A Court of Heritance and Destiny

Chapter 1 Ikarad

Morning, no matter how long it had been, Ikarad loved the calm morning moments. When he opened his eyes after the night and turned to face the female who shared the bed and held his heart in her hand. Etera, his mate, his heart.

Ikarad opened his eyes and almost cursed himself over the fact that she was gone. Just like she had been for the last two months. The bond in his chest was awake and shimmering, like it had been for the last filthy years.

Morning. He sent the words down it, glad that even if his Daemati powers were limited compared to the rest of his family, they always reached her when she was out on missions. I miss you.

Miss you too. Her voice was just a whisper, wherever she was out on the continent. Five more days, then I am home.

Can't wait. Ikarad got up, pulling the curtains apart to take in the morning light that slowly woke the City of Velaris up. How many days do you need to fly?

Four, I am leaving tomorrow night, Azriel will meet me near the border. Ikarad nodded, happy that his uncle would help her. The same uncle that had taken Etera under his wing, literally, to train her once she had arrived here.

Good, Take care love. He started to dress for the day, the light under layers before downing the leathers. The seven violet Siphons glowed once they connected to his magic, and the twin blades held two more on their hilts.

Born into a sea of power, but while Nyx magic looked and worked like their fathers and mothers. Ikarads worked like the Illyrians magic did. In many ways he was more Illyrian than High Fae. His wings permanent, his ears more round, he loved the wind in a way his brother never fully understood. And even if Nyx was ten years older, it was Ikarad who had been allowed to enter the Blood Rite, and came out on the other side a different male from who he had been when he entered. Now crowned Carynthian, much to his brother's dislike. And with nightmares he never talked about. A warrior, mated to Etera, the Shifter.

The day he found her had been burned into his memory forever.

He and Mor had been to the continent, working on new trade contracts, or Mor was working on the contracts, he was just there as a guard. And on a flight one day, he saw her below him.

White snow stained red by her blood, her red hair like a halo around her head. Ikarad had taken her back to the fortress and asked Mor to Winnow them to the Night Court. And there a six month long healing journey had started. She had been unconscious for the first months, as the wounds on her back and arms refused to heal. Faebane had been embedded in whatever tool her tormentors had used. Once she finally woke up, Ikarad had stayed at her side, helping the healers clean and dress the wounds, at points he had seen the white bone of her shoulder blades and ribs. Ikarad had held her hand as she cried in pain, and at some point the bond between them just formed, slowly, steadily. He didn't even know until she had healed and he saw her standing next to Azriel, talking about the possibilities for her to stay in the court.

His instinct had hit him like a punch to the gut, Etera had understood what it was too. The two had just accepted it, and a new era in their lives had started.

Ikarad opened the door to their home, a small, simple house near the river. Etera loved the mundane parts of life, normalcy between her missions and Ikarad had grown to love them too. He took off flying, heading towards his parents home, the large estate he had grown up in.

Life was good, half a century of peace and quiet. Something his father liked to point out to Nyx who mostly had taken care of court business during this time. Ikarad had no interest in any of that. Nyx could rule the Court, Ikarad would be his General. Etera the New Spymaster. Orion... Ikarad saw the Darkbringer outside of the Estate.