Évrard D'Aboville has been the lethal left hand of King Sabien Arceneaux for centuries. Using his deadly skills, he's indiscriminately killed and maimed at his master's behest. He had never once been disobedient. That is until he was asked to kill a...
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Sabien Arceneaux-The king
They call me observant. That's not particularly true. People are just easy to read-They bleed emotions even in the way they drink their coffee. Strigoi are no different. We have existed for an eternity yet change so little.
Évrard is much the same. So, when he was not himself this caught my attention. He made some feeble attempts at secrecy, and I respected his right to privacy, but he began to neglect his duties which became worrisome.
He left the mansion daily, sometimes even at high noon but to where, I knew not. He claimed to have a lover and while outwardly he behaved like a man besotted, I knew otherwise. After all, we've known each other for hundreds of years and we were lovers for decades. I know Évrard as intimately as I know myself.
He'd always been easy to read, an open book. Most found him too direct, far too blunt of word and deed. But that is precisely what brought him into my service all those years ago. I smiled as I recall our first meeting. It was sometime around 550 BCE give or take. Forgive the vagueness, I'm old and time was measured very differently back then.
I'd been an immortal for several centuries when I came upon him. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I'll never forget the way his olive skin gleamed in the dimming afternoon light. His long dark hair matted to his skin with sweat as he practiced his sword skill on the palace grounds.
I've never forgotten his true name, although he has. Shaya, the illegitimate son of the king. Quick-witted and sharp-tongued, he managed to escape the fate of most royal bastards and rose to become one of the fiercest warriors of the king's guard. The youngest Lord Commander of the Ten Thousand Immortals. The elite force of the Persian army.
His unmatched physical skills were enhanced hundreds of times by his dark gifts which he used to deadly effect. Besides the use of weapons, his tactical and analytical mind was just as deadly. You would underestimate Évrard at your own peril.
Rather than having this weapon set against me by my enemies as several factions warred for control of territory at the time. I decided to wield him instead and turned Évrard. He has been with me since that day, becoming the reliably sharp edge of the sword that are my Black Knights.
