Eve Nightwick's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Eve set the white lilies beside her mother's portrait, but the package on her workbench pulled her attention away. The royal seal shimmered and hummed under her fingers. Tonight was the anniversary, the one night she always kept for herself. But the king's message couldn't wait. She knelt before the small altar she'd prepared at dawn. The lantern she'd chosen glowed with a cold blue flame, the same color as the lighthouse beacon. Her mother had taught her to light it when she was six, showing her how the azure fire never burned out in wind or rain. Eve had polished the brass until it gleamed, wrapped it in silk, and planned to carry it to the cliffs at midnight. Now she lifted the lantern and placed it in her travel bag beside the royal package. The king's trust mattered more than her grief. Her mother would have understood that duty came first. The gazebo stood empty beyond her window, flower petals scattered across its wooden floor. Eve had rebuilt it the spring after the storm, planting every bloom herself where the old marker had crumbled. She visited it each year on this night, spoke her mother's name to the dark. But the owl waited in the tower, and the package needed to leave before dawn. Eve closed her bag and turned from the window. The gazebo would still be there tomorrow, but the king's faith in her would not survive a single delay. She climbed the stairs toward the delivery that would prove her worth. The great horned owl clicked his beak when she entered the tower room. His amber eyes tracked her movements as she secured the package to his harness with practiced knots. The royal seal hummed louder now, as if it sensed the journey ahead. Eve whispered the destination in the language she'd learned as a child, her fingers gentle on his feathers. The owl launched from the window without hesitation, carrying the king's package into the night. She watched until he vanished, then turned back to the empty tower. The memorial would wait another year, but tonight she'd proven herself reliable once more.