Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
éTIENNE NOCTIER
Istumble along the edge of the Veil, its mist curling about me, grasping for me, unwilling to release me.
For a fleeting moment, I consider yielding and letting it take me.
None would mourn my passing. Not even the Conseil des Ombres—the Council of Shadows—to whom I’m bound to by oath and blood.
It is my birthright, or perhaps my curse to serve as an Oathmarked, one of the chosen sons of the five noble houses who guard the Veil and battle the Hollow Court that seeks to tear it open.
My Oathmark burns against my chest where the Hollow Court’s poison festers.
I killed three tonight along the Quay, but the fourth slid his blade between my ribs, venom spreading from the wound.
Not a blow meant to kill outright. The Hollow Court grants no such mercy.
But it’s still my undoing. They have bound me half in this world, half in the Veil.
Caught between. It makes me a prize the Hollow Court would gladly claim, and therefore a liability to the Council.
If the Veil does not take me first, the Council most certainly will.
A couple strolls along Rue St Louis, approaching me, but then recoils when their eyes find me. I must look a horror. Bloodstained. Eyes glowing from gray to silver. Skin translucent where the Veil grips pieces of me. I feel the change they are a witness to.
I give them a wide berth as I press forward, stumbling along the stone-paved road toward no particular destination, but needing to keep moving.
New Orleans shows no mercy for the weak on either side of the Veil.
Whether the French, Spanish, or, more recently, the Americans own the city, nothing changes.
It is rich with peoples and customs but plagued with corruption and violence.
A perfect place for the Hollow Court to split the Veil and wreak havoc.
My failure tonight only hastens their triumph.
My vision wavers. Lamps blur. Buildings seem to sway like drunken sailors.
I need—
The thought dissolves. What do I need? Not the Council's aid. I’ve felt for some time that they’d like to rid House Noctier from existence since my father, the fifth seat on the council, passed.
They’ll see what I’ve become and exterminate me to prevent me from being taken and used by the Hollow Court when I fade through the Veil.
I can’t reach out to my brotherhood, the four other Oathmarked waging their own battles across the city.
Beholden to the council, one of them will be tasked with sending me to the Veil permanently.
I suspect whoever it is will regret it, yet still do his duty.
I will not begrudge him honoring his oath.
My legs buckle. I catch myself against wrought iron, my fingers clutching the gate. Beyond it is a small courtyard garden thick with night-blooming jasmine and protective sigils etched into the stone pavers. A healer's house. Perhaps that’s my salvation. A traiteur’s remedies for Veil-wounds.
I drag myself to my knees, one hand raised to pull the bell cord. It gives a single chime.
I collapse along the gate, unable to move. The Veil whispers at the edges of my consciousness, sending a cold shiver along my soul.
étienne, it calls my name, lulling me with the promise of endless sleep. I close my eyes and surrender.