A Darker Element

“Long ago, when magic still roamed freely, without restraint or purpose, it delighted in the elements. It flowed through them, saturated them, and then became aware of itself. Faerie was born but within her and the elements was a seed of loneliness. This seed grew and multiplied into the darker emotions. When Faerie decided to create the fey to relieve her loneliness, she separated those darker emotions from the elements so that the fey were born pure.”

That's the story most fey tell about their creation but our creation, that of the dark fey, goes further. You see, we were those dark emotions which were so carelessly cut away from the other elements. Faerie didn't even realize that the Darkness was an element until we threatened her very existence. Then she saw what we needed; physical form like that which had been given to every other element. So we were finally created. Twenty-one dark-sidhe, each with the power of a dark emotion.

My name is Liatris and my emotion is Shame. It's all I've ever known and even with the freedom of the flesh, I can't seem to live beyond it. I don't expect a lot from this life but I have desires just like everyone else. Happiness, safety, love. Simple things but I know they'll never be mine. How can Shame coexist with happiness? How can a thing of Darkness ever feel safe? And how can I ever have love when the only man I want is our king?