Born For Tragedy: Part 14
Series Index
She was tragedy. Nothing except death, fear and pain followed in her wake. When she was young, she was beaten. Now she’s the one doing the beating as an assassin. A mysterious stranger comes to her, paying an absurd amount of money for her to kill Beron Vanserra, and protect the eldest son until the job is done. She stumbles across a story much similar to her own, and knows what must be done.
a/n: so, tbh, my motivation for this story has been dying (with less than 2 chapters to write? why brain) but im going to try and power through it and write the ending. anyway, figured id update yall lol
i have up to part 17/20 finished, just gotta get 18-20 finished 😔😔
also ill be honest, i didnt expect the route this chapter took despite having it outlined. i just let it go lmAo and it turned out pretty good i think?
finally, im on vacation all of today (this is queued lol) until thursday so i won't be able to respond to your lovely comments until then! nevertheless, i hope you enjoy :D
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When Valda awoke, she practically launched herself out of the bed, breathing hard and eyes blown wide as she remembered what she had to do today. She had to get out now. She wouldn’t be caught dead in front of the High Lord of the Night Court. He’d snap and she’d be bloody mist.
So she quickly reached for the clothing she had on hand– all black and strapped on the weapons she’d had strapped on her for the ball.
There was a knock on the door as she finished the last tie on her boots and she practically leaped out of her skin.
“Come in,” Valda called, standing to glance around her to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything stupid. She’d winnow to her little hideout and gather most of her materials in the bags there and then go to Redwood and complete her task there before she came back to the House late at night.
“I’ll be honest, I thought you would still be asleep,” Eris drawled from the door.
Valda turned to look at him, already outfitted in fancy court attire. “I won’t be caught dead with that monster around,” she growled.
“Rhysand?” Eris asked. “I suppose that’s an accurate way to describe him.”
Valda felt near catatonic still being in the Forest House with Rhysand on his way. “I’ve got to leave, I’ll see you later tonight-”
“Wait,” Eris called as she moved past him.
She paused for a moment to turn back to him. “What?”
Eris smiled softly. “Stay safe,” he said. “And Rhys isn’t supposed to be here until noon. He’s only here for the afternoon. You’re okay.”
Valda nodded, taking one deep, calming breath. She felt more focused.
“Also, I think you’re forgetting a letter on the bedside table,” Eris pointed out.
Valda perked up and turned back before groaning. “I’m a dumbass,” she said as she retrieved the unmarked letter. Just a wax seal kept it closed, and even that was just black with no imprint. “Right, see anything else I’m forgetting?”
“I think you’re good to go. I’ll see you later,” Eris replied. “Stay safe.”
“An assassin’s life is never safe,” Valda said before she walked out the door. She marched herself out of the House, sneaking past servants before she was freed from the building.
A swirl of shadow distracted her and she narrowed her eyes as she walked down the side of the House. Then she saw a male. An Illyrian with hazel eyes and blue glowing stones. Valda held her breath as she recognized the shadowsinger of the Night Court. Fuck, she thought. She had to warn Eris about the spy who seems to not have noticed her yet, but also not get caught. This male, she knew, was a spymaster and an elite one at that. She didn’t want to get caught here, which might prove difficult due to a literal shadowsinger being here..
The male turned suddenly and Valda tensed, shoving her magic over her head like a hood.
The shadowsinger’s blue jewels, siphons, all seven of them, glowed threateningly. “Reveal yourself,” he ordered.
Valda glanced at the window to her right briefly, remembering a door that led into the room just around the corner and could be locked very easily. It might lead her directly into the guard’s lounge but she had no choice here.
Valda didn’t waste a second and turned and ran.
The shadowsinger didn’t shout but she heard crunching behind her on the leaves.
She opened the door, slipped through and then shut it. She turned the knobs for all three locks there. Then she turned toward the empty broom closet, glanced at the window beside the door where the shadowsinger was currently staring at her before sprinting down the hallway connecting the broom closet to the guard lounge.
As she barged into that room, there was a flurry of motion, but she got past them and continued sprinting as fast as she could, heading for the High Lord’s suite.
“It’s an assassin!” One guard screamed.
Not for Eris, she growled to herself as she gathered her magic. You should be more worried about the Night Court crony behind me.
“ERIS!” She yelled loudly as she barged past a group of servants. “GET OUT HERE ERIS VANSERRA!”
A familiar face finally popped out of Eris’s old room. The same place she’d left him. Her room now.
“What?” Eris asked. “What happened? Why do you have 10 guards chasing after you?”
“ASSASSIN!” The guards screamed.
Valda panted for a few seconds before managing to get out the words she needed to. “Shadowsinger. Night Court. Spying. Ran to warn you.”
Eris’s gaze hardened.
“Stop,” he ordered the guards barrelling down the hallway. “She’s not an assassin. She’s my spy.”
The guards paused. “Well why’d she come through the damn broom closet of the lounge?” One guard asked.
“Be more worried about the Night Court shadowsinger on the Forest House premises,” she growled.
“Secure the area,” Eris ordered. “Everyone on high alert and guards at every corner. Inside and out. Report any signs of shadows to me directly.”
“Yes sir,” the guards said. “If you’re sure those shadows aren’t a danger.”
I internally winced. I couldn’t take these off. My cover as Adira would be blown a bit too early.
“Not at all,” Eris replied. “Now go.”
Valda panted for a few more moments before chuckling. “Well that wasn’t the plan.”
“Where was he?”
“West side,” Valda managed despite her dry throat. “Mostly invisible because of those shadows, but armed with all seven of those damn siphons. Very clearly spying.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Wanted to know who I was,” Valda coughed out. “That’s all. I didn’t do anything.”
“Sir!” A servant came running, holding a paper. “A message from the Night Court.”
Eris hummed and took the letter, tearing it open.
Valda peered over his shoulder curiously.
Eris,
I see you found my friend. Tell me who yours is. I’m coming earlier than planned.
- Rhysand
Eris scoffed. “His mind powers are truly interesting to navigate,” Eris mused. “It seems Azriel was here and Rhys told him to do it. Now he wants to know what kind of Night Court High Fae I have here.”
“I need to leave,” Valda cut in. “Just tell them a short story about Adira. It doesn’t say when he’s going to be here. I need to leave.”
“And if he finds you?” Eris asked. “Azriel is likely still near.”
“Once I’m out of the damn wards, I can winnow wherever I want and get my actual materials,” Valda said. “I’ve been chased before. I know what I’m doing.”
Eris tensed a little before sighing. “I’ll glamor you until you’re out of the wards. Walk with you.”
“Fine,” Valda allowed, despite not needing it.
Suddenly, she felt a heavy blanket of magic wrap around her and she stood up straighter, humming.
“So that’s an invisibility glamor? That sucks,” she joked.
“Careful, you can still be heard,” Eris warned and began walking down the hallway.
Valda quieted, stalking in the wake of Eris’s footsteps. Eris sent off a few more orders as they walked, but made it outside. She felt a dramatic increase in the magic of the air and sucked in a breath.
It smelled like burning.
“I’m just strengthening the wards,” Eris whispered. “Meant to do it today before Rhys appeared, but it seems Azriel has taken advantage of the ones my father left.”
Valda didn’t reply, but inwardly wondered how much stronger Eris would be in comparison to Beron if his wards were that weak.
The end of the wards came soon and Valda reached for her magic.
“Stay safe,” Eris told her sternly. “And come here if you get attacked. No matter what.”
Valda briefly nodded, wondering if Eris could see through the glamor briefly before she winnowed straight to her hideout.
She felt the glamor slip away and took a few deep, calming breaths in the wake of the morning’s events.
That shadowsinger better not fuck around with her when she manages to get Eris to let her winnow through the wards. She could snap and he’d be gone.
“Right,” she muttered to herself and scanned the little treehouse before she began rapidly packing things into a backpack. Mostly weapons, some clothing and some other random materials. The treehouse was clean in a matter of 20 minutes.
Not wanting to linger, she pulled on her hood and winnowed to the general location she knew of Redwood. She’d only briefly walked through there for some food while on a brief scouting trip, but it was enough to get her close enough.
She squared her shoulders and marched toward the town, locking her darkness away under a veil inside of her. The town started out as a few stray wooden cabins, but quickly grew into a thriving residential area before she made it to the market square.
There were people talking everywhere and she saw many interesting signs.
A few were calling for Eris’s death and a few in celebration of Beron’s. A very diverse opinion of the lower class so far. Someone suddenly tore down one of the posters for Eris’s death and she blinked as she beheld the small, dirtied boy who’d just plucked it down.
A lord was in the center of the chaos, yelling loudly and dressed in all sorts of finery.
“He must be stopped! He didn’t even search for the assassin who killed him! Eris must be killed!”
“Get him!” A peasant female screamed. “Put him behind bars! Eris is spreading good!”
Valda wasn’t expecting this level of chaos already. Damn, she thought. It wasn’t a riot, but it was more of a mob against the lord of Redwood.
Valda pulled one of the males at the back to the side who’d been yelling briefly and asked in a kind, curious tone, “What’s happening sir?”
“This lord thinks he can call for the death of our High Lord!” The male shouted.
“You like Eris?” Valda asked.
“Of course! He’s lowering taxes for us and paying us more! My family isn’t starving anymore! And this lord thinks he can take it all away from us!”
“Well that’s certainly not fair,” Valda agreed. “Does this entire group like Eris then?”
“Yes!” A female beside the male piped up. “Eris is our savior. For once the farmers and merchants can live in peace!”
Valda grinned. “That is a wonderful thing.”
“Who are you?” The male asked.
“Oh, I’m a messenger for Eris,” Valda said. “The High Lord was looking for some feedback on his new laws. It seems that it’s held high in the hearts of the lower class.”
“Hell yeah it is!” The female shouted, grinning. “You tell that male he’s doing good that’s long since overdue.”
Another person who’d looked back rushed to speak to Valda as well. “My daughter, my daughter! The High Lord has saved my daughter from starvation. He’s-” The rest of what they said couldn’t be heard over more and more people vying for Valda’s attention.
That was all she needed before she winnowed onto a nearby roof, cloaked in darkness in the shade of a large tree.
The mob’s attention refocused on their original goal.
As she relaxed her shield of darkness when she wasn’t spotted, someone spoke to her from the left.
“Eris’s messenger, huh?” A male asked.
Valda jumped, balancing on the top of the roof with an unsheathed dagger in her hands.
“Hey, hey, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he placated. “Chill out man. I was curious.”
Valda narrowed her eyes before settling back down. “Yes, what of it?”
“What’s your name?”
“Classified,” Valda replied on impulse. “Yours?”
“Same,” he chuckled. “Tell me, why were you here?”
“I had a task that’s none of your business.”
“So you’re reporting to Eris tonight then?”
Valda was suspicious of this male. Very, very suspicious. “You don’t need to know what I’m going to do tonight. Leave me alone.”
“Hey, I didn’t do anything,” the male said, using a hand to use a placating hand gesture. “I was just curious about one thing.”
“What?”
“Who killed Beron?”
Valda’s jaw snapped shut. “An assassin,” she ground out. “Goodbye.”
She winnowed away, farther into the forest. She’d gained the information she needed anyway. Now she just had to wait out Rhysand’s visit until night came.
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Waiting seemed like it took forever, but she left the letter on the edge of the Autumn Court with a quick winnow. So it wasn’t all wasted. It just felt that way.
While she waited, she watched the Forest House from the outside before catching sight of those damn shadows within the meeting room. Then she left, resolving to hike through the red, orange and yellow forests instead. Only one person on horseback decided to attempt to question her on why she was there, but she merely swiped a dagger from her thigh and held it visibly while explaining to the person that she wouldn’t tell them and could stay where the hell she pleased. They left. Valda couldn’t help but chuckle a little. People were sometimes too easy to scare.
For a brief second, the thought that Eris wasn’t scared of her flashed her mind. Eris wasn’t afraid of her like the others were. And that little thing felt so prized to have with her.
When the moon hit its height for the night, she finally dared to return to the Forest House.
However, she saw a lot more guards than usual, which wouldn’t have been a problem normally, but some were dressed in black, which wasn’t typical. It was suspicious.
An entire group of black dressed people suddenly darted around a corner and a guard pointed briefly towards them.
Shit, she swore. Invaders? Assassins? Who are they?
She needed to know and needed to stop them. So she threw her pack into a tree and stalked forward, unsheathing her curved blade from her back and holding it tightly in her right hand.
Valda watched the group of enemies grow larger. The guards were mostly unaware of the gathering forces. Valda lunged forwards over the short fence, feeling the wards slide over her. No winnowing out now, she supposed.
“What was that?” One patrolling guard asks his partner. “Did you see someone-”
“Who are you?!” The other yells in my direction.
She holds her breath and stays still behind the bushes.
“Call backup,” one mutters. “We don’t know whether it's an assassin or not and Eris demanded full coverage of anything suspicious.”
“You go, I’ll watch.”
Valda internally growled in frustration. Back up for her and not the group of enemies where the group was almost thirty!? Damn it.
She carefully manipulated her power, placing a small sound barrier between her and the guard before covering herself in the darkness of the night and leaping out of the bushes, onto the grass. Not wanting to waste magic, she removed the sound glamor and lowered her darkness to the ground, knowing her black clothing was enough to cover her in the less lit area.
The enemies now stood tall and faced the Forest House. She saw a glowing magic start at the fingertips of one of them. Fire, she recognized. Autumn Court? But-
A huge fireball was shot at the building. The guards shrieked but Valda ran forward. She covered herself with a magic shield and then took down one person- then a second before they noticed her.
All of them jumped at her. Valda grunted as flame hit her shield from all sides. It wasn’t as bad as Beron’s, but it was wearing her down fast from all the winnowing she’d done for the day. It was fucking midnight. This was insane.
“Get them all!” One guard shouted.
Shit, Valda thought. She was lumped in with the black clothed people. That meant literally everyone was against her. Damned idiot, she thought to herself. She was an idiot. A complete and utter moron.
She yelped as someone shoved against her shield. The tiniest trickle of fear began to boil in her stomach. She’d long since taken her fear and buried it down into the depths of her soul, but she’d fucked up. Badly.
She drowned the area in pure, rolling darkness and escaped the people that caged her in even as swords clanged and people screamed in pain. She threw her darkness around herself as she leaned against a nearby concrete pillar, groaning.
One- no… three people came running at her with a sword swinging. She rolled to the side just in time, unable to muster the energy to shield against a sword. Maybe fire for a while longer but this… this was getting too close. She still had more than 20 people to get out of the area and she was too close. Not as close as Beron had brought her, but too close for comfort.
A dagger was thrown at her and embedded itself in her thigh as she stood. Valda groaned, fear flooding her senses more strongly now. She needed to get out. She’d messed up.
She shoved a shield of darkness around her again, using their lack of senses to her advantage but then-
“IT’S THE SHADOW!” Screamed one guard.
Valda swore.
“EVERYONE GET THE ASSASSIN!” Another shouted.
People sprinted for her as they unified temporarily against her. Motherfuckers.
Fear edged her senses as she turned and sprinted for the end of the wards in a desperate hope to escape. She could winnow somewhere. She could-
Another dagger embedded in the back of her shoulder and she screamed, falling down. The fear was endless now.
But then there was silence.
Silence wasn’t normal.
She turned, possibly thinking she was dead, but then she saw flaming auburn hair and nice court clothing. Then a deep blue fire in the palm of Eris.
Eris, who stood between her and her attackers.
Eris, who was willing to go against his own guards to do that.
Eris, who was protecting her.
“Funny,” Eris drawled. “I’m pretty sure half of you aren’t supposed to be here.” He glanced at the people in black. “And the other half is chasing after… who?”
“She’s the Shadow!” One screamed. “Kill her!”
Eris glanced back at Valda.
“Guards,” Eris commanded. “Shackle those dressed in black and take them to the dungeons for questioning.”
One went toward her.
“Not her,” Eris growled, the fire in his palm glowing even brighter. That growl sounded possessive, protective and downright aggressive.
“But High Lord-”
“Leave the assassin alone,” Eris snarled.
The guard reluctantly turned back.
Within seconds, the enemies were locked up. Not one of them had tried to run, which surprised her to be honest. It meant they’d had some other goal in mind.
Eris finally turned back to her, leaning down onto the balls of his feet. “Valda,” he said gently. “I’m going to take you to the healers-”
“Why?” She interrupted him.
Eris blinked. “What?” He asked, confused.
“Why did you protect me? In front of everyone?”
Eris opened his mouth, but hesitated. Then a piece of her chest yanked. A string connected to her heart. It yanked so hard she almost lost the minimal balance she had and stabbed her shoulder even worse than before.
Then it glowed golden.
Valda then felt emotions that were foreign to her. Fear, hope, and something along the lines of must protect.
She knew what that meant. Any fae knew what that meant.
“You’re my mate,” she whispered.
Eris didn’t breathe in.
Her eyes widened and she felt unbelievable terror fill her and she suddenly turned and sprinted for the wards.
Eris called after her but as soon as she was free- she winnowed away.
She landed in the frozen wastelands from her training, running for the entryway she knew all too well. A place she went to fear unafraid, because she was forced to not be.
That terror in her chest wasn’t fear for herself anymore though.
The dread was for Eris. This… mate bond would interfere with everything. And she would hurt him. She could never go near that male again. She would not let him get hurt. She must not.
As she stood in that same throne room in the Masters’ Underworld location where she killed them all.
She shivered as she leaned down to remove the dagger poking out of her thigh and then from her shoulder. No danger from either of them. They were not ash nor ash coated. She healed quickly and set out to make a plan.
A plan to protect her mate and to keep herself away.
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TAGLIST (see post for getting added)
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