2 | PROLOGUE

The Starks were grief struck by the loss of the head of the household, the glue that strung the family together, the one woman that held them all together— their mother, Reyanna Challinder. She was a beautiful woman with an outstanding reputation. Everyone adored her throughout Westeros. She and Jon ruled the six kingdoms of Westeros peacefully for twenty years with their six children together. It was the longest period of peace the continent had ever seen. And everyone gave credit to Reyanna. When she fell ill, she passed quickly and harmlessly. She experienced no pain, and in her last dying breath, she begged Jon to change the rule that made the eldest male of the family, the automatic heir to his family's kingdom.

Reyanna wanted to break the patriarchy, and because she had died so young, she never got around to it. Fortunately, her husband, Jon, loved her so much that even with her absence, he ratified the law for her, making both Karsi and Eddard, the eldest (twin) siblings eligible to the throne.

In a time where the children were to be grieving one member of the family, the family was forced upon another death. The youngest sibling of the six, Ashara, had been poisoned. It was a travesty.

Karsi's heart was utterly broken at the sight of the two caskets being buried at the funeral. She wept for days upon days for her mother and youngest sister. She prayed to the old gods and new that it was all a hoax. That it was all just a terrible dream, but it wasn't. Darkness had begun to consume the Starks' lives.