Prologue

Threats were an efficient way of getting people to do things for you. So efficient, it may make one desperate; especially when that threat meant life or death.

So when the Clan’s Second threatened to slit Lark’s throat if the job wasn’t done right – and had practically tossed her out the door – she made no delay in hurrying back to the city of Thirarith, choking down tears the entire way. It was such a dangerous job, that even accomplishing it could end in Lark’s death. She’d done jobs before, but never one so huge or risky.

The words kept repeating in her head: slit your throat. It had been at least a day since she’d heard the threat, and it still rang in her ears as if it had just been spoken.

She’d done minor jobs before, but never one so big. But since she was the Empress’s midwife, she was immediately chosen for this job.

Lark tried to calm herself. At least you didn’t get the other half, she thought. No, that would be given to an assassin of higher ranking. She only had one job: get rid of the child.

Of course though, “get rid of” always meant “kill” in the Larsanic Clan. And how could she possibly kill the Emperor’s child – especially when it had just been born, and the room would be full of the Empress’s attendants? She had three of them; which meant that was three extra people she’d have to remove from the room.

These were the thoughts that ran through her head as she sat at her table at home, not even touching her breakfast, staring absentmindedly out the window. But her thoughts were interrupted when there was a pounding at the door.

“Mother!” exclaimed a voice, that Lark immediately recognized as her daughter Mia’s. “There’s a royal messenger here for you!”
Confusion swept through Lark as well as panic. Why was there a messenger here? Did they discover her plot? Nervously she approached the door, where indeed a messenger stood out of breath. “Mistress Lark,” he said, standing in the doorway. “It’s Empress Justine. She’s just gone into labor.”

Now Lark’s emotions were all replaced by shock – and fear. “What…but she’s not due for another six weeks!”

“They need you at the palace. Now,” the messenger insisted.

There was no avoiding or preventing it. “Mia, come on,” she said to her daughter.

“I’m going with you?” said Mia, seeming a bit taken by surprise.

“Yes. Follow us,” Lark replied, and they took after the messenger, abandoning their morning meal.

                                                                                                

Empress Justine was screaming in pain, lying in bed as Lark entered the room with her daughter. “You’ll be fine, Empress. The midwife is here,” said an attendant by the name of Ruby, glancing at Lark. She then turned to the Empress. “Just breathe!”

There were two other attendants in the room – one, Amelia, who had a damp towel on Empress Justine’s forehead, attempting to cool her off, and the other, Jasmine, was holding the Empress’s hand, and seemed to be humming a tune, as if trying to calm her.

Lark examined the scene. Empress Justine was going into labor quickly, she noticed, which didn’t normally happen with a woman’s first child. She tried to push the thought away as she forced a smile onto her face and approached the Empress, who was now breathing rapidly. “You’re progressing nicely, Empress. Everything’s going well.”

The Empress shook her head quickly. “Something’s not right. It’s too soon, it’s too—”

“You’re going to be fine,” Lark insisted, trying to convince herself more than the Empress. Deep down, she knew this wasn’t completely all right.

“Mistress Lark?”

Lark turned to Ruby, who was standing close by her. She leaned towards Lark and whispered, “she’s been pushing for two hours…and she doesn’t look well. Should I get the physician?”

“No, everything’s fine,” Lark murmured back. “Keep cooling her off. She’s getting feverish.” She appreciated Ruby’s keeping her voice down though; it was best not to alarm the Empress. “You’re doing great, Empress Justine,” said Lark, raising her voice as she turned to the woman, who was convulsing and sweating terribly. “I can see the baby’s coming now.”

Lark then felt someone tap her shoulder, and she turned to see Jasmine right by her. The attendant leaned forward and then hissed, “do your job, Lark.” Jasmine then patted her belt, and fear washed over Lark as she saw the outline of a dagger; she should have known the Clan would have spies among the Empress’s attendants.

But in the past two hours, Lark still had not formulated a plan; she closed her eyes, and found herself silently praying to Aedlas. My Lord, help me to carry out your will. Let me have success in this job—

“The baby’s almost here!” exclaimed Mia enthusiastically, leaning over the side of the bed. “Empress, your baby is coming!”

“Empress?” Amelia said. “Oh my gods! Lark, Lark, something’s wrong with the Empress!” the attendant said in alarm.

Lark’s head snapped around to look at the Empress, and much to her horror, she could see the Empress’s eyes had rolled to the back of her head, her breath now coming out in shallow rasps. The fear inside Lark practically burst through her as she saw blood begin to trickle from Empress Justine’s mouth. “Mother, the baby!” Mia shouted, beating Lark to speaking first.

Sure enough, the baby had been delivered, and it began crying. Lark quickly scooped the baby up, wrapping it up in a towel. “It’s a boy,” she announced. She then handed Mia the baby. “Clean him.”

Mia then nodded and took the baby off, and Lark turned back to look at the Empress. If possible, her fear grew, as she realized her condition had worsened.

The Empress is dying, she realized. She then turned to look at the attendants. “Amelia, get the physician. Now,” she said. Amelia nodded and hurried out of the room as Lark turned to Ruby and Jasmine. “You two, get Emperor Audric.”

Ruby didn’t hesitate to run out of the door, and Lark could see Jasmine’s gaze linger on Lark, a knowing smirk forming on her lips before she turned to follow her fellow attendant.

It was now just Lark and Mia in the room, and Mia was still cleaning the baby. Dread began to fill Lark; everyone was gone, and she realized it was now or never, she had to kill the child. But there was no way she could kill the Empress’s child in front of her daughter. She quickly searched her mind for an excuse to send Mia out of the room; but she could not find one.

Aedlas, my Lord, please help me, she pleaded once more, her eyes closing again. She then opened them once more, and her eyes turned to her daughter, who had her back turned as she continued to clean the Empress’s son.

Lark found herself reviewing the ways she could kill the child – she knew she’d have to now. She then decided that the most efficient way would be wrapping the umbilical cord around the baby’s throat and strangle it; it couldn’t possibly be pinned on her that way.

“Mia.” Lark spoke up. Her daughter turned around, the baby still crying in her arms, and Lark resisted the urge to flinch. “Bring the child here,” she said, fear coursing through her and making her almost shake with nerves.

Mia gave a small smile and began to approach her mother, but just then her daughter’s eyes grew wide. “Mother, look!” she exclaimed.

Lark turned around. The Empress was dead; but not before giving birth to a dead child, who lay still on the sheets, its skin a dark purple-blue color. She stared at the situation for a while before realizing something.

My prayers have been answered.

A plan somehow immediately formed in her head, and she turned to her daughter. “Mia, wrap the baby up and take it home.”

“Bu—”

“Don’t say anything, don’t talk to anyone, take it home and hide it somewhere.”

“But mother—”

“Go! Now!” Lark insisted urgently, and Mia quickly turned and left the room, the baby wrapped up in towels, its body covered.

Lark then turned back to the dead Empress and the dead child, examining them; but not much later the door opened and Lark whipped around, seeing the attendants back, along with Emperor Audric himself and the physician.

All the faces staring at her, a lump formed in Lark’s throat and suddenly she felt all the emotions she’d been bottling up inside her release in a sob. She collapsed to the ground, tears tracing her cheeks. “W-We lost them,” she managed to say. “The Empress, and her child.”

Lark looked up, seeing everyone looking in shock – the Emperor looking the most grief-stricken. The only one who wasn’t however, was Jasmine, who gave a cold approving smile towards Lark and a slight nod.

Thank you, Aedlas, Lark said, collapsing further onto the floor.

It was over, and Lark would live.

- - - 

Author's Note:

Prologue is finally up! This took a while to write but I think I got it good. 

I still need to plan the story out a bit more, so this should just keep you guys busy before chapter one is posted. The chapters for this story are going to be a bit longer than they usually are though. :)

Also, there's a new feature where I tag certain characters in the labels. This way you can click on their name and see all the chapters they're in; it's a good way of keeping track of your own characters too.

Be sure to sign up a character or two, I kind of lack comments on this site (as in there are 0 currently).