin. A cabin? Seriously? He kept me hidden in a cabin all these years?

I dared open my eyes, blinking against the cold wind. My father's wings flapped strongly, and for the first time.. I felt, free.

A whisper of a smile formed on my lips, and I dared to let my fingers touch the air. It felt, smooth. Cold, yet smooth.