Corvina's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Corvina held the raven feathers of her cape and burned a single candle without touching it. The flame bent to her will, then she snuffed it out. She could speak to beasts and bend their minds, she could conjure a mean potion and cast many spells, much like her own mother. Corvina had a darkness and a light inside her waiting to be free. She did not know of what power she had. A knock cut the silence. Her father entered before she could speak. Count Vladimir Dracula moved like the shadow he cast, cape trailing, crimson eyes bright in his pale face. He did not knock twice for anyone. "My love you should join your mother and I in the dining hall," he said. "Tomorrow you will need your strength." "For what?" Corvina asked. "A ball." He smiled, and his fangs showed. "Halloween. My favorite night. I have opened our gates to every lord and prince who dares cross the moat. You will choose one. A king to rule beside you." Corvina's stomach turned to stone. "You did not ask me." "A queen must not rule alone," he said. "The kingdom wants an heir's heir. I want you settled before I am dust." Behind him, her mother slipped through the doorway. Morgana wore her long black gown, her dark hair loose to her waist. She had taught Corvina every spell the girl knew. She looked at the candle, then at her daughter's tight jaw. "He has already sent the invitations," Morgana said softly. "By raven. To every land." "Then unsend them," Corvina said. "Even I cannot call back a hundred crows." Morgana touched her arm. "But listen to me. Marry no one you do not want. Power like ours does not need a man to hold it. Choose with your eyes open, or do not choose at all." Her father's smile thinned. He and her mother traded a long, silent look. Corvina saw the old argument in it. Corvina knew she would have to marry it was the way of kingdoms with noble houses, she just did not want to marry without being in love. Her own parents had loved each other many years before she was even born, she remembered her mother sharing the story with her. A beautiful witch in a village found by a handsome vampire lord, he saved her from a witch trial and fell in love with her. She too fell for him and they married a few weeks later and then he asked if she wanted to be a vampire and be immortal like him but she did not so she cast a spell of immortality for herself.