The Huntress and the Rebel Heir: A Fantasy Romance (The Executioner Chronicles Book 1) by Sydney L. Ivey

Author:Sydney L. Ivey [Ivey, Sydney L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

Interlude: The Boy and His Heart

Varian was the first to strike back against the husk that had been his brother, but Amandine landed the killing blow.

She was never the same, after. In the months after the city fell, she grew colder, more distant. The boy understood, because he felt the same. There had been little love lost between them, but they had still been brothers.

Lord Laisen responded to the loss of a son with irritation. Theonel had been his brightest star, after all, and a loss of a good general hurt the cause.

That was all he seemed to talk about these days. The cause, the rebellion, the throne. Varian rarely saw his father outside of training, and he preferred it that way.

It was the Lord that had failed to respond to the soulless, bloodless monsters, after all.

One year after Theonel’s death, Amandine disappeared. The Lord of Valireve never saw her again.

And so Varian became the heir to the province, just like that. As the last surviving successor of Lord Laisen, he was thrust into a new life.

He met a girl—Princess Isabel Gorachi, heir to the southern province of Isern. Lord Laisen and Lady Gorachi had decided that their children would be a perfect pair to strengthen their alliance and better their position against the increasing tyranny of the crowned king. King Lionel favored the Orhyne province, and both Gorachi and Laisen wanted to knock them down a peg.

The boy was unfamiliar with the princess, but across months, they learned trust. They found time away from their mutual training for hidden retreats, stolen kisses, and long talks.

Eight months after their pairing was set—one month before their marriage—Princess Isabel Gorachi was found dead in the Isern castle’s sewage system.

Her body was not displayed at the funeral, but Varian saw. His newfound power told him everything he needed to.

The province of Valireve, situated as it was in the far north, had a particular fashion of jagged blade meant to bleed prey dry. It was a cruel weapon, relying on the harsh conditions of the Valireven mountain ranges to ensure that even if a single strike failed to kill an enemy now, it would by tomorrow.

Anyone else wouldn’t have seen it. Not even the Isernese coroners did.

But Varian was very, very familiar with what a Valireven blade did to a body, and thus he knew who had killed his lover.

“Compassion is a flaw,” Lord Laisen told him later. “One that you are not permitted to have.”

And Varian did not have the power to overthrow his lord, so he hardened his heart and continued to exist.

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