WHITE DARKNESS - BLACK MAGIC SAGA - BOOK 1

DEVIL'S DANCING

Leevanna Vaughan looked brilliant.

Quite literally.

The ballgown she was wearing was made of light fabric, shimmering golden all over it. The intricate patterns of the embellishments over the bodice all are gold-made, go up the waistline to the heart-shaped neckline. The full length-floor skirt with also intricate golden patterns, was made with multiple layers of tule that created an impressive hoop shape.

Well, Eisdrache didn’t know exactly how to describe a dress, he was a man after all, he didn’t exactly care about this things, only when it came to himself. The only word that came to his mind was spectacular, just like the piece of headwear she was using, also made of gold and with much of the same golden patter of the dress. Her hair was loose, perfectly curled, She was wearing gloves that reached her elbows, and for what he could see, rings over them.

She was near her mother, Nefret, who seemed to be holding her straight by the hand.

Her eyes were shadowed with brown and golden shimmering colours, dark red lips. He wanted to kiss her again.

And he is so f*****g sure she would slap him if he did.

“Dear Nicholas,” laughed Luther Vailant before the both of them greeted each other. “Such a pleasure to see you and your family as always.

“Of course, of course,” grinned the patriarch of the Vaughan family. “Always a pleasure… Ah, dear Skarlova you look wonderful tonight,” he greeted Eisdrache’s mother with a kiss on the hand, and then turned to Eisdrache. “My goodness, you surely have growth a lot, young man.”

“Mr Vaughan, Mrs Vaughan,” Eisdrache nodded and greeted with a handshake to the patriarch whereas to Neferet he gave a kiss on the reverse of the hand.

“I head through newspapers and your father than you have entered the Paragon Tournament,” said Nicholas Vaughan, and Eisdrache couldn’t help but glance the man’s daughter, who seemed about to faint. Her mother still holding her hand tightly.

“Oh, yes, I was the winner of House Vasilka next to some others and Yagiz Sunter, sure you know his family, duchess and duchesses of Eglary from part of the eighth wife of the king?”

“Oh, yes, yes. I had the pleasure to meeting them last week. Lovely family,” he grinned again to then turn his attention to Luther. “I think we have business to discuss Luther… If you excuse us,” with that said both men started walking together around the place, leaving the other four alone.

Skarlova was the first to speak. “Dear Leevy, how are you? I haven’t received letters from you,”

Leevanna seemed distracted with something else, but she equally responded, “I’m sorry, I haven’t had much time,” her eyes the divagated throughout the ballroom until she found Esmeray and Jia Xieren, who were wearing beautiful black and sage-green gowns, respectively. Her eyes looked down.

“Eisdrache, why don’t you and Leevanna go to stroll with your friends?”

Eisdrache looked at his mother, then at Leevanna.

“Yeah, of course—”

“Actually, Leevanna and I wanted to find a friend of mine,” Neferet smiled apologetically. “If you excuse us.”

Skarlova smiled and nodded as the two women left them to go and search for that friend of Neferet. She then turned around to see her son. “I swear if I lose Leevanna for what you did Eisdrache…” he looked down. “I hope she has already forgiven you for that.”

“She hasn’t. She hates me.”

Skarlova stood silent for a couple of seconds. “You have that well-deserved,” she said, chin high and eyes hard. He knew his mum was still a bit angry with him. “You almost killed her. What did you expect? For her to go and hug you after that?”

“No, I didn’t,” he huffed. “I understand, okay? I really do. I just… I don’t know.”

“You have feelings for her.”

And this was like a slap in the face for him.

He didn’t say anything.

He know he didn’t needed it.

“You can deny them even to yourself, but I know you do,” she continued. “I hope she forgives you one day for it.”

“I hope so too.”

Half an hour later, everyone was dancing and laughing. Eisdrache was alone, leaning against a column. He saw Esmeray and Rhazel dance the majority of the night, just like Mason, who was going from bird to bird to ask for a dance.

Drache hasn’t danced with anyone yet.

He has been drinking champagne and wine all night long. Not really paying attention to anything, just to a certain girl strolling around with her mother. They would stop and greet some people, chat and then excuse themselves just to do the same again and again. Eisdrache could tell something was wrong with Vaughan. Her eyes reflected it. He just couldn’t tell what was it.

Perhaps the kiss? He didn’t know. A week already had passed.

“Dear, come with me please,” his mother said next to him, he nodded and started following her where his father was… next to the Vaughan family and the king? What was happening?

“Now that you all are here,” started saying Osnos, his deep voice resonating before the music started pausing slowly. A knight then started speaking.

“With you all… King Osnos, God of Resistance, king of the three blessed continents, true and only heir to the throne!”

Everyone applauded.

“Dear guests… Today we reunite for the Winter Solstice, the day I became king of our three fortunate continents,” everyone listening to him. “I, Osnos God of resistance, have splendid news for you… Two offsprings coming from royalty will be consummating in sacred marriage… Eisdrache Vailant Kesha, son of Noltargenti state from the Vailant royalty and noble house of Kesha, only son and heir… and Leevanna Vaughan Vikena, daughter of Vaminia state from Vaughan and Vikena royalty, only daughter and heir… Two diamonds of the Seven Daughters of royalty.”

Eisdrache went pale.

Almost stumbling back, his mother held his hand tightly, not letting him fall. Almost like Neferet had been doing with her daughter all night. And he wonders if she had known all this time.

His father places his hand over his shoulder, encouraging to go with the king. She is already walking, what else can he do?

He follows right behind her, and she kneels at the bottom of the small stairs that lead to the king’s throne. He can see her tears. Even if she is silent about it. And he wants to cry too, right there. He kneels next to her and a translucid vail is placed over them. A set of rings is provided for the two of them, as a symbolism they are already of the other even if they aren’t married.

“They will now open the dance ball,” announced the knight who had spoken before as the vail is retired from them.

And everyone steps back off the dancefloor when the two teenagers met each other.

He bows.

She does curtsy.

Tears still shedding.

As the orchestra struck up a haunting melody, Eisdrache extended his hand to Leevanna, a challenge more than an invitation. With a begrudging acceptance, Leevanna took his hand, her eyes never leaving his. Their tension was palpable, filling the room with an electric charge. The grey-eyed man grabbed the girl by the waist and moved their bodies in time to the music. And maybe is the way his hand touched her bare skin or perhaps is the way she raises her gaze after looking at him through her lashes. The dance started with a fierce intensity. Eisdrache led with a firm hand, his movements precise and calculated. Leevanna matched him step for step, her every move a testament to her determination not to be outdone. Their dance was not one of unity but a battle, a silent duel played out in the rhythm of the haunting melody.

He hates the things her eyes reflect.

Desperation and so much rage.

For him perhaps is the way their wrists touch and their arms make waves before his fingers slide down her arm until their reach her elbow while she spins before taking her waist. Like a feather.

Delicate.

Their hands met for a second, brushes of skin and fabric before he leaves her making her spin. Hand touching her back and the other meets her hand yet again.

Hands intertwined and the others holding back and shoulder while bodies are rocking like boats on the ocean of emotions. And it feels like they have the dance floor just for them, as if a light is reflecting on them. It was just them; the rest didn't exist and inside their eyes were galaxies. He makes her spin, and her pulse raises when his body leaves her for a second before both are back on the soft waves. Both now are spinning, moving through the place with such class and delicacy.

He makes them spin softer, back to the waves before accelerating seeing her directly in the eyes. She loses her breath a second when he lifts her in another spin, and he chuckles when her feet touch the ground just to leave it the next spin. She smiles touching the ground again. Their bodies spin and spin before moving gentler, in circles, rocking in an ocean. And their hands’ grip is tighter when her body leaves his. She spins yet again, and the grip breaks just to form again with their other hands. Her body leaves him, delicate grip, and their bodies get close, then leave again. Hands together and their feet make a circle on the floor before bodies get close again. His hand makes her body spin yet again.

Bodies far from each other, then close, hands meet.

A spin between the two, bodies away, spin again and far away. And his hands take her arm, and her black shield slides up, leaves her so delicate than her body flushes. Is unprotected in front of him. His hand brushes her wrist, going up followed by two jade eyes and two thunderstorms before they meet each other.

As the music quickened, so did their dance. It was a whirl of movement and emotion, each trying to outdo the other. Their eyes locked in a fierce battle of wills, their bodies moving in a dance that was as much a fight as it was a performance. Music and world going fast, hearts beating quickly, deep sounds and heavy breathings. Lightnings becoming green and they create the perfect storm. Fingers meeting and flexing against each other.

So soft. So delicate. Feather-like touch.

Yet so dangerous. So forbidden. So wrong and right. Everything goes calm, breathings are so breathless and hearts so close. And the thunderstorm explodes once again with the last spin.

The climax of the dance was a whirl of movement. Eisdrache spun Leevanna out, her gown flaring out like a flame against the icy backdrop. He pulled her back with a swift tug, their bodies meeting in a clash of wills. They held the pose, their eyes locked in a fierce battle of defiance, the tension between them almost tangible. The room erupted in applause, but they hardly noticed, their focus solely on each other. They separate from each other; her eyes look down and tears start to fall as she does a curtsy again, leaving to go next to her family.

Eisdrache does the same, and looks at his mother, who is as silent as a cemetery when she is usually chatty. His father doesn’t turn to look at him, his stern expression, a poker face. Eisdrache just wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.

Hours later, at almost a half past three in the morning, everyone was saying their final goodbyes and congratulating both families for the engagement, saying how fortunate the two teenagers would be after they have consummated nuptials.

When the Vailant family started travelling in their carriage, Eisdrache was the first to talk. “Could you care to explain what the actual f**k?” brows furrowed, jaw clenched, confusion written all over him.

“If you hadn’t spent so much time in your room and actually got a meal with us, you would have known about it,” sighed his father without much reproach towards his son. “But now you know.”

“She hates me!”

“I am very much aware of that, son,” continued saying his father shaking his head, remembering the said incident they’d had a few months ago because of a school grade. “I still don’t understand why you made all that fuss for a school grade.”

“It wasn’t—!” but he stopped himself midsentence before he could f**k it up even more. He knew his parents and Vaughan’s had been informed of what had happened, but not why had happened. “Listen, she really hates me, she has literally said so to me… If you wed her to me she will never forgive me.”

“Drache, darling,” said his mother, “I know having feelings for her and rushing all this must be awful—”

“You have feelings for her?” frowned his father.

“That’s not the point!” his hand ran down his face and then up to his hair to push it back. “Can’t you just… I don’t know… Say you changed your mind or something?”

“It is already done, Eisdrache,” said his mother with an apologetic look in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“And what about marriage is supposed to be out of love and commitment?” now his eyebrows were furrowed again.

“I know I have said that to you a lot of times but there is nothing I can do,” answered his mother.

“But you already have feelings for her,” said his father. “It would be out of love… One sided at least,” he shrugged. Eisdrache looked at him poorly. “What? You said so yourself, she hates you more than anything.”

“That is the reason why you should cancel this circus!”

“You two make a lovely couple I must say, very aesthetical,” said his father sipping on a glass of Fire Wine.

“I was thinking just the same,” continued Skarlova. “On the dancefloor there was a palpable tension I haven’t felt since you and I were teenagers,” she smiled.

“I wish I could go back to those times,” sighed Luther. “But now there is business to do.”

“Business?” asked Eisdrache confused. “But it’s almost four in the morning.”

“There are some things to get done,” his father flickered his gaze. Eisdrache didn’t saw that. “Take care of your mother and prepare the manor for visits, I will return a few hours later,” Eisdrache nodded and saw his father get out of the carriage just to go to another, unaware of what would happen next.

His mother, tired of the carriage ride, opened a portal to Noltargenti State and once they were there, she closed it flawlessly.

Eisdrache had an idea of what was going to happen. He had heard a part of the conversation his father and Aftan had when they arrived, and the one he had with Nicholas Vaughan in his father’s office but preferred not to eavesdrop more or bother his father. He was kind of scared of Nicholas Vaughan too… His eyes had caught many of the times when the man — his head shook. He wouldn’t think about it. He had occluded those memories too and planned not to let them out or it would trigger to let more trunks broke their silver and heavy padlocks.

There would be a manifestation by the frontier of Shiat and the states of the Seven Sons from part of The Abolition. This type of manifestation had occurred two or three times in the last five years, but none of them as serious as this one, Eisdrache was sure of that. To call his father after a ball? That was surely urgent.

Usually the manifesters would use the Deáh rune, a manifestation of fire in the sky. Eisdrache had seen the rune rose up in the sky. The gleaming dark scarlet of fire contrasting with the stars of that night. A V with large and curved ends symbolising the horns of Aztra, the first and only spirit of the dragon. An inverted M that reached the middle of the V. Some said it represented the head of a dragon, which was the creature Aztra was represented with, others said it was a kind of womb, symbolising that her spirit would be reborn

Once leaving his cloak in his room, he wondered if Vaughan would come to his manor.

He rolled his eyes.

Why the f**k did he need to f*****g keep thinking about her? He was going f*****g mental — more than he already was.

He went down the stairs, where her mother was pacing. “What’s wrong?” he asked, startling Skarlova, who gave a small jump before placing a hand over her chest.

“f**k’s sake,” she mumbled. Eisdrache chuckled at his mother cursing. She rarely did. She was the Lady of the Manor after all. “You scared me.”

“If you tell me why are you so jumpy, perhaps I can help,” he shrugged, leaning himself against one of the columns by the end of the stairs. His mother gulped and adverted her eyes. Eisdrache narrowed his eyes before raising an eyebrow. “Well?”

It took her a second or so, he could hear the gears working in her brain. “It’s just that you aren’t yet ready to know about all this and I don’t want to look like madwoman….”

Eisdrache’s lips formed a tight line, his arms crossed. “You want me to be in my room, don’t you?”

Skarlova nodded.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But if you need any help you call me immediately, alright?”

“I don’t think—”

“Mum…”

“Alright, alright,” she gave up with a huff. “I will call you if I am in need of anything.” He stayed with her, chatting about nothing in particular, but he knew his mother was a little bit distressed by the whole situation, and he knew this kind of meetings were bringing memories back for her, from all those years ago when the wars had happened.

After a few hours, his mother rushed him to his bed chambers. He didn’t protest, just gave her a kiss on the cheek and left. Not entirely though. Hiding behind the columns by the end of the stairs, he stood hearing various voices arrive at his family home.

“Oh, Skarlova, long time not seeing you!” greeted a man which voice belonged to Freya’s father.

“Arthur,” she greeted. “Hope you’re doing well. How’s Mika?”

The man smiled, “Oh, you know, she and Rilla took the girls to Anthal.”

“I just hope she and my dear Rilla don’t waste too many riyals,” laughed Simon Levine, Thea’s father. Eisdrache turned his body, now pocking his head a bit to see who was inside his house. Portals were still being shut outside. Eisdrache counted sixteen people in total, included his father. Quince, his wife Oriana and brother Aaron Oneyl, they were part of Lhu’s family, but her parents weren’t here, Eisdrache knew they were in Estresya for the holidays and wouldn’t return until the 2nd of January.

Oliver Tadpole, Edan Oakwood, Linden Birch, Elliot Arbutus, Margarett Hinde, Rhine Tauris and Clayd Barrows were people Eisdrache didn’t know very well, however there were a few of them, like Birch and Arbutus that he hadn’t expected to see, just like — was that Angelice Laverne? Eisdrache’s eyes went wide. What was the Head of Magic’s lover doing here?

Rosia Stein, Mason’s aunt and guardian, was also there, next to Evan Cox, Rhazel’s father.

A few seconds later, the last portal was closed. Nicholas Vaughan appeared. Eisdrache looked away trying to control the necessity of starting drumming his fingers against his leg because of the anxiety the man caused him. He wasn’t with his wife, Neferet, though, and Vaughan wasn’t there either. He wondered where were they. Would they be there in the morning? “Hope I didn’t miss anything,” he smirked. Twisted and dark. Just like him. “A filthy Unpure family got in the way,” and Eisdrache wondered if he was referring to the Leightons.

He frowned, they were filthy Unpures, he shouldn’t bother at all if they died or not that bloody night.

“Stop saying that word,” Leevanna huffed rolling her eyes before hitting him with her book. “Have a civilised conversation for once, bottle blondie.”

“But you despise them too,” he said narrowing his eyes.

“Yeah, but I have manners, I’m a Queen, remember?” she said raising an eyebrow teasingly. He rolled his eyes like always she mentioned that.

He closes his eyes for a moment and feels his jaw clenching while the sound of her voice shoves itself down the deep, dark sea. He decided it was time to go back to his dormitory after everyone had gone to the drawing room.

It was always the best.