Page 29 of By Mistake
"I hate you both," Andrus grumbled as he accepted the tea.He shifted his gaze to Shimari as he took a seat."So tell us this tale of Sendrus and Prince Kolik."
Shimari stood in front of a set of beautiful bookshelves, the kind that were shelves on the top, with a cupboard for the bottom half, meant for storing writing supplies and other miscellany required for the upkeep of fine books.He removed the glasses he didn't really need and tucked them into the front pocket of his jacket before folding his arms across his chest, staring at something only he could see."I was summoned in the summer after the conclusion of the War of the Rusted Sea."
Andrus winced.That had been a long, nasty, ugly war.Sendrus had been part of it, fought in it for nearly six of the thirteen years it had lasted.He had come home less one eye, two fingers, and with a great many scars from knife and magic.
He'd also returned, according to every account Andrus had ever heard, fast friends with Prince Kolik.No one had expected it: the brash, loud, spoiled prince with the soft, quiet, but wickedly sharp Lord Sendrus.Friends they were, though, the soldier and his mage.They'd settled into civilian life, if not easily then at least with less trouble than anyone expected.Kolik had fallen into the politics and other society games that were expected of him, and Sendrus had focused on his magic.Both had been engaged via expected arranged marriages, but Sendrus's betrothed had been overseas on a diplomatic mission, so the marriage had not yet taken place when he'd died.
Kolikhadmarried, but his betrothed too seemed far more interested in another life and had gone off on some grand research that was never explained well anywhere Andrus had been able to read, and no one had ever heard from them again.When Kolik died, and no one could find them, the marriage had been annulled, and that was the end of that branch of the family.
"Back then, tensions were high because of many changes being made to the laws regarding magic.Sendrus supported many of them, having seen what unregulated magic could do in battle—and outside it.Kolik supported him.Many mages, so-called peers, weren't happy with him for siding with the enemy.Alongside that, Kolik was the last of his immediate family, with a spouse no one could find, no children, only his aging mother on the throne.But he refused to do anything about it, to appoint an heir in his place should something happen, demand his spouse be found and made to return home—nothing.It caused…problems."
Oresti snorted."Problems.It caused courtly in-fighting just short of actual war.People clamoring for power, fighting to align themselves in the right places, with the right people, so they stood to gain everything when some accident invariably befell Kolik and his mother.My ancestors were obviously the biggest suspects, but near as I have ever been able to determine, we didn't do anything."
"They wouldn't have needed to," Shimari replied."The throne would go to them in the event of Kolik's death, and they knew that.Which one of them in particular was up for debate, but whoever took the throne, theyallstood to gain.Why do the murdering when you knew someone else would do it for you?No, there was no reason to dirty their hands and risk all the power and wealth just sitting there waiting."
"This is heartbreaking," Andrus said quietly.
"It's nobility," Shimari replied."After one particularly nasty attempt on Kolik's life that left him with a broken leg, Sendrus summoned me to serve as bodyguard.He wanted nothing less than the absolute best—or, arguably, worst—to protect his beloved.Because theywerebeloveds.Friends first, but deeply in love by the time they returned home.That love never wavered all the years I knew them.It was beautiful to behold, even to a rotten old demon like me.And over time, I called them friends.They called me friend.
"It worked for some time, as I hardly need demonic power to kill pathetic little humans, but eventually someone tried something that forced my hand, forced me to reveal myself—not in whole, but enough for the wrong people to realize that Kolik's pretty little bodyguard was a demon."He fell silent, mouth pinched."Not long after the winter solstice, a demon came after us.It took everything I had to fight him off and seal him away where he won't be troubling anyone else, but it also revealed me for who I truly was, and that caused…problems.To save my life, Sendrus banished me with the promise he'd bring me back when it was safe.I never saw them again."
Oresti said, "Kolik was killed just days later, stabbed to death in his sleep.He and Sendrus had engaged in some huge, public fight just the day previous—probably hours after they banished you—and so he was blamed for it, especially since he was one of the few with free access to Kolik's private chambers.As everybody wanted Sendrus out of the way for one reason or another, the trial was a farce and the execution swift.His family was in disgrace, my family took the throne, and that was the end of the tale."
Shimari's eyes narrowed."Stabbed to death?Elaborate?"
"I don't know much, just what the old court papers said.Investigators were not a thing back then, and there was very minimal investigation done.But he was stabbed over and over, at least thirty wounds, in frenzy like fashion all across his torso.The report commented it seemed like it had been done with a great deal of anger."
"Yes, that sort of frenzied killing is usually done from anger.Also panic, but the two are usually all of the one.That wasn't Sendrus's style.He was best with magic, but nothing to scoff at with a knife.Pretending for one second he would have been capable of killing Kolik, he would have been much neater and more precise about it."He sighed and turned his head to stare out the window."I wish they hadn't banished me."
"What demon did you fight?"Andrus asked."I never heard mention of that anywhere, and surely two demons fighting…"
Shimari chuckled and turned back with a soft, faintly amused smile."We fought here, in this house.In the garden, specifically, and Sendrus cast a ward that kept us confined.Once I finally bested him, I dragged him off and sealed him safely away in a dank, dark cave where he couldn't be forced to cause further harm."
Oresti quirked a brow."You sealed the demon away to protect him?"
"Yes," Shimari replied, eyes flaring."I don't kill my own unless I absolutely have to.He didn't ask to be cruelly enslaved; he didn't want to fight me.Of course I didn't kill him.I didn't even hurt him more than I had to in defending myself.He'll break free of his bindings eventually, one way or another, and have nothing to gripe about except a century or two of boredom.That's no worse than a few days of captivity for a human.I'd planned on releasing himself once I could be sure he'd be free of human control, but never got the chance."
Andrus huffed."Yes, butwho was it."
Shimari clucked his tongue."So curious.Prying into things you shouldn't is how you summoned me, little mage."
"I sincerely hate you," Andrus retorted, pleased when both Shimari and Oresti laughed because he wasstupid.
"Kressen of the Blood," Shimari finally said.
"Fucking hells, can people in this city stop summoning zero class demons," Oresti said with a groan.
"Why do you think your great grandparents' generation worked so hard to develop that class system and commensurate laws?"Shimari asked dryly.
"I cannot believe the Lord of the Red himself is just locked up in a cave somewhere and could break free at any moment," Oresti said."Do you know how much of a problem that is?"
Shimari scoffed."He'll just return home, unless someone else binds him.We don't generally like being yanked from our world to serve piddling little humans and deal with their tiresome, trivial little problems."
"Are there people missing you right now?"Andrus asked.He'd always wondered about such things, but even his mother had never had a satisfactory answer.
"In our world, we don't exist the way we do here.We're far less…present.Corporeal, I suppose.We don't exist on a particular plane so much asbetweenplanes, on whatever we were molded to exist on.So no, I am not missed, will never be missed.Much easier to feast here, anyway."He touched his tongue to his bottom lip, and for the barest moment, Andrus caught a hint of wickedly sharp fangs."The point is, Kressen won't be a problem."
Andrus shook his head and poured more tea.Shimari of the Harvest was one of the deadliest demons in existence, but right beside him were four others, and Kressen of the Blood was one of them.The Master of Blood, the Mother of Vampires, Lord of the Red.It was said that those who tasted his blood could only ever consume blood from there on out, that no other sustenance would sate them.Vampires were a rare phenomenon nowadays, but once upon a time they'd been a genuine threat to humanity, resulting in strict laws regarding travel, entry to any city.The Days of Shadow and Blood, a period of history nobody liked to think about.
