Time/Date: Early Evening, TC1853.01.01Location: Emberhall Estate → Servant Quarters
The last light of day painted Emberhall Pavilion in molten gold, transforming the sprawling estate into something that belonged in an emperor's dreams rather than the harsh reality of the Eastern Empire's rigid hierarchy. The mansion rose from its carefully reclaimed fields like a gaudy crown designed to proclaim wealth and status to anyone within miles. Grand crimson banners rippled along gilded cornices that caught and reflected the dying sunlight, marble fountains glittered with intricate wheat-and-flame mosaics that spoke of prosperity and power, and the vast glass dome of the attached market glowed faintly as servants within lit the evening lanterns for the night's festivities.
To outsiders passing on the road, it was a palace worthy of nobility, a monument to success built by those who had clawed their way up from lesser positions. To Raven, it was a prison whose bars were made of expectation, manipulation, and carefully orchestrated cruelty.
She paused at the great gates, their bronze surfaces worked with elaborate scenes of imperial victories and agricultural abundance. For a moment, something stirred within her chest—a desperate urge born of pride and exhaustion to walk openly through those carved doors as she should have, as a daughter of the house with every right to enter without shame or subterfuge. The weight of seven gold dragons in her sleeve whispered that perhaps she was strong enough now, wealthy enough to demand respect.
But cold reason crushed the thought like frost killing spring flowers. Her behavior that morning had been reckless enough to raise suspicions among the household staff. If she pressed too hard, too soon, if she revealed the changes taking root inside her, the walls would close around her faster than she could escape them.
Not yet, she told herself, forcing her feet to carry her past the noble entrance. Just a few more days. Just until I'm strong enough to break the cage rather than simply rattling its bars.
So she walked past the grand entrance with its liveried guards and polished marble steps. She walked past even the servants' gate, where those who worked in the house came and went under the watchful eyes of the head butler. She knew better than to attempt that path. Too many beatings and whippings had taught her the precise price of stepping through doors where she wasn't welcome, of presuming equality with those who saw her as an unfortunate burden to be endured.
Instead, she followed the estate's outer wall until she reached a particular section of hedge. To most eyes, it was identical to the dozens of others that lined the property—lush greenery threaded with carefully cultivated blossoms that spoke of the gardeners' skill and the family's wealth. But Raven knew better. She had created what lay hidden here with her own desperate hands.
Concealed in the hedge's shadows was her secret escape route: what had once been a dog hole, painstakingly widened over years of careful work. It was her lifeline, the only way she could slip free of Emberhall's oppressive atmosphere without drawing the attention of guards, servants, or family members who might have questions she couldn't afford to answer.
Before approaching, she crouched low and wove a thin thread of soul power outward, her enhanced awareness painting the world in shades of life and movement that normal eyes could never perceive. The technique was taxing—her recent repairs had drained her reserves significantly—but necessary. The grounds shimmered faintly in her inner sight, revealing the pulse of small animals, the steady breathing of guards at distant posts, the flutter of night birds settling into roosts.
No human eyes lingered nearby. No footsteps drew near her position. Safe, at least for the moment.
Raven dropped to the ground and wriggled through the opening she'd carved from desperation, her clothes catching on branches that had grown since her last passage. The familiar scrape of bark against her back was almost comforting in its constancy—proof that some things remained unchanged even as her world shifted around her.
The other side spat her into the estate's laundry yard, tucked behind steaming tubs and lines of drying linens that created a maze of hanging fabric. Few servants lingered here at this hour, most having abandoned their washing duties to assist with the evening's festivities. The air was thick with soap and steam, providing perfect cover for someone who needed to move unseen.
Raven brushed dirt and leaves from her clothes, tugged her hood lower to shadow her features, and crossed quickly to the kitchen door. The familiar weight of the seven gold dragons pressed against her ribs with each step, a tangible reminder that this day had changed something fundamental in her circumstances.
As she had hoped, the kitchens were nearly empty. Most cooks and servants were already occupied with serving the feast taking place in the main dining hall, where the family would be celebrating the New Year with imported delicacies and wine that cost more than most families earned in months. Those few kitchen workers who remained were too busy managing the endless stream of dishes and too tired from the day's preparations to spare more than a glance for another figure moving through their domain.
She slipped past them like a ghost, heading toward the narrow servants' stair that led to the upper floors where the household's unwanted members were housed. Her tiny attic room was only steps away, sanctuary within sight, when a voice cut through the air like a whip crack.
"Mara Brenner! How dare you only return now?"
Raven froze, her hand inches from the stair rail, every muscle in her body tensing with the instinctive response of prey recognizing a predator's call. That voice belonged to only one person in this house, and hearing it meant that her hopes for a quiet evening were about to be shattered.
Selene.
Her mother swept into the hallway with the fluid grace of a hunting serpent, pale blue eyes burning with rage that seemed to heat the air around her. Her dark hair was perfectly arranged despite the day's activities, her silk gown unmarked by the domestic chaos that surrounded lesser members of the household. Every detail of her appearance spoke of wealth, refinement, and the kind of cold beauty that could cut deeper than any blade.
"You will kneel and beg Amara's forgiveness at once!" Selene's voice was sharp enough to cut glass, each word precisely shaped to inflict maximum emotional damage. "Do you think you can speak to your betters with such disrespect? Do you not understand how fragile our position is in this house? Edmund accepting us into this family was the greatest gift fate could possibly grant us. Do you want to see me cast aside, divorced, thrown into the street like some common beggar?"
Tears gathered in her pale eyes as she pressed forward, her voice rising in the kind of desperate theatrics that had manipulated emotions for years. "Do you not remember how hard my life was before this blessing? Ten long months of pregnancy, carrying you in agony! The pain, the sacrifice, the way my body was forever changed! And because of you, my beloved Mara, my husband died—a cruel twist of fate that left us utterly alone in the world. That cursed, jinxed birth robbed me of the chance to ever bear another child! I have no other way to secure my place in this family, no other source of value. Don't you see? You owe me everything! Everything you are, everything you will ever be!"
It was the same refrain Raven had heard countless times over the years, the same carefully crafted chain of guilt and obligation wielded with surgical precision until it became an invisible cage. She had heard these words so often that she could mouth them before Selene spoke them, could predict each pause, each calculated sob, each appeal to duty and gratitude.
But tonight, with seven gold dragons pressing against her ribs and the memory of successful defiance still warm in her chest, something inside her finally snapped.
The memory rose unbidden—Teacher Song's concerned face in her previous life, the woman's genuine care as she'd offered help that Raven had foolishly refused. The disappointment in those kind eyes when Mara had turned away assistance, choosing instead to cling to the fantasy that Kael's love would somehow make everything worthwhile.
I was such a fool then, Raven thought with bitter clarity. So desperate for acceptance that I rejected the one person who actually tried to help me.
She lifted her chin, meeting Selene's gaze directly for perhaps the first time in years. When she spoke, her voice was steady and sharp, carrying a weight that seemed to surprise even her.
"Mother... have you ever heard of the International Children Protection Act of TC1838?"
Selene blinked, thrown completely off balance by the unexpected response. Her theatrical tears faltered, confusion replacing calculation in her pale eyes. "What... what nonsense are you talking about?"
Raven's lips curved in a smile that held no warmth, only the cold satisfaction of someone who had finally found the right weapon. "Just before the Void Days, Teacher Song covered it in class. Emperor Xuan's declaration was quite specific about protecting future leaders from harm."
She raised her sleeve, exposing the network of scars and welts that crossed her pale skin like a map of systematic cruelty—some faded to silver lines, others still dark with recent violence. "I wonder, Mother, is this what Emperor Xuan meant by raising strong youth to hold the empire's banner?"
Color drained from Selene's face as if someone had pulled a stopper from her veins, but her pale eyes blazed with fury that seemed to make the air around her shimmer with heat. Her perfectly controlled composure cracked, revealing the venom that had always lurked beneath the surface.
"Why you little b—!"
Her hand rose, trembling with barely contained rage, but before she could complete the motion or the curse, footsteps pounded against the wooden floorboards.
"Mother!" Amara's voice cut sharply through the air as she ran into the hallway, her golden hair streaming behind her like a banner.
Selene's hand was still half-raised when Amara rushed between them, her amber-gold eyes wide with what appeared to be genuine concern. "Mother, please! You must calm yourself. Getting upset over her isn't worth endangering your health."
Those same eyes flicked to Raven and narrowed with calculated disapproval, though her voice remained sweet as honey when she continued. "Mara, must you always provoke her like this? Can you not see how hard Mother works every single day to keep us secure in this house? She sacrifices her own comfort, her own desires, and you repay her endless kindness with defiance and disrespect. How can you be so ungrateful?"
Before the tableau could continue its predictable progression, another voice cut through the charged atmosphere.
"What is all this noise disturbing the evening's peace?"
Kael strode into the hallway with the kind of presence that made rooms reorganize themselves around him. His dark robes still carried the scent of incense and festival fires from whatever celebration he'd been attending, and his sharp features were set in the expression of someone whose patience had been tested beyond its limits. His gaze swept the assembled group before settling on Raven with the kind of disdain usually reserved for insects found in one's food.
"You again," he said, his voice carrying the weight of imperial authority despite his relatively young age. "Always at the heart of every disturbance, every moment of chaos in what should be a peaceful household."
Selene immediately shifted into the role of wronged victim, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve while maintaining perfect posture. "Prince Kael, you see how she treats me. The ingratitude, the complete lack of respect for everything I've sacrificed—"
"Enough," Kael snapped, cutting through her performance with the kind of casual authority that came from royal breeding. He stepped closer to Raven, his considerable height casting a shadow that seemed to swallow her smaller form. "You will apologize to your betters immediately. Show some gratitude for once in your miserable existence."
Raven lifted her chin, meeting his gaze with steady eyes that held no trace of the submission he clearly expected. When she spoke, her voice carried a clarity that seemed to cut through the evening air like a blade.
"As an heir to the imperial throne, you surely must be well-versed in the International Children Protection Act of TC1838." She paused, her lips curving in a smile that held no warmth. "Though I suppose the children of Celestial Families wouldn't study laws designed to protect commoners from abuse."
Kael's eyes narrowed dangerously, a sneer tugging at the corners of his mouth. "What nonsense are you spouting now, you ungrateful little—"
"Nonsense?" Raven tilted her head slightly, her words taking on a note of mock surprise. "How strange. I wonder what the Emperor would think—his beloved son dismissing one of his greatest legislative achievements as mere nonsense."
She let the implication hang in the air like smoke from a funeral pyre. "The great protection of the empire's future warriors, dismissed as meaningless chatter by one who hopes to inherit the very throne from which those laws were proclaimed."
Silence fell like a blade cutting through all sound. Selene's breath hitched audibly, Amara's lips parted in shock, and even Kael's arrogant confidence faltered for the space of a heartbeat. The accusation was subtle but devastating—questioning not just his knowledge, but his fundamental fitness to inherit imperial authority.
Raven turned on her heel and started up the narrow servants' stair, her back straight and her steps unhurried. The weight of her defiance seemed to linger in the hallway like a physical presence, pressing against those she left behind.
Halfway up the stairs, she paused and glanced back over her shoulder. When she spoke again, her voice was soft, almost casual, but it carried through the silence like thunder rolling across summer skies.
"Oh, I nearly forgot. Teacher Song mentioned she'll be making her routine home visit next week to check on my educational progress and... general welfare. She takes the Children Protection Act quite seriously, you know. Something about the empire needing strong future leaders."
The words dropped into the stillness like stones cast into deep water, sending ripples of dread across the faces below. Teacher Song was known throughout the district as someone who had personally removed several students from harmful situations and seen their guardians face imperial justice. More importantly, she represented the empire's genuine commitment to protecting their future military assets.
And with that perfectly timed revelation, Raven continued up the stairs, leaving them speechless in the suddenly oppressive silence of Emberhall's servant quarters.
In her sleeve, seven gold dragons clinked softly with each step—proof that she was no longer the powerless girl who had once refused help from the only person who'd truly tried to offer it.