Prologue
The servants adore him.
Blaine is a friendly, sweet child, never too wild, never too demanding, and doesn't abuse his status like his older brother sometimes does, treating the people who serve him like so much dirt. He says please, and thank you, and picks up after himself.
His teachers like him.
The young prince is eager to learn, they say, and treats his tutors with great respect. He is punctual to his lessons and never complains about too much work. He excels at history, music and art, and is competent with a sword and a good rider who never abuses his animals.
Cooper, the crown prince, treats him with the neglective affection that is the way of older brothers, tousling his hair one moment and shoving him away the next. Sometimes he looks at him with an endless sadness and tenderness and something that is almost guilt, before challenging him to a race and then scolding him for not winning.
He has no friends. There are no more siblings, and the other children at the castle have been taught from the cradle that he is the prince, so bowing before him and treating him with utmost deference is second nature to them. He treats them with friendliness, but not with friendship.
His father is the king. He is a tall, imposing figure on a throne, and Blaine bows before him just like anyone else in the kingdom. He calls him "my king", or "sir", and sometimes has the feeling of having failed him in some way. Sometimes, very rarely, the king lays his hand on Blaine's shoulder and gives him a tight, short smile.
His mother has not touched him since the day of his birth.
He is fifteen years old when he finds out why. He is summoned before his father, not to the throne room but to his living quarters. The door to the next room is firmly closed, but he can hear his mother playing the harpsichord. It is his greatest pleasure as well, and he often wishes to talk to her about it, or play together, but the queen almost always leaves the room when he enters it.
It is the longest time he has spent in his father's presence except for official banquets and the like. He cries, and he rages, and he knows for sure that in this he has failed his father, but for once, he doesn't care.
Back in his own chambers, he gets drunk for the first time in his life. He stays in his bedroom for three days. Afterwards, he has brought to him all the books the royal library has to offer on religion and history and mythology, and then he goes there himself and gets those books he wasn't brought.
And he sees that it's true. His family has ruled the country for generations. Their power is of divine origin and lies in a sacred amulet that is dedicated to the moon god. A replica is proudly shown in the royal temple, but the original is safely stored away in the treasury. Without it, it is said, the royal family's power would wane and they would surely be overthrown.
But there is something else they have to do, something that is not known to anyone outside the royal family. For the moon is about change; it is always changing itself, waxing and waning, and the world changes with it. For somethng to remain constant, for one family to always rule without challenge, without unrest, it requires a sacrifice.
Every hundred years, a royal child is taken to the Isle of the Moon. He is bathed in the sacred pond beneath the full moon, when there is no wind so the waters are completely still and the moon's reflection is clearly seen. Then his throat is cut, so that his blood is absorbed by the amulet and the power stays with it, with the family.
It is the sole purpose of Blaine's birth. One hundred years will have passed when he reaches his twenty-first year. Then he will be put on a ship, make the long voyage to the Isle, and have his throat cut to make sure his family keeps its power.
