Chapter 1: Sam’s Busy Morning
In Seelie tradition, feyblood humans and elves would have their Awakening Ceremony one week after their eighteenth birthday. That period was called the Seven Dawns of Reflection, where they would ponder on what Class to choose. In Seelie Court kingdoms, those options were limited to Paladin, Cleric, and Monk - the only Classes approved by the Church of the Dawn Archon.
At sunrise on the Seventh Dawn, they would make their choice. But the Ceremony usually started the evening before with a grand ball that lasted all night. Such was the plan for Prince Samreon Qhousalar as well, but as you’ll soon learn, events did NOT unfold as expected...
He was asleep in his bed when he awoke to someone knocking on his bedroom door. "Sam! Are you up yet? We have to get you fitted for the ball tonight!" came a female voice. It was his childhood best friend, Calista Luminaria. His green eyes snapped open and his heart jumped into his throat as he remembered that he had two naked women under the covers with him. They had their legs draped over his lightly-tanned, well-built body. Shit!
"Girls! We gotta get you out of here!" he whispered frantically as he gently shook them awake.
"Good morning, my sexy prince!" one of them said a little too loudly as she yawned and stretched. He waved his hands and shushed her in a state of panic. Then the other girl reached out and brushed his short black hair out of his face. Sam was a feyblood human, but the two other occupants of his bed were elves.
"Did I hear a female voice?" Calista asked from outside the door. "Is someone in there with you?"
"N-no! It’s just me!" Sam called out, then frantically grabbed the women’s clothing and pushed it into their arms. "I’m sorry for the rude awakening! I’ll talk to you girls later! Please hurry!" he urged in a desperate whisper.
"I don’t believe you!" Calista yelled, wiggling the door handle. It was locked.
The girls got dressed as quickly as they could and bolted out the window, climbing down the vine-covered latticework on the outside wall and running off through the courtyard. It was the same way that had entered the night before. Just as they vanished from sight, there was a flash of orange light that caused the door to fly open.
"Hey!" Sam cried out, just barely managing to throw a robe on as Calista came barging in. She had clearly used a spell to unlock the door. She immediately began looking around and sniffing the air, then rushed over to the window, her white and gold Cleric robes fluttering behind her. She turned back to Sam and narrowed her amber-colored eyes, then stomped towards him, her long, wavy blonde hair bouncing as she did. She had a bit of red to her sun-kissed peach skin, particularly in her face. Like Sam, she was a feyblood human.
"You were fucking the maids again, weren’t you?!" she accused, pointing a finger at him angrily.
"Of course not!" he lied, rubbing a hand nervously on the back of his head.
"Don’t you lie to me!" She got right up in his face. "I can smell sex in here! Don’t you fucking lie to me!"
"My, my, Sister Calista, such foul language! How scandalous for a woman of the Church!" He smirked and wagged a finger at her. She instantly slapped it away.
"You wanna talk about scandalous?!" she practically shrieked. She was quite enraged. "Imagine the uproar that would ensue if the people knew their righteous prince was sharing his bed with women who are NOT his betrothed!"
"I don’t even have a betrothed yet!" he shot back. "Royal Law says I don’t have to get married until I turn twenty-one, so what’s the harm in having a little fun before then?"
"What’s the harm? WHAT’S THE HARM?!" She was absolutely livid. "Oh, I don’t know - maybe getting one of the maids pregnant and having a child out of wedlock?! How would that look? Do you WANT the Unseelie rumors about you to start again?"
"I don’t really care what anyone else thinks," Sam said with a sigh, crossing his arms. After his mother had been labeled an Unseelie and exiled twelve years prior, some people would speculate that he was one too every time he acted out or did anything they viewed as wrong or immoral.
"Well, you should care!" Calista insisted. "You are going to be their king one day."
"Ugh, don’t remind me!" he scoffed and rolled his eyes. He hated being royalty, and detested the idea of wearing a crown and being responsible for all those people. Luminary’s Landing was not a small place - it was a city-state kingdom on an island with over a million inhabitants. There were many other island kingdoms scattered around the Sapphire Sea that made up the Seelie Court, which acted as an alliance between the different kingdoms, overseen by the Seven Elders.
"Just... you need to grow up, okay Sam? Start showing some damn responsibility!" She sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
"Oh, don’t you go off acting like you’re so much more responsible than me! You’re only a month older!" he retorted.
"Well, that month has been very educational!" she snapped back. "I’ve learned a lot in a short amount of time since beginning cleric training!"
"Apparently you haven’t learned how to admit when you have a crush on someone, though," he said under his breath. Her eyes widened in shock.
"W-w-w-what do you mean?" Her voice got considerably higher on that last word. "I-I don’t have a crush on anyone!"
"Really now?" He smirked as her face turned even redder. "So your anger at me fooling around with the maids doesn’t come from repressed feelings for me?"
"Uh-uh-uh-of course not!" She screeched. "Romance is forbidden for clerics of the Church! Even for us new apprentices! Plus I... Plus I... I... Wait a minute - YOU ADMITTED IT! You DID have the maids in here!"
Sam kept grinning at how flustered she was becoming. He saw his opportunity, so he took it - he stepped forward and placed a hand gently on the side of her face. She gasped and then instantly grew silent, staring into his eyes.
"Rules are meant to be broken..." he whispered seductively as his lips neared hers. They were merely an inch away from kissing, but then she let out an awkward squeal and backed away.
"I-I can’t be doing this right now!" she cried out in a panicked voice. "My-my oath! I... I have to go!"
"Just stay with me for a little bit," Sam insisted. She shook her head nervously and rushed to the door.
"Th-The tailor in the Row is expecting you. Don’t forget to go get fitted for your suit!" She was referring to Merchant Row, a gated street of high-end shops near the castle that was reserved for the upper class of the city.
"I thought you were coming with me?" he asked with a little frown.
"I-I can’t! Just remembered something I have to do! I-I’ll see you at the ball!" Before he could reply further, she took off through the doorway.
Sooner or later, Callie... he thought to himself with a grin as he poked his head out into the corridor and watched her rush in the opposite direction. Then he went to clean himself up in his private wash room. He threw on his stupid, uncomfortable full-body undergarments, a fancy red and gold coat, dark blue pants, and a pair of black boots. He hated these royal outfits.
He headed out of his bedroom, down a long hall, and then descended a winding staircase that led from the second floor down to the spacious foyer of their castle. Out the double doors, through the colorful gardens of the courtyard, and to the front gates.
From there, a wide cobblestone street known as the Crownsroad led down the hill the castle sat on, through the center of the city, and ended at the docks facing the Sapphire Sea. As Sam watched the various ships coming and going in the distance, he was reminded of a very traumatic event that happened twelve years prior...