Prologue
Prologue : Morrigan
I learned early that feelings are expensive.
Not in coins or gold…though my childhood had neither but in trust, in safety, in peace. My mother cried at the table while my father raged in the halls. Their love had been a war I was never invited to, and yet I was the casualty.
They divorced before I even understood what a promise could mean. My mother left, dragging pieces of herself that she had no right to leave behind, and my father… he stayed. He stayed because pride was easier than grief, because anger was cheaper than tears. And in that house, I learned quickly: if I cried, I would be ignored. If I shouted, I would be punished. If I loved… someone would take it away.
So I stopped.
I stopped noticing the storms in the sky. I stopped noticing the storms in my heart. I folded myself into the quiet corners of the world and learned to watch. To measure. To never give away more than was necessary.
By the time the oaths came by the time Valenors called me to guard its throne I was already empty enough to fill. Empty enough to hold the pain of a kingdom without flinching. Empty enough to follow rules that would crush someone with a heart still whole.
Some say I am emotionless. They say I am cold. They say I care for nothing but the law. And in a way… they are right.
But the truth is, I do care. I care too much to let it show.
I learned early that the world only takes what it can see. And I, Morrigan Thornveil, would let no one see what mattered most.
Even if that meant letting my own heart disappear.
The only thing I had to make myself feel closer to my mom is an old dagger knife. She used to tell stories about how this knife brought luck to her.
Yes. My mom used to work as a guard in the Velonor kingdom and she retired when she had me.
