Prologue

The castle was alive with the sound of chatter and music. Swirls of gowns and the delicate sounds of feet dancing away to the rhythm of the music. I took it all in, a soft smile on my lips, as I swept my glance across the ballroom.
My mother did love balls, and she was reverend across the kingdoms for it. Even if it was just another thing that the whole world admired and loved her for.
Today marked my twentieth fifth birthday, and my parents did not hold back. Not when my birth fell on the day our world was freed from the Valg. The day all beings in this world finally were able to breathe as the dark stain of their presence was removed from it.
I was born five years after that battle. The youngest of four.
My dad always said we were their gift, the reason why they had fought, bled and sacrificed so much. We were their joy and their grief. And they never held back to show us how much. Even if shadows of their past still marred some of their actions, we all knew they were born out of love, and out of a need to protect.
I was so into my thoughts; I only realized my mother had grabbed me and was dragging me now to the dance floor with a smile on her face.

"It is your birthday dear, come join us!" Her face was lit up with so much happiness, her turquoise eyes were glowing.
I smiled back, and quickly took my place amongst my friends and family.
It was a happy and peaceful time; nobody ever expected it to break... But it did.

As the merriment neared its end, only close friends and family stood with us. Something shifted in the world, like a door was thrown wide open, ripped from his hinges.
I saw all the elders in the room stiffen and tense, but none more so than my mother. She doubled over as a crown of fire appeared on her brow, along with a wyrdmark.
As she righten herself I could see the panic and fear in her eyes, she opened her mouth, but a deafening whisper filled the room before she could get a word in.
Nameless is my price...

Something within me coiled in fear at that voice, and at the sight of my parents. The desperation in their face, they turned to my siblings and I.
Before they could move, the world shifted and bent. The floor from under me was swept, and suddenly I was falling.

Time seemed to slow down, and as I looked at my mother, she screamed out my name.

"Sam!" Her scream was one of despair and anguish and I had no time to react, as I fell. I expected to crash on the ground, but the impact never came. The world blurred around me, and I fell.

Nothingness filled my ears as I crossed darkness, starlight and the void itself. My mind was trying to keep up with everything, trying to understand what had just happened, but the answer that it came up with, it could not be. It was impossible.
I fell, and fell, until suddenly I fell sideways, as if I was yanked by an invisible force. Something in my soul called out, and briefly I got the image of shadows, twirling and snapping shadows. As fast as the image it was gone in the next second, and I was slammed into the ground.

I gasped for breath as my senses were overwhelmed. Unknown and familiar sounds and scents filled my nose and ears. I could not make sense of where I was. A forest stretched wide before me, pines reaching out to the sky as snow fell all around me.
I could peek at three towering mountains on the horizon, the one in the center bigger than the other three, and it gave off an eerie aura.
I shivered, the cold biting into me. I made for the magic that slumbered within me but found nothing. Panicking I reached again but came up with nothing.

For a moment I did not understand, until I saw my hands, the unnatural glow and strength was gone. I had shifted into my human form without knowing. I gave out a sigh of relief and prepared myself to shift, until I felt it. An unforgiving stare bored me.
Tensing I turned where I felt that gaze.
Up in one of the branches of the pine trees that surrounded me, was a male, dark membrane wings poked out of his back. The dark form fitting leathers were filled with muscle and strength, shadows twirling and snapping in his shoulders.

With ease he jumped from the branch, wings flaring wide- almost double his length- he glided until he stood right in front of me.

I did not let the fear in me show, not as I trembled with the cold, and felt bare beneath that stare. I would not be afraid.

"What is a human man doing here?" His voice seemed to be carved from the sweetest dreams, or the most terrifying nightmares, I could not pick.

Black hair fell at both sides of his face, deep hazel eyes regarded me calculating, assessing. Golden-brown skin poked out from those leathers, seven shining blue stones dotted those leathers and seemed to thrum with power. A few lines of dark ink showed around his neck. In short, he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, but that did not ease the fear in me.

"W-where am I?" I asked, my voice steady. I fixed my posture as I asked and tensed my shoulders.
The man's eyes flickered in amusement for a moment, before they settled.

"You are very far up in Night Court territory, human"
I had no idea what he meant, and it seemed to show in my face.

"Why are you here?" He pressed, his voice gaining a bit of steel.

"I do not know" I shot back, matching his tone.

This time he raised an eyebrow.

"What is your name?" he asked me, regulating his tone once again, trying to sound calm, friendlier.
I would have bought it if I was stupid, but I was not.

"Is it not common to introduce yourself, before asking a stranger his name?" I told him, trying to keep my fear out of my voice.
Again, his eyes flashed with amusement.
"Azriel" He replied in clipped words.
"Sam" I told him.

He smiled at me, but there was nothing warm in it.
"Well, Sam. What am I going to do with you?"