A Court of Three Stars

Prologue

501 years ago, Golden Palace, Aelius

Leur

Pain.

What exactly was it besides nerves firing? Then again, what was anything besides impulses and signals traveling along pathways in our brains? The whole world, everything that existed, every person met and hand shook, every color I've seen and move I've made- all of it was just an electrical signal traveling up my nerves.

And judging by the scars on my body, I knew pain well.

At least, I assumed that I did. Yet, regardless of what I could remember, I was certain I had never felt anything like this before.

"Good job." A strong voice said below me, two hands braced on my thighs, "Keep going."

I was being ripped in two, and this bitch wanted me to keep going?

Another hand was brushing a damp cloth across my face, the coolness of it was my only distraction from the wrenching, burning pain. I was screaming, horrid, strained grunts and forcing breath down into my lungs. Soft candlelight burned in the room, flickering lights and bustling workers all around me. At minimum, they had not forced me to give birth in my cell. I supposed I should be grateful, that I was on a real bed, with real linens, real pillows. Perhaps I could have enjoyed if it weren't for the pain and the horror of all of this.

"Is this over yet?" A harsh, shrill voice said from the doorway.

"You cannot be in here." Someone answered her.

"It's been over a day." The other voice snapped at her, "How long does it take to push out a babe?"

"As long as she needs." The voice snapped, "Now, leave this poor girl alone. We will tell you when it's over."

A groan of frustration, and then the slamming of a door- and then I was screaming again. The pain crashing into me again like a wave, swallowing me whole, undoing me down to the marrow of my bones. One of my hands braced on the wooden post of the bed, a crack as it splintered under my hands.

"Good. Good." They urged, "Keep going. Keep pushing."

"I'm sorry." I cried, the pain subsiding for a moment, "I'm sorry I broke your bed."

"Shush, little one." The voice next to my head spoke, a woman with dark skin and beautiful curly hair, eyes such a bright shade of blue that they looked like twin stars, "Shush, it's all alright. You do whatever you need to get through this."

Her beauty was not what had truly struck me about the female at my side. It was not her remarkable eyes, not her smile or her voice, but her kindness. It was so rare here, in this hellhole I had come to. The King had not been kind to me, none of his Generals, none of the guards who had been watching over me for the past months. It was so rare these days, maybe my whole life, to see true kindness in someone's eyes.

It was only a reminder that this was not a world, not a circumstance that I wanted to bring a child into.

"I can't." I cried, "I can't do this."

Pain spread again, a fire that was slowly beginning to spread, slowly beginning to consume me. I could barely force air into my lungs, but the woman was already speaking to me, already holding me, "You can do this. You will."

"I don't- I don't even know how I got here." I barely forced out the words, "I do not know whose child this is, I do not even know myself. I am nothing, nothing but a name."

But the woman was holding my cheeks, forcing me to look into those entrancing blue eyes. And I saw nothing but honesty in them.

"You are a mother, Leuruna." The woman's words seemed to cut through me, to cut through the pain and sorrow eating away at my core, "At this moment, that is all that matters. You are a mother, and you must do this for your child."