VICTORIA

Her cousin danced underneath the light of the crimson moon, twirling her handmaiden about the great hall. Despite her resistance, his hands traced the width of her breasts. He held her as if he were moments from ripping the tattered garment with his bare hands.

Truthfully, the high elves were far more interested in tearing into her flesh than seeing her stark naked. Besides, Victoria was sure underneath those colorful rags; her ribcage was tattooed into her skin. She was nothing but dead skin and bones. But still, her endurance was incredibly rare. No golem had ever resisted the hunger for as long as she had done. Even the strongest warriors of Azgeda fell to sorrow.

She watched Andreas nearly bite off her own arm, trying to escape her cousin's iron grip. Victoria laughed softly as she observed the feisty brunette effortlessly resist all his enchantment. He always had a way with broken women, but Andreas was different.

"It appears your cousin has found another playmate." Lady Adelaide whirled a glass of red wine in her hand.

"Wouldn't be much of a party if there weren't some indulgences." She said.

Victoria held her hand against her chest, profusely blinking the tears away. Lady Adelaide must've bathed in a tub of dead flesh and rotten eggs because she reeked worse than the kennels. The woman wore enough rancid perfume to gag a fire-breathing dragon. She felt the contents of her stomach threatening to rise, but she kept her composure.

She kept her thoughts to herself, but secretly, she pitied her. Since Adelaide's parents were imprisoned centuries ago, they say she's been wandering the empty halls of the Fairblossom castle. She refuses to take in any visitors and the ones that do make it past the gates swear she's gone mad. They spoke of illusions and apparitions of old, but in truth, she was always an outsider. That's why Victoria admired her.

"I doubt if Lord Thrane would feel the same." She said. "I hear it's been a week since Soren disappeared."

She still couldn't escape that family, even at the dawn of the new age. The stupidity of the Lightwood's was the sole reason every Eldryn hadn't embraced their evolution. Even after four hundred years every ancient hadn't evolved beyond the grave. Instead of embracing their power, they'd rather let a child be our undoing. As high and mighty as they were with power, they were savages. Victoria hated admitting it, but if Soren accepted his evolution, her plight would be decimated.

She glanced at the ceiling; the spell had invited the vibrant constellations and the blood moon within their grasp. The stars illuminated the twelve lords standing on both sides of the throne in towering stone. Only seven days until darkness takes over the sky for three months and the Luminis consumes all of Penance.

"It's a Lightwood we're discussing he's likely marching for the Netherborne's as we speak." Victoria chuckled, noticing that Lady Adelaide wore a striking, scarlet red gown with black lace. It was obvious whose attention she was after, but Victoria wondered if their dialogue had meaning. Or if it was only mindless filler.

"Well, I'd say it were likely if I hadn't heard a rather peculiar secret," Adelaide confessed, sipping her wine.

She raised her eyebrow, intrigued. She waved Adelaide's glass at the young elf holding a bottle of wine. "The lady would like another glass."

They watched each other in silence as he filled the glass halfway. Victoria tipped the end of the bottle until the wine was filled to the rim. She politely smiled, waiting for the servant to leave them to their discussion. Try as she might she couldn't dislike the Lady of Elvandor.

The woman collected the most regaling of secrets and the royal families were always her target. Victoria never knew when Adelaide sauntered towards her to fill her wine glass with treasures. Or if perhaps she'd come to siphon every single drop from her cup like a vulture.

"It appears Nikolai isn't as pure as the driven snow." She said, averting her gaze to the empty throne.

"Exactly, what are you implying?"

"During Lord Edmond's reign, he severed the power of the high seat in two." Lady Adelaide looked sternly upon the merciless seat of emerald jewels and thorns.

"Because my father commanded my mother to always be at his side, even on the emerald throne." Her voice was calm.

"The new age will bless us with another Queen."

"How can fiction and reality be related?"

"My dear, you haven't heard." Lady Adelaide lowered her voice. "Nikolai accompanied Soren to The Moon's Edge, but like the weeping years, their voices have grown quiet."

Without warning, she waved her fingers towards the throne. The Lady reached for Victoria's hand as her irises changed into a bright shade of red. Once the Queen Regent's vision expanded, a chasm divided the emerald seat in half. Darkness reached from the depths of the underworld and surrounded the great hall in division. The Silverstones sat at the throne as phantoms of the past, a testament to Adelaide's power.

"What manner of folly is this?" Victoria whispered.

"It's the new world," she smiled. "Only the past will lead us into the future."

Her gift was born of beauty and elegance, a power Victoria once longed to possess. During the Weeping Years, after her parents died in the war, she was desperate for an illusion. She burned her hands for countless hours trying to cast a spell she never had the power to wield.

All she did was destroy. Still, the thought of her parents crept into her mind as her father slowly disappeared from the emerald throne.

"Even my father's death echoes in your perversion," Victoria muttered.

The Lady of Elvandor sipped from her glass, nodding towards an apparition of Queen Meridia Silverstone. "It's merely a fragment of the underworld. I see all manner of dead people within these walls."

"You are absolutely mad." Victoria exhaled. "Has my mother come from the grave to take her seat in spirit?"

She was seated in her ceremonial robes, leering at a room full of her subjects. As the words left Victoria's mouth, she could feel a haunting presence begin to surround her. She looked upon the faces in the crowd, and one after the other, Adelaide's vision was realized. An arctic chill crept up her spine as a shadow of a boy stood among the Eldryn despite his years.

"Now you understand. These people are as dead as our Queen, but still, the New Age remains." Adelaide observed Victoria as she stared bitterly at her mother with a disdainful smile. The blazing wolf climbed the stone steps until he reached the seat of power.

Even though he succumbed to death, he took his place at Meridia's right hand. The entire room fell in silence as their banner went up in flames. As they welcome the next century, the forsaken bend their knees in tribute to their King and Queen of old.

"Cousin," Aeros announced. "What? Did you decide to bleed the whole King's Veil dry on your last night?"

"Careful, you're starting to sound like the Valerian Court." the Queen Regent whispered, her hands wrapped firmly around the glass. "This dress is the last luxury I'm afforded."

Aeros tightened his grip on Victoria's arm, pulling her to the side. "Is it the mages? I swear I buried every last weeping bitch in Penance sunrises ago."

"I saw a glimpse into the underworld, and even in hell, my mother reigns."

"I told you," Aeros shook his head, momentarily returning Adelaide's gaze. "if you keep talking to the princess of the damned, then your head will fall next."

"Just because you're allergic to noble women doesn't mean the lady's power isn't of any use." Victoria criticized.

Aeros furrowed his eyebrows, staring blankly at his cousin. "I'm afraid my pecker would wither up and die first. Then she'll still see it, but I won't."

Her dress draped across the floor in a white cloud, encircling the scar on her left thigh. She had diamond sequins embedded across her chest and large stones scattered across the length of the gown. But the beautiful fabric, along with her petticoat, shielded the lords and ladies from a painful secret.

One that could cost her everything.

A searing pain radiated across Victoria's left thigh, burning as fierce as the day it was ignited. As she reached for it, she was reminded of her mother. The last parting gift Meridia Silverstone gave to her daughter was more than an ordinary scar.

It was a vow that was sung like a curse to spend the rest of her days spitting on her mother's grave.

She allowed the royal seamstress to use a segment of Meridian's wedding gown as the base of her dress. The rest of it was shredded into pieces across the palace floor.

She didn't have much use for her mother's cherished possessions. Still, her heart ached when she watched the fabric lie on the ground as if it were naught.

"Are you certain all the healing mages are gone?" Victoria squeezed her cousin's wrist.

Aeros suddenly bowed before the Queen Regent with his usual playful grin. "If there were a bitch in heat, then I would have known about her."

"And what of my servants?" Victoria inquired, scanning the room as the words left a sour taste in her mouth. "Have they all abandoned me to march straight to death?"

Aeros' face became a hard stone with cracks on the surface. "They sing their babies tales of the Queen that ended the weeping years."

"Such undying loyalty should be rewarded."

"They're awaiting the command of their supreme ruler." Aeros ushered her to a window overlooking the capital.

Outside the palace walls, the Netherborne screamed and cheered for her return. When their happiness melted into oppression their voices carried from the streets in anger.

They pushed against the Purifiers in legions, trying to break through their formation. The battalion moved as one, beating the citizens back with strong gusts of wind.

Victoria leaned over the window, gushing in awe and amazement. "Is all this really for me?"

"An infant could hardly inspire this kind of loyalty," Aeros said. "When they look at you, they see Edmond Silverstone. The king they mourned for centuries."

"No more will my people hide in the shadows like common rats. I will bring Penance back into the world of men." Victoria declared, pressing her hands together as she pointed towards the ground.

A blinding light slithered up her arms, catching fire until her eyes were engulfed in flames. She formed a ball of fire in her hands until the flames crackled and jolted from her grasp.

Then, like a ray of light, Victoria expelled the energy into the peaceful sky. The Netherbornes riot grew silent as the ball floated over King's Veil for all to see. It ascended to the clouds like her father's surname was snuffed out of the minds of the Ancient Eldryn. No one foresaw the outcome when her mother led their army in battle against the humans in her husband's stead.

"For the betterment of humanity or for the destruction either way, the north will fall," Victoria warned.

"Soon, you'll be leading us to glory."

The fire exploded in the horizon as soon as the words left his mouth. The nation trembled in silence as the letters spelled in flames radiated over the Emerald Throne. A rush of wind carried her long, white hair in the breeze while her message pierced the minds of Penance.

"Attention," Lord Draven announced. "Four centuries ago on this day, we crossed into a new civilization with Queen Meridia by our side."

She raised the ends of her lips and formed a slight smile. "Where's the rest of the Valerian Court?"

"They haven't reached the city's limits," Aeros said, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Since the King's Coronation isn't worth their punctuality, notify all the Purifiers to seal the gates," Victoria said, walking across the room.

"And today, we welcome Nikolai Damon Dragmus, second son of Fitzroy Dragmus, to the Emerald Throne!" Draven screamed.

"Long live the blazing wolf!"

The young Lords and Ladies cheered zealously over their new king. A boy who will never know the sweet temptation of manhood as it marinates on his tongue. One passionate embrace that lasted an entire night of lovemaking will never stain his mind.

Victoria truly pitted him, but he was a means to an end—a young sacrificial lamb riding straight to his slaughter.

Even now, Lady Adelaide's power has fastened its grip on her. She could feel his cold gaze following her to the throne. Whether it was a vision or a hallucination, he reigned next to her mother in death. The Blazing Wolf and the Ferocious Dragon were together in hell.

When she finally reached the steps of the Emerald Throne, her attention briefly darted to Draven. The chancellor of the Valerian Court pressed his lips into a firm line with each step she took toward the high seat. Victoria stood at the top of the stairs with a crooked grin.

Draven stood in her path, blocking her from ascending. "Your mother's reign is over, Victoria. You will never sit on this throne."

Victoria turned around to face the crowd as Aeros climbed the steps of the great hall. "The Blazing Wolf has fallen."

Frantic mutterings shook the hall in chaos, with the only tranquility coming from her cousin's voice. Nikolai joined them in eternity, but even his time was cut asunder. Their infinity was everything Victoria promised despite her mother's rage. That's why she had to find a cure to end immortality.

"How could this have happened?" Draven kept repeating the sentence to himself.

"Like King Edmond before Nikolai's death he commanded his wife to rule at his side." Aeros roared.

Victoria grabbed the end of her wedding dress, closing the gap between the Queen Regent and the supreme ruler. As she took her rightful place, she repeated the message from the sky. Her gaze shifted to Lady Adelaide as she raised her glass in tribute.

"I am Victoria Penance. The daughter of Edmund and Meridia Silverstone. The architect of the new soul of humanity, and I am the Dragon of Life."

"Long live the Queen!" Aeros shouted.

Authors Note

Hey, how are you guys doing?

In this chapter we finally get to meet the infamous Victoria Penance, Queen Regent. But now she's the Queen of Penance. Honestly, my favorite part of this chapter wasn't the moment she walked to the throne. I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed writing the scene displaying Lady Adelaide's power. How about you guys? What was your favorite moment?

I also like Victoria's relationship with her cousin, Aeros. Even if they aren't that loved. If you have any questions, thoughts or concerns please don't hesitate to comment. I'll make to get back to you as soon as possible.