Book of Aniela: Sins of Amphaesia

Prologue

"This is not my child," Mathias stated.

Liana did not respond.

Mathias looked at her. Her green eyes were fearful, but her posture was strong as she held her newborn.

"This is not my child."

She wished she could argue. She wished she could say something to prove it was his child. But Mathias was a mage. He could see the aura of the child. The aura did not show that the child wasn't his--all humans are different and have different auras, heritage had no effect on it. But what he saw was enough.

The child began to cry at Mathias' tone.

Liana rocked the baby, talking to her sweetly in an attempt to calm her daughter. Mathias started pacing, his thoughts raced. First he was hurt. How dare she have an affair outside of their marriage? Then he was scared. Not for himself. Not for his wife or her child. He was scared for the country. If any other mage saw this child, if word got out, it would guarantee at least chaos, and in the worst case scenario--bloodshed.

He stopped pacing. He took a deep breath, exhaled, then took another. He walked out of their living room where Liana stood with her child, and into his study. Unsure what to make of this, Liana sat down at their dining table, silent. She heard shuffling, things falling, Mathias cursing. Then he came back with his hunting knife, a book, and a bag of dried herbs.

Liana held her baby closer to her chest at the sight of the knife, but then relaxed. She knew he would never hurt her or her baby. No matter how angry he was, Mathias was a good man. She looked at him as he started a spell.

He glanced down at the book he was holding, a book Liana had never seen before in their house. Once he found what he was looking for, he took the knife and forced the tip into his thumb, just enough to draw blood. He took out some of the dried herbs from his bag: sage and thyme.

A protection spell? Liana thought.

She watched as Mathias rolled the herbs together with the blood from his thumb. He came over and looked at Liana expectantly. She held out her daughter towards him and he rubbed the odd mixture into her forehead. He watched, seeing her aura change from the odd, flashing blue it was, to a duller, calm, copper glow, a lot more like his aura.

He took a deep breath, finally letting some tension drain from his shoulders. He made eye contact with Liana and she held it. He wanted to ask her why she had done this, but it didn't matter. It was already done.

Instead he asked her what did matter. Because this--this simple child-- wasn't supposed to be possible.

"How?"

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I will be publishing new chapters every Saturday morning!

I have big plans for this book.