Dark Swan Ebook, page 1
Dark Swan
J.M. Ivie
Dark Swan
Copyright © 2022 by J.M. Ivie
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For information contact :
J.M. Ivie
www.authorjmivie.com
Paperback design by Franziska Stern
Ebook, Hardcover, and Interior design by J.M. Ivie
Edited by Sydney Hawthorn
First Edition: July 2022
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my friend, Josh Langlois—
Whose love for this book breathed fire and stars and dreams into its very pages.
L E V E L S
ORDER OF THE VARENT
Wielders of the ethereal magic
Jinn
Furie
Fae
Sun Lord
COURT OF OURIA
Wielders of the terrestrial magic
Sphinx
The gods
Elves
Banshee
SYNOD OF THE DEPRAVED
Wielders of the mystic arts
Daemon
Leviathan
Numina
Midnight Traveler
THE COVEN
Wielders of the lesser magic
Leprechaun
Unicorn
Merfolk
Lesser faery
THE UNKNOWN
Wielders of the untested magic
The Stars
Mother Earth
Father Time
The Emberfang
The Changeling
PART ONE
MERIS
1
My fingers sought the ring, though I knew full well I wouldn’t find it on the chain about my neck. How did I become like this? How had I fallen so far?
“Meris.”
A pinch at my ear sent spikes of pain through my left jaw. I whipped around, almost smacking Lady Gathbred. Her brow furrowed, reminding me of the last time I’d annoyed her. “You’re dazing.”
The pulse and roar of anger slipped through my veins. “I’m sorry,” I said, voice taut with the barely-contained rage, “it won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t.”
I grimaced, forcing the meek, submissive attitude I was supposed to have. Would it be so bad? Would telling her off be so terrible? I was to leave and be employed under Mr. Brackenridge come the next week.
But there was no telling what Lady Gathbred would do, so I bit my tongue, tasting blood as we descended the cobblestone path and weaved under the footbridge leading to the castle. In the corner, three slave children ate their measly scraps by a muddy divot, and my stomach curdled. How many diseases were in that puddle?
“Dirty beasts,” Lady Gathbred snipped.
“Someone needs to help them.”
She turned to me, thin brows shading her glassy eyes, and I regretted that I’d spoken out of turn. “Give a six-pence to a beggar and he will beg for more. If you’re so concerned, Meris,”—she wielded my name like a weapon—“you can take your week’s wages and buy them meals. I’d love to see how self-sacrificing you are when it comes to your own money.”
I sucked in a wavering breath, and the invisible weight on my shoulders became a mound of iron. The children stared at me from their begrimed spot; brown eyes dulled by the sun, hair unkempt, skeletal arms clutching rotting fruits and molding bread. But it wasn’t their position that reminded me of my younger self. It was the wide-eyed hopefulness.
My stomach dipped as I turned and entered the treat shop. The dung-scented air was replaced with the smell of chocolate and sweets. Luxury and wealth surrounded me, mocking me with what I’d failed to do for those children. Every step made the floor boards creak and groan. Perhaps the place was as worn as I was.
As battered and used.
I approached the counter and slowly eyed the sweets on display. Their decadence came in such stark contrast to the world outside. To the poverty mere feet from the bakery door. “I’m here for the Yeodo treats.” My voice wavered as I glanced at Lady Gathbred behind me. She preened her silver-gold hair, waiting for me to finish the task.
“The Yeodo treats?” asked the confectioner, tilting his round, dark head to the side.
“Yes, I ordered them special two weeks ago.” I’d handed him a sickeningly large sum of money, so he should remember. If he didn’t have them, then I’d be doomed. Lady Gathbred would demand the money back—money I could never hope to return, no matter the new job I might have after that. “Please, tell me you have them.”
“Ah!” The confectioner mumbled something before vanishing into the back room. A moment of cold, unwelcoming silence hovered over the area. “Here we are,” he said, reappearing with a small basket.
“Excellent.” Lady Gathbred flipped the towel off the treats to inspect them. They were redder than my hair and as round as the midnight moon, with white filling and edible glitter. A sickly-sweet berry scent wafted from the basket and caused my stomach to make obscene noises in the relatively empty establishment.
We exited the shop and walked the length of street again, this time in relative silence. Lady Gathbred’s heels clicked along the pavement toward the rows upon rows of townhouses outside the market like taunting nails on a chalkboard.
She released a long sigh, stopping before a townhouse which looked to be three times older than her. The rusty windows were fogged by mildew, giving the home the appearance of being haunted by a less-than-benevolent spirit. I sometimes forgot we visited her ailing friend every week. Her Aether-bound duty, Lady Gathbred had said, though I knew it was because the lady who owned that house had no heirs and a hefty inheritance to give away if she ever decided to pass. “I will return soon. Keep the treats safe.”
Disgust lodged in my throat. Of course I’d keep them safe, I don’t know how I’d pay her back if they came to be ruined. Relief flooded my body as her pink frock vanished into the townhouse. I was alone for a moment and could breathe. I could slump if I felt so inclined…
“Ah, if it isn’t Meris Vahla.”
Flakes of anger slipped from my veins as I spun, facing Chester Gathbred. His pristine, fawn-brown hair was the same color as his neatly pressed coat and vest. I’d forgotten how sickeningly handsome he was, with eyes so dark they appeared like a void sky against his tanned skin. The smell made my breath snag—the faint hint of tobacco and whiskey sending me into a memory I desperately wished to avoid.
Fingers grazed my neck, looping around the fragile golden chain. “You don’t need this do you?”
I averted my gaze.
“Silence?” he asked, too close for comfort. My limbs locked up, my mind lifted and levitated into white-hot panic. “You know, you weren’t ever this quiet when we were together.” He looped his arm around my waist, tugging me closer to him.
Sickness sat at the base of my throat, ready to lurch upward. We’d been close once…with the wind in our hair, his arm wrapped around my waist to steady me as we rode his speckled mare across the mist-cloaked field.
“Ever want to come back?” he whispered into my hair. “You could become Lady Chester Gathbred before the sun goes down.”
“No.” I practically jumped from his grasp, feet landing unsteadily on the crooked street.
“No?” His grin sharpened, pushing memories of the past upward. My lungs constricted every manageable breath. “You’re still a servant to my house. Aren’t you supposed to do what you’re told?”
He reached his hand out to touch my hair, again.
He touched my hair, fingers undoing my necklace.
I took a step back, pressing flush against the wrought iron fence. Every reply, every stabbing remark I could muster, faltered on my tongue, resting in the buzzing nothingness within my mind.
“Do you expect a better offer to come?” he asked, tipping his head to the side. “Anyone else would break you like a prized mare.”
I didn’t fight my frown. “I’m not an animal.”
His features darkened, slithering with indignation likened unto a man who’d never been told no. “You’ll end up becoming a wife to an old man, caring not only for his dozen children, but his own needs. Do you want that?”
Panic spread through my veins, stabbing my nerves and unsettling my soul. Of course I didn’t. But after what he’d done? I couldn’t trust him…I couldn’t be with him. “Leave, Chester.”
With another wicked smirk, he reached a hand and seized the basket.
“No!” I jumped toward him, clawing at the air in a pathetic attempt at reclaiming the stolen goods. “Give it back!”
“Why is this basket so important, Meris?” He spun out of my reach, laughing.
He spun out of my reach. “This ring isn’t important, is it? You’ll get a new one from me.”
“Give it back.”
Tears choked my breaths. “I said give it back.”
He pulled the cover off the Yeodo treats. My stomach dropped. “What if I ate one?”
“Please…” My mourning call was barely audible; the sound lodged in my throat, choking me. “Please do
“Marry me.”
I wanted to throw up. He wasn’t going to give it back, no matter how much I begged or groveled. Not unless I agreed to marry him. And that? That wasn’t an option I wanted to entertain. So I stood and remained as silent as the grave.
“Okay.” He grabbed a treat in his long, thin fingers and took a bite. “So… so tasty.”
I froze. In his movements, a solitary object had come free from below the collar of his shirt. My ring. No longer thinking about the treats, I jumped in one last attempt to get back that which was stolen. My fingers brushed against the metal.
The world flashed, and I stood in a place other.
I scanned the surrounding forest. It was winter. Fangs of ice tore into my skin; my teeth chattered. My clothes were in shreds, and my bare feet sank into the wet, cold snow.
Another hallucination?
Though this one was far more vivid…
The moonlight coated the trees in a yellowy haze before it drifted behind the clouds. This—this was different. The way the mist fell along the dead earth, wrapping misty tendrils around the barren trees and shrubs, made my stomach clench.
I shuffled forward, my body aching below the weight of winter. The smell of wet bark and the caress of forgotten time sank into my lungs, coating my tongue in iron. Wind howled through the forest like a wolf, beckoning the golden moon to show itself once again. A shiver crawled up my body as it reappeared. That beautiful moon, drenched red.
A tribal drum pounded in the distance, slow and hypnotic. The red glow bathed the forest floor, and the snow became stained crimson.
Numb shock overtook my body.
It was blood. Blood coated the aspen bark, the rocks as it dripped from the moon.
The tribal drum became a voice; a voice chanting something I couldn’t place. Meris. Meris. Meris.
I crumbled to the ground. My knees wailed as they crashed against the rocks. I looked, my hands now drenched in red. I tried to scream, but my voice caught in my throat.
Wounds peeled open from my right arm from an invisible force.
The world shattered, and I was living the same moment—the same heartbeat. I hadn’t moved. I was still reaching for the ring. Chester danced out of my reach, careening his body and throwing his foot out, snagging my ankle.
Pain pounded into my knees as I hit the ground. My palms tore against the pavement. A hand grabbed my neck, forcing my head down, and the skin along my brow shredded against the rough gravel. I gasped, torn between fighting him off and giving into the surging panic. What had I seen? What was that world?
I still saw the blood and heard the voice.
“You disgust me, Meris,” Chester whispered through gritted teeth. “I’m the best you will ever have, and yet you reject me so casually?”
I gasped a breath, fighting the tears clawing upward as I staggered to my feet and inspected the blood coating my hands. My face burned.
But the pain was nothing compared to when Chester Gathbred dumped the entire contents of the basket onto the gravel and stomped on them with the heel of his boot before he wiped the mess of it on the torn hem of my dress. “I know the price of those treats,” he said, voice low and serpentine. “I also know you won’t be able to pay my mother back anytime soon. So, when you’re ready, come to me, and I will help. Or maybe you should wither…either outcome would bring me joy.”
I wanted to scream, though nothing came out but a pathetic whimper.
“You’re just a woman, Meris.” He kicked the basket for good measure, sending it skittering down the lane. I tried to speak, opening my mouth only to have the words freeze at the tip of my tongue. The world around me flipped, turning upside down and spinning, thrusting dizziness into my body. “Don’t think yourself capable of more than you are.” And with that, he walked away.
My muscles quivered. Heat rushed through my body, pounding on my heart. It was enough to make me want to tear him apart limb from limb.
But I couldn’t.
I was just a woman.
2
The crumpled paper weighed heavily in my hand, and I traced the official seal depicting a winged woman. Not only had I been fired with no hope to find work thanks to the Gathbreds, I had to pay the fine before the end of six weeks or be sold to Chester, who’d already offered a price for me. How convenient for him.
“You know I hate to lose,” Chester said, smiling as the firelight flickered across his cheeks. I watched as he moved the chess piece and took a rook from his opponent. He was winning, and I was so proud of him.
I touched his hand, but he moved it away.
My heart stuttered.
I blinked away the memory, fighting to keep my tears at bay. If I didn’t pay before that date, they’d come for Mae, sell our home, and hunt me down like a criminal.
A chill ran over my body as the thought slithered through my mind. Quickly, I shoved the envelope in my dress pocket and opened the gate to our cottage. It was one of the only things we owned.
I shuffled down the path, dreading the conversation ahead of me. A numb sting panged through my stomach, coursing through my veins like a shock of guilt. In a way, I suppose it was guilt. Perhaps I should’ve accepted Chester’s offer and saved us the trouble.
I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. Cry until I felt nothing. Cry until the pain inside tore me apart. There’s no way I could pay them back. Even if we sold everything, it would only be a drop in the bucket.
And I couldn’t ask that of Mae.
Upon reaching the door, uncertainty and fear of what would happen when I stepped inside curled through me. Mae would be so disappointed. She worked so hard, weaving and weaving until her hands were ruined, and I went and wrecked everything.
I opened the cottage door and found Mae on the sofa. Her gray hair was matted in places, and her eyes were sunken in. Our struggle to make ends meet had worn her down.
“Meris?” She blinked, gripping the ring that hung from the chain around her neck. I remembered begging her to be rid of it when I was a child. I shivered, remembering at how afraid I was of the eye-shaped gem in the center. The eye which only glinted in the darkness. Watching, as though it was alive.
If she would’ve sold that, we could’ve lived comfortably. But neither of us could part with the rings…not for want of money, nor for love.
She still didn’t know Chester had stolen mine six months before.
Hesitantly, I walked to her side.
“What happened?” She touched the scrapes on my face before turning my hands over and looking at them.
“I—” I bit at the hateful words in my mouth, reining them in and keeping them to myself. If she knew Chester had done this, no force on earth would be able to keep him safe from her ire. As satisfying as that would be, I didn’t wouldn’t have been able to bear watching the guards haul her to the Iron Keep. “I fell.” This excuse—the lie—sounded too familiar. A lie I’d told two years ago.
“Fell?” She frowned, regarding me with that aged, all-assessing gaze. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright.” A sigh escaped her lips, then after some moments, she looked into my eyes again. “Are you alright? You don’t look well.”
I shook my head. It was impossible to fight the tears now. I pulled the letter the officer had thrust into my trembling fingers from my pocket and gave it to her. “I…I ruined Lady Gathbred’s Yeodo treats. I need to pay her back.”
“Oh, Meris.” Steadying herself, her hands gripped the edge of the rickety chair. She looked ready to faint. “What will we do?”
“I don’t know.” I turned my attention out the window where the night curled shadowy fingers over the horizon, blotting the lingering wisps of daylight into absolute nothingness.
Mae’s pale hand gripped my own, wrenching my gaze from the night-soaked world outside to her watery blue eyes. “Let’s pray to Aether. I…” She squeezed my hand, kissing the scrape on my thumb as though that would fix all the trouble. “I can’t lose you.”
My wavering voice would have betrayed me if I spoke, so I remained silent. Though we weren’t blood related, Mae had been a mother to me, and I owed her for what she’d given me. I owed her, and I needed to make this right.
