Dance of Wolf and Raven: Prologue
Hi guys, this is the new Romance serial novel I've started featuring our mother, Adelina!
There'll be new chapters every Friday on Patreon, that are already scheduled and primed to release using Patreon's scheduler thingy every Mountain Standard Time 4pm.
There's currently 11k words written to give me a head start, of which 2 chapters are released.
A lot of it came about due to the worldbuilding spree I went on last year, and since I didn't want any of it to go to waste nor include it in the main game cause of bloat or fatigue, thought this was a good idea to do it!
So without further ado, here's the prologue!
Dance of Wolf and Raven: Prologue
It is the winter of 599 A.L.
Almost 600 hundred years have passed since the Belthean people landed upon these shores.
600 years After Landfall.
600 years of blood and conquest.
Today, just weeks before the turning of a new century, the continent of Nareth is unified by way of the spear.
And her father is to blame.
"Princess?" A familiar voice whispers worriedly.
Adelina, youngest princess of the Belthean Empire turns to her lady-in-waiting, Lady Valerie. She waits for her to continue.
Lady Valerie fidgets, her eyes looking everywhere within the carriage except the princess, who offers the nervous girl a hand on her knee. "Speak Valerie, there's no one else in here but us two."
The words and gesture seems to calm her down, though she still gulps before asking, "Was the empress able to…?"
Princess Adelina rolls her eyes as she crumbles back into her seat, a heavy and long sigh escaping her lips. She slumps further and further into her seat before Lady Valerie giggles and helps her sit straight again. But the worried look remains on her face.
Hesitantly, she places her hand upon that of the princess's. Gripping softly, she whispers, "Wrinkling the dress would only serve to anger your father, my lady," she says this sadly, her expression that of defeat.
And defeat it may have well been.
Her mother had tried protesting her daughter's marriage to the Butcher's son, both in public and in private. But her father wanted this alliance badly enough that her mother was ignored and overruled.
Thus, she was betrothed to the prince of a kingdom who had betrayed their allies and sided with her father in his invasion of the western territories.
If that wasn't bad enough, the father of the prince she was to marry had become infamous for massacring entire noble families in a single bloody night. He was known as a cold and emotionless man, ruthless in his decision making. And she was to marry that man's son.
Princess Adelina grips her dress in anger, causing Lady Valerie who notices to bring her close for an embrace.
Again, the princess stifles a sob, refusing to let tears come out. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't cry.
She had been alone for too long. Abandoned by even her dear brothers who'd always protected her in the imperial palace.
Her eldest brother, Gareth, had fought alongside her betrothed in the war against Lymark, and she had waited for any letter of his to reassure her. Or perhaps express his support in canceling this arranged marriage.
Anything.
But none had arrived.
She didn't know what to make of it, even Daerin her second eldest brother hadn't been able to communicate with her. No one had.
Alone in the capital she had waited.
Her brothers off to wage the war started by her father, later followed by her mother once rumors of a marriage were being whispered at court.
Those shrews for sisters had already married before the invasion to stabilize the empire.
It wasn't long after that she was ordered to ready herself for marriage, but not with a high lord from the empire, or someone she at least liked or knew how to handle.
But with a foreign prince from a kingdom that had betrayed its ally.
She was to be an offering of peace sent by her father, like something that could be given.
Like an object.
The iron inside her heats again.
She straightens herself, gently pushing Lady Valerie off her. She nods thanks to her lady-in-waiting.
'That's right…' she thinks to herself. 'That man pretends I don't exist until he needs a daughter to marry off.'
Her eyes narrow as she focuses on controlling the growing storm within her.
Her mind is set.
The emperor of the greatest nation ever forged, calling for the forgotten and unwanted princess to arrange her marriage without an honor guard. Without scores of retainers. With only one lady-in-waiting, who volunteered.
Only a temporary escort was given.
A single carriage, with a single cart loaded with whatever she could fit inside it.
Lady Valerie had tried defending her father when the journey started.
"Who would dare?" She said.
The princess knew deep within that it made sense. That the lands were now pacified, now moreso than in any other time period.
Who would dare face against the emperor of all Nareth? The king of kings, the Goddess' representative on the mortal plane, and most important of all… the wielder of one of two most powerful weapons in all creation, A'luthean Armor. Handed down throughout the generations by her family, it has impacted the world in numerous ways.
Depending on who is asked, it is either a curse or blessing that only a single member of the imperial bloodline could possess that artifact at a time, as it bonds with that person for life. No other, even with the Ravenea bloodline running through their veins, can use the holy relic crafted by the Goddess Herself for Her Champions during the A'lethic Era.
Her ancestor, Garland the Conqueror, founded the Belthean Empire with it.
Her great-great-grandfather, Emperor Saldwin, used it to bring a nation to its knees, and forced another to become "Imperial Friend and Ally".
These and other such acts forced the Archpriestess to ban the use of such relics in wars, or to proclaim excommunication upon those who broke the decree.
'But how could the Archpriestess force an imperial dynasty to not use its most powerful weapon?' was a question she had asked her tutors when learning of this proclamation.
Excommunication meant losing the accounts, support, legitimacy, and administration provided by the church, but was it enough to stop her family from imposing its will?
She knew it wasn't.
Princess Adelina feels her mind racing once more as she pictures executing her plan, and a small smile sneaks its way across her face.
"Valerie," she rests her left elbow the side of the carriage as she gets her lady-in-waiting's attention, "what can you tell me about the kingdom, or more specifically, my husband-to-be?"
Lady Valerie smiles at the informal use of her name, though she quickly regains her professional demeanor, "Why, you should kno-"
The princess cuts her off, "I'm only refreshing what I know, don't worry," she responds quickly waving a hand dismissively, "Please, think of it as an exercise or an escape from the daily boredom."
Her counterpart rubs her thighs as she knew all too well how uncomfortable it was to travel via carriage for so long a distance.
"Okay…" she replies, a bit absentmindedly as she begins to recount all that she'd learned over the journey to aid the princess.
With smile still in place, the princess innocently presses on, "What's so special about my betrothed?"
Lady Valerie, either ignoring or not catching the tone, answers immediately, "Why, that'd be either his eyes and hair, his status as the future king of Argent, or the fact he belongs to the only other A'luthean bloodline in Nareth."
Princess Adelina excitedly claps her hands, only to lean forward towards her friend, "And what exactly does that mean?"
A knot of worry forms on Lady Valerie's eyebrows as she carefully answers, "… it means he will be given his family's complete set of Blessed Armor, given to their line by the Goddess Herself, the A'luthean Armor of Argent?"
The princess laughs at her friend's textbook answer, "Oh Val! How long did you practice memorizing all that?"
Lady Valerie however saw the change in the princess' face when she gave her answer. "Lina… what exactly are you planning?"
Princess Adelina slowly sits back into her seat, making herself comfortable. "Nothing… just happy to hear my match is of such a Blessed bloodline!"
The smile on her face however, doesn't reach her eyes.
'The Archpriestess could only stop the imperial family from using their A'luthean Armor with the threat of another,' she thinks to herself as she leans back on her seat, her head on the puffed headrest. 'The other belonging to a royal family on the other side of the continent, in the Kingdom of Argent.'
She was to be the wife and queen of the one who would inherit such power, power enough to equal her father.
Princess Adelina was to become Queen Adelina. Here in this foreign kingdom she would be treated with respect. She would ensure it. Never again will she have to be under her father's control, never again will she be discarded and used in the negotiations of men.
And all she had to do was seduce her soon-to-be husband.
The plan going forward is this. For the sfw thread, at the end of the month ill be posting the Patreon version of the revised demo.
The NSFW KaE Thread will receive the Silverhill Martial Route four weeks after the Patreons receive it.
No deadlines will be publicly given.
I'll be posting and releasing more things as time goes on, thank you!
