Larissa Eliane Du’Kariendar was born the second daughter (and fourth child overall) to the Shah of Meliyat. As such, she had no hope of ever gaining political power, and no hope of a life beyond being married off to secure a trade agreement, or minor alliance, or some other such nonsense. It was a fate she was ill-suited for.
As soon as she learned to walk, she started getting in trouble. She ran away from her parents, hid from her instructors, and played pranks on the servants. She seemed to enjoy punishment, and her defiant attitude even while being punished frustrated everyone involved.
At fourteen, she caught the eye of the Shadowmaster, the royal assassin to the ruling council of Meliyat. At eighteen she killed him and took his place. Some say it was ambition, others say revenge. Whatever her reasons, it achieved many purposes.
First, it secured her position in the peri kingdom. Shadowmaster was a high position, one suitable for lesser nobility such as herself. Secondly, it ensured her freedom. Marriage was definitely off the table. No man was suicidal enough to wed the Shadowmaster, no matter how beautiful and exotic she might be. Lastly, it allowed her to do the thing she loved most in the world: Killing people.
“I was good at it, too,” said Nightshade. “The best, in fact. Still am, although I won’t ever go back to that life. I have…I am different now.”
“I have numerous ways to get close to people and kill them,” Nightshade began. “I can seduce, I can deceive, I can infiltrate, I can-”
Trick interrupted her. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re the best. Get on with it,” he said.
She smiled sweetly at him, which terrified him much more than any threat would have. She continued, “When Ceres Ravencrest appeared before the Peri Council and paid his gold, the council knew sending me was the perfect solution. I left that same day and went to Calymnia.
“My hair is the best disguise I could ever hope for. It’s black color is all natural, which is rare among the peri. So rare, in fact, that most people don’t even know that it’s possible for a peri to have anything except the white hair we are known for. I keep it long and loose to hide my ears more naturally than a hat or bandana or anything else would. Some common clothes, and I don’t have any trouble passing for human, or elf or kucheri if someone happens to notice my ears.
“All of which is to say, when I presented myself to the palace guards as a new serving girl, no one even questioned it.
“For weeks, I worked in the kitchens, and studied my surroundings. I learned the routines of the servants, the guards, and the royalty. By day, I did my duties and kept my head down, avoiding notice. By night, I prowled through the shadows and learned all the secret passages and hidden doors of the palace. In time, I came to know the palace and its secrets better than anyone. Most importantly, I came to know the people who lived there.
“Kaine, Mirena loved you. She did. However, there was something you could never have given her: Her freedom. Mirena longed for a life of adventure. She wanted to see the world, and have the kinds of experiences that she had only read about. She loved you, but the palace and all the duties surrounding it were a prison.”
Kaine hung his head low and put his face in his hands. “Gods. If I had only known. Maybe we could have done something together. I could have made her an ambassador like her father had done, or maybe sent her on an expedition, or something…I could have…”
“Indeed. The true tragedy of your life is that you and Mirena wanted the same things, but you never told each other. If you had only talked openly with each other, the way you did when your love was new, then all of this could have easily been avoided.”
Nightshade continued. “My job was difficult, but not particularly complicated. Kill Kaine, frame Mirena. Ensure that nothing could be traced back to Ceres. Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t die of boredom.”
Kaine glowered at her, and started to speak up, but held his tongue. Nightshade continued.
“I found Mirena’s private journal hidden in a secret drawer in the nightstand by the royal bed. I cut a page from it, and memorized the journal’s physical appearance. I had a duplicate made in town while I practiced copying her handwriting. I spent several nights learning how to match her penmanship. Once I had that down, I went back and read her words, memorizing passages so I could recreate them.
“Once the bookbinder had finished the new journal, I started writing in it. I copied Mirena’s handwriting, and I matched her way of writing. I copied all the passages that I had memorized, and then I added a few more. As Mirena, I wrote of how I longed to be free, and how I wanted to dissapear more than anything. I wrote at great length about my desire to explore the world and live a life of adventure.
“I added passages that talked about the palace feeling like a prison, and the king feeling more like a jailor than a partner. I wrote several entries complaining about the growing distance between us, and how the king had turned cold to me. Near the end, I wrote of how I couldn’t take it anymore, and my plan to finally be free of Kaine and Calymnia forever.
“After I finished the journal, I knew it wouldn’t be enough by itself, and so I made moves to get closer to the queen. Through lies, bribes, manipulation, and blackmail, I moved up through the ranks of servitude until I was serving her directly. Over time, we became close. Not friends, of course, but she treated me as a trusted and loyal servant. So naturally, I began to poison her mind.
“I told her I had been sold into servitude by my father, which wasn’t far from the truth, but is a story for another time. I told her of the places I had visited, and the people I encountered. Of course, I left out the part about killing them all, but she found it romantic and exciting nonetheless.
“After a few months of this, I knew she was ready to be set up for her fall. I told her I knew a way for her to finally have the freedom she so desperately wanted. I could disguise her, and smuggle her out of the palace, and into the city. From there, I could get her passage to Bloodshire, where she could go anywhere she wanted to go.
“It took several more weeks, but eventually, her desire to be free outgrew her desire to be a happily married queen. I was true to my word. I colored her hair, and painted her face to disguise her facial features. I put her in commoner’s clothing, and used the secret passages of the castle to get her into the city. I introduced her to a captain that would take her to Bloodshire, and then I said goodbye to her. I told her to get as far away from Calymnia as she could, and to never look back.
“You see, contrary to what you might believe, I had grown fond of Mirena during our time together, and I genuinely wished her well. But I couldn’t wait around, because the time had come to strike.”
For the first time, Amaris, son of Kaine and Mirena, who had spent the last forty years known only as “the Seargent”, spoke up. “Wait a second. Are you saying Mother is…alive?”
Nightshade looked at him and said, “As far as I know, she is. That was the last time I saw her or heard anything from her. She was alive when I left her with the boat captain, and I have no reason to believe that he harmed her or did anything other than what I paid him to do, which was to deliver her safely to Bloodshire.”
Amaris left the group at that point, and sat by himself in the darkness. Nightshade continued her story.
“After delivering Mirena to the boat captain, I teleported back to the palace. I knew her absence would be noticed quickly, and I had a lot of work to do before that happened. I retrieved her journal from its hiding place, and threw it in the fire. I put the false journal in the drawer, but then I left the drawer open, to make it look like she had fled in a hurry. I removed some of her clothing from her wardrobe, again arranging everything carefully to look like it had been done in a hurry. I tore off a small corner of one dress, and placed it on a sharp corner of the secret passageway out of her room, so it would appear like she had torn her dress while fleeing.
“When I had finished doing all that, I used the secret passages to get into Kaine’s bedchamber. Oh, Kaine. You were sleeping so peacefully. Blissfully unaware that death had come for you. I plunged Mirena’s blade deep into your heart, and the only sound you made was a strained whisper as the blood gurgled out of your chest. With your blood on my hands, I left a trail through the secret passages and into the early morning light. Once I got clear of the palace, I teleported straight back to Meliyat, and out of your world forever. Or, so I thought.”
When Nightshade finished speaking, Kaine spoke one final time. “We best get some sleep. It’s a long way to Calymnia, and we set out in the morning.”