A War Of Traitors( ARTK, Book 2)

Chapter 29

Ferdrar 5th, 3329 A.G

In her sixteen years of life, Lunette had been called beautiful more times than she could count- but her child was something else. It'd been hard to admit at first because of how he'd been conceived, but his eyes made most who looked at him fall in love. She no longer saw his eyes, only her son's.

She'd put him in a basket on a chair so she could continue with her work, and would glance up from scrubbing the Lady Ade's floor every few moments. A few times- she'd caught him biting on Ade's table and laughed. Her son was a source of happiness in an otherwise difficult life- the only thing that kept he going some days. Her and her elder brother Pierce- who she'd named him after, both worked every single day to make sure he would never want for anything; never know the same struggle they did.

  Her hands bled so much some days that she had to wrap them- but it was worth it. For him, it always would be.

  She could not give herself a break. For people born as commoners, that simply was not how life worked.

  Each day, she ran on three to five hours of sleep. Each day, there were moments where the pain in her hands was almost too intense- and each day she'd get over it. Depending on who finished their work first, her or Pierce would start dinner when they got home- usually with whatever broth was available and beans with vegetables and potatoes. They bought what was the cheapest, as neither had the time to garden for their food. Pierce had talked about quitting servitude to become a farmer so they could take some of what he grew- but had not acted on it so far. Eventually, she would get the younger Pierce down for bed- and attempt to sleep herself.

  Normally, that would just end in her staring at the sky for two hours as she thought of what kind of life her son would have. Last night had been no different, so she yawned frequently as she scrubbed the floor.

  Her son began crying- so she put her cloths down for only a moment to go to him. She'd fed and changed him only a few hundred moments ago, but the crying had become a regular thing since the teeth started to come in. The common witch had said it was early, but nothing to be concerned about- and that she could give her herbs for the pain. Lunet bought what she could, but both her and her brother together could only afford so much.

  As she picked him up, she heard footsteps down the hallway and tensed up. She tried to stay out of the Lady Ade's way because of how poorly she was known to treat servants, but they'd had a few run ins. If she heard the babe crying, Ade would-

  It was Ade. Lunette cursed in her head.

"Gods will you shut that thing up- What did you let it do to my table?!" Ade's yelling voice was somehow more annoying than her normal one.

  One.

  There was one small tooth mark on the side of her table, where most would never see or even think to look. Lunet thought of many words to say to Ade, but spoke none of them.

"I'm sorry, Mi'lady." She said instead of the words that came to mind. "I looked away for only a moment. It is...difficult to watch a child and clean up after someone else at the same time."

"I do not care how difficult you think it is, if I catch that babe eating my good wooden things again I'll-"

  "You'll what, sister?" The high lord Andrew's sudden voice in the doorway startled them both. He'd developed the most silent footsteps of the entire family- to a point it was almost creepy. "I'll tell  you what you'll do- nothing. Mother may have tolerated it for so long, but if I hear you threaten a servant again- or a babe, I'll take your head off and have it displayed. Am I clear?"

  Ade's mouth opened and closed a few times. Lunet tried not to smile. Lunette worked for the Beckett family as a whole, but she'd never considered Ade her Lady. She'd always put more effort into cleaning for the kinder ones; Noah and Ysabelle, Andrew and their mother. She looked on as Ade left her own chambers so she wouldn't have to answer to her brother, and then she let that smile come to her face.

"Forgive her." The lord Andrew says. "She may be intolerable at times.... but unfortunately she is still my sister."

"You should marry her."Lunette jested, ignoring footsteps down the hallway. "Like the ancient Ashhands- would keep the bloodline together and give her that small amount of extra power she longs for."

Andrew snorted. "Oh, I fear nothing would make her happy. She simply isn't the type. I wonder if-"

The fellow servant that stood in the doorway then was one Lunette recognize- a man only a few years older than her who occasionally finished work earlier and would come to help her with hers.

From the look on his face then, however- that was far from the case.

"Lord? A messenger from House Tomhend has arrived with a letter. I believe.... I believe you'll want to read this." There was a look in his eyes that Lunet recognized; pure fear for the future.

Andrew thanked him, took the letter in his hands- and excused himself to the hallway. As he read it his face fell faster than he thought possible.

High Lord Andrew Beckett Of Kaeles,

It is with great displeasure I must inform you of a certain event. Given that your sister is with them at the camp now, without the comforts of walls- I believed you needed to know.

Voryn has gone through the trouble of creating new Bluefire Dragons. They have used them to burn and melt House Ashhand to the ground, along with all residents who were left behind when Nara Ashhand left to conquer Bracari.

As far as we've been told, there were no survivors.

-Lady Sana of House Tomhend

Andrew was shaking by the time he finished reading. This was a new era indeed. One of bloodshed and destruction that none could hope to survive.

The last time anyone had gotten their hands on a bluefire dragon, it ended with the destruction of ancient temples- the death of hundreds of thousand of innocents, the burning of farmlands- and now all of that had come back. There was not much he could do until they got involved in the war that was certain to come one way or another, but he would try to think of something.

And so while on his way to his chambers- he was only partially aware of bumping into Ysabelle and their mother.

"Good gods you look paler than usual-" Ysabelle's eyebrows furrowed. "What has happened?"

At a loss for words, Andrew passed the letter over. Ysabelle's face fell as fast as his- though she recovered faster.

"If this letter is truthful-" She shrugged. "We're all fucked. There's no use in fighting it."

——
Sooooo Lunette was an extremely minor character in book one, but very, Very important to the sequel. You'll come to find out why pretty soon👀