Page 185 of The Iron Flower

The peaceful annexation of Verpacian lands will commence immediately, bringing the formerly independent country of Verpacia under the protection of the Holy Magedom of Gardneria.

MAGE COUNCIL

RULING

#342

All diplomatic relations with the Noi people are hereby severed in response to the egregious and unprovoked actions against both the Gardnerian and Verpacian militaries. The Vu Trin forces are hereby barred from the newly annexed Verpacian province of Gardneria, and the Holy Magedom has appropriated the Vu Trin military bases in eastern and western Verpacia.

Further Vu Trin aggression or trespass onto the sovereign territory of Gardneria will be considered an act of war.

PROLOGUE

Damion and Fallon Bane peer through the windows of the glass-enclosed balcony, out over the sea of black-clad Gardnerians in the plaza below, the crowd captivated by the commotion at the apex of the cathedral’s grand, sweeping staircase.

A male Icaral is being hauled up for execution, two soldiers grasping its arms, the creature’s wing-stumps flapping in panic.

Damion savors the panoramic view of the scene from the fourth story of the Banes’ most palatial estate. His gaze sweeps over the crowd toward the mammoth statue of Carnissa Gardner that dominates the plaza’s center—the larger-than-life Black Witch leveling her wand at the evil Icaral demon that lays prostrate at her feet.

Movement draws Damion’s focus back toward the scene unfolding in front of the cathedral’s enormous front doors. Marcus Vogel, Vyvian Damon and the rest of the Mage Council stand in a semicircle around the bound, kneeling Icaral as three Level Five Mage soldiers stride forward.

Damion watches impassively as the soldiers pull wands and point them at the Icaral demon’s head. The creature’s wing-stumps continue their agitated flapping, its head hung low. Thunder rumbles in the distance, the dark clouds bundled tight and low as lightning streaks across the sky.

“Did you know Mother was attacked by an Icaral?” Fallon asks, her chair set close to the glass, her eyes pinned on the Icaral. “During the Realm War. The night the Kelts rounded up her entire family.” Fallon’s eyes flash with outrage.

Damion Bane eyes his sister with careful consideration. She sits in a high-backed, velvet-cushioned chair, her head resting on a silken pillow, tree limbs embroidered along the black pillow’s edging in a deeper matte black. Her torso is still wrapped in broad bandages, and an emerald quilt with a tree design has been carefully placed over her lap by her skittish Downriver Gardnerian handmaid.

She’s still recuperating, but she’s a marvel. Her powerful affinity lines have saved her.

And her magic is growing.

“Mother told me of the Icaral attack,” he says. Their eyes meet and hold, a fierce look of solidarity passing between them. Their mother, Genna Bane, rarely speaks about what happened that night, over twenty years ago. When the heathens had power and were slaughtering entire villages of Gardnerian men, women and children.

When the Kelts and Urisk and Icaral-demons came for their mother and her entire family.

Damion looks back at the broken Icaral with renewed hatred and blazing satisfaction. The Reaping Times have only just begun. The scourge of Evil Ones is about to be wiped clean from the Western Realm—and then the Eastern Realm, as well.

The work of the Black Witch taken up and finished, once and for all, by his powerful sister.

Fallon’s mouth twists with abhorrence as she watches the scene. “The Icaral threw fireballs at Mother’s family as they were being herded into a barn for slaughter. And itlaughed. It actuallylaughedas it burned the children’s feet and set the little girls’ skirts alight.”

Rage flashes in Fallon’s eyes, her fingers curling tight around the Ironwood wand in her lap. The entire room chills, and Damion feels the cold seeping into his bones as frost forms on the windows.

“I know, my sister,” Damion says, his voice low.

“Leave justoneof the Evil Ones on the face of Erthia, and what happened before will happen again,” Fallon warns. “The wordMagewill once again become a slur. Our people, our children will be mocked as ‘Crows’ and ‘Roaches.’ Enslaved...beaten down. And then gathered up and murdered.” She sets her formidable gaze on her brother. “That’swhere it will end if we do not bring the full might of the Reaping Times down on their heads.”

Damion holds his sister’s gaze, ignoring the alarming cold. He knows better than to react to her with fear.

“The Icaral demons need to be Reaped, to be sure,” he agrees coolly, gesturing toward the Icaral below as Marcus Vogel addresses the crowd. “But this frenzy of executions is just a political move on Vyvian’s part.”

Some of the chill withdraws.

“Of course it is,” Fallon says, seeming placated by their easy agreement. “To secure her seat on the Mage Council.” She glances at her brother. “Idobelieve Vyvian Damon is truly with the Magedom. Regardless of how much she and Mother hate each other.” Her beautiful face hardens. “But Vyvian harms the Magedom by not moving aside and accepting where the Black Witch power now lies. Withourline.”

“The Black Witch bloodline rests with Elloren Gardner,” Damion gently reminds his sister. “Now that the Gardner brothers are Banished.”

The cold rises and bites into him, the frost creeping out over the windows.

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