The Fateful Encounter

A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. Selena turned away from the window. Inside her tower, one of her new priests entered.

“I will tell the servants to bring the breakfast, Your Grace,” he said to her. “And here is the list of the new batch of workers we accepted this week. We were able to hire multiple servants and some good men for your personal guard.”

“Let me see it,” she took the paper from his head, skimming through the names briefly.

An unusual name of the new servant caught her attention. She did not encounter such a name once. Her breath stopped. She returned the sheet to the priest, pretending to be calm.

“This new servant… what was his name? Kasian? Call him here. He can bring me breakfast. And bring me also the chalice.”

The priest nodded, disappearing.

Selena sat down in the chair, waiting. Her heart was beating fast, and it was hard to calm down. She was finally able to get her own life under control. She shouldn't be flustered just because some random man has the same name as him.

After her awakening, they went to war. Seeing the Silgorod's army waiting on the borders, ready to attack, she could feel anxiety rising in her body. She was never part of any war, nor did she understand what it entails. But seeing them now, these people were ready to die for her. She was the prize for the winner. Realizing she was so close to death as never before, the fear quickly got hold of her.

The war started.

A panic attack hit her hard. She used it as fuel for her magic. And she wiped out almost both armies. Some of the lucky ones were able to escape, but the majority fell quickly. After the battle cries quieted down, she was finally able to calm herself. Seeing the massacre she caused, she raised her priests and some of the soldiers back to their feet. Now, a small army of undead was encircling her. She sent them all on their way to spread the word that the Moon Princess won the war and Lunaria is now safe.

With dead servants listening to her each word, it was now easy to reign as the head of the whole Lunaria kingdom. She attended the wedding with the high priest and then let him die. Now she had the power to order the entire kingdom. The main church and her tower in Silverhold were repaired. She furnished her home properly and asked for proper servants. The dead ones were useful, but they were never entertaining companions. She wanted someone alive to speak to. People were always so full of emotions.

Emotions were her source of power. But sometimes, there were not many feelings in her. As she was using them as fuel, they burned quickly. She wondered if she could use the emotions of others for her magic. She started her small experiment. A few gulps of her blood, and she was able to use even alive people as she pleased.

To keep the army of undead and living servants under her control, she frequently had to give them a lot of her blood. To be able to continue with that, she invented another spell. She mixed the blood of the living with a few drops of her own. She was now so powerful, her blood was able to take over theirs. Now she returned the blood contaminated with her power to them, and they were obedient.

She needed to build a strong army of both priests and warriors to be able to defend in case of upcoming attacks from other countries. Priests could also spread around Lunaria and other countries to spread the word about her. And she hired multiple servants to live comfortably.

But she needed another husband on her side to be able to represent the Lunaria properly. Even though she was the holy saintess who won them the war, this world was not looking eagerly at women trying to rule. But this time, she will marry someone she will really like. And she already had an ideal adept on her mind.

A new servant entered her tower after knocking on the door. He held a silver tray in his hands with her breakfast. And a golden chalice full of blood. He did not know, though he is the one who will drink it today.

She looked at him, expecting to see a familiar face, but it was a stranger she did not recognize. But he was attractive. Tall and slender, his dark hair contrasted with his pale skin. His purple eyes were like gemstones. Too bad he was just a servant.

“They told me you asked for me, Your Grace,” he said, slightly bowing his head.

“Is your name Kasian?” she asked him.

His lips parted: “Yes.”

“Where are you from?”

“I am coming from a small village in Lunaria, Your Grace.”

“How did you end up in Silverhold?” she asked, taking the silver tray from him.

“I disappointed my family and was thrown away from my home, Your Grace. I needed to work to earn my living and heard you are accepting every poor soul seeking salvation.”

“What did you do?” she asked, taking the golden chalice full of blood into her hand.

He raised his head, a soft smile on his lips: “I fell in love with the married woman, Your Grace.”

Selena looked at him with her blue eyes. Her cheeks were turning red.

“Aren't you afraid of speaking about such matters before the holy saintess?” she taunted him, lips curled in a smile.

Kasian gazed at her. The Moon Princess was a pretty young woman, but he was not attracted to her at all. There was a heavy stench of blood and death around her. And yet, he needed to get her on his side.

“Love is never a sin,” he replied. “Although my heart was broken by the unrequited love, I never once regretted my feelings.”

She should be repulsed by his behaviour, but she was enchanted. Pure maidens were always so easy.

“To welcome you as my servant, I would like to give you this red wine,” she said, raising the golden chalice in her hand.

Kasian took it from her. He looked into the chalice. This was no red wine. He was not stupid. And they already heard rumors about Blood Princess. He raised the chalice to his lips and gulped it down.

“I like obedient servants,” the saintess said.

She was not behaving like a saintess at all. She was behaving like a devil itself.

“Visit me this evening and we will drink more wine,” she said. “You will see how delicious it is during the night, when the moon is shining high up in the sky.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Kasian turned and left the tower. He stepped down and went to the quarters, where female servants worked. He found Mira there, taking the big, heavy basket full of laundry to wash.

“Hey, you there!” she shouted at him. “Help me bring this to the well. This needs to be washed today.”

“Yes, My Lady,” Kasian said, smirking.

Coming closer to her, he gracefully took the heavy basket as if it weighed nothing. They both moved to the inner courtyard, where the big well was.

“I heard she already called you into her tower. Did you find something out?” Mira whispered.

“It is as you expected. I think she is the one raising the dead.”

“How was she?”

“She stinks of blood and death. I thought it was because of the undead she raised, but being next to her, I think there is something else. It feels like she is also dead, but that is not right.”

“Did she do something to you?” Mira asked him.

“She gave me blood in a chalice.”

“Oh, so she is controlling people with her blood, after all. Nasty. Did you spit it out already?”

“Not yet.”

Mira looked around them to see if there were many people there. Seeing the courtyard was now empty, she just moved one finger and Kasian instantly leaned forward, throwing out the blood.

He spat out the last drops of blood and wiped the corners of his mouth. “Could you, like, inform me in advance when you are planning to put a magical two fingers into my throat? I don’t think her blood would be working on me, anyway.”

“She cannot control you, because you are my servant. But I just wanted to be sure,” Mira said. “Anything else?”

“There is indeed something else,” Kasian said.

“What? Tell me.”

“She was asking about my name. She reacted strangely, asking me where I am from. I found it suspicious.”

“Your name is not common here.”

“And yet she did not question me further when I lied to her that I am from a village in Lunaria. She would know that if she were from this kingdom.”

“Do you think she is the same as us?”

“Too soon to tell. But we need to be careful around her. She seems really powerful.”

“When will she invite me into her tower?”

“Just keep your head down. ”

“But I want to talk with her about the magic she uses. Her undead are full of worms, she is clearly doing something wrong, but she has enough power to control so many! I didn’t come here to work as a slave!”

“You are so impatient! You are getting paid, so how can you be a slave? They are not even as strict as in some other households I saw.”

“I need to at least see her!”

“You will when the right time comes. Anything new from Leo?”

“He is receiving training this week, and then he will be guarding the tower. Then he will be able to meet the saintess.”

“Did he say something about Sanguis? He mentioned it has been behaving strangely since we entered Lunaria.”

“It is a sword born on the battlefield. He did not fight with it since he took it. It is probably getting thirsty. We will need to feed it soon.”

“Too bad you made me throw up all that blood.”