Chapter 25

A scream echoed loudly through the halls of the villa, and the slaves trembled. Nothing good ever followed when their master was angry. Countless executions had occurred for the most trivial reasons, like forgetting to refill his drink.

It had been a quiet day until the late evening when vases flew against walls and windows were shattered. Tables were overturned, and a raging storm brewed in the bedroom of the daughter of Magister Parquello Vhassyl of House Vhassyl.

No slave dared to go near the room, for they knew what awaited them if they even ventured close—certain death.

After some time, it became quiet in the bedchamber before the doors were suddenly flung open, slamming against the walls with full force. The slave girls cleaning the floor nearby jumped in fright, their faces filled with terror as they saw the form of Parquello Vhassyl, rage etched on his face like never before.

"Bring him to me!" he shouted with a thunderous voice. "Bring me his head, even if you have to turn all of Lys upside down."

Everyone had seen the reason for his anger a few minutes earlier. His only daughter, Selene Vhassyl, had been cold-bloodedly murdered.

She was a beautiful woman, but as cruel as her father. None of those present, except her father, would miss her.

"Bring him to me alive! He will not have an easy death, this I swear on my name. I want to see the pain in his eyes; the one responsible will suffer unimaginable pain. He will beg for death by the time I'm done with him," he ranted as he ripped a painting from the wall and smashed it on the floor, hitting a slave in the process, who fell to the ground, bleeding from her head. "I want to see the light fade from his eyes when I slit his throat."

As he continued to rant, the guards set off to follow his orders, using the full might of House Vhassyl to turn Lys upside down. Every pleasure house would be searched and questioned, every tavern, every shop, dock, and ship—everything.

Even though House Vhassyl was by far the strongest military power, they couldn't do whatever they wanted for a good reason: Valyria.

Valyria followed strict rules, especially when it came to non-Dragon families, but House Vhassyl was not necessarily breaking the rules as long as they didn't attack another house, or cause too much havoc. That was the point where Mother Valyria would intervene.

Of course, they couldn't just bring chaos to the city, but Valyria wouldn't intervene when they were searching for a criminal.

The fleet stationed outside the harbor served several purposes. Firstly, it protected the vacation paradise of the Valyrians, and secondly, it reminded the families there who was in charge.

The freedom that Mother Valyria gave to her daughters was abundant, and not too often, there were those who believed they were powerful enough to do as they pleased. And Mother Valyria had no problems reminding her daughters who wore the pants in the house, so to speak. 

The only difference was that the daughters could never move out, never.

However, to search all of Lys, they had to break into some houses, and things inevitably became more chaotic in Lys, especially since these businesses belonged to other houses.

It didn't take long for several rumors to reach the soldiers' ears. House Sathmantes was mentioned again and again, and slowly a pattern emerged—a pattern that spelled trouble if the arguably most powerful houses in Lys declared war on each other. For Magister Parquello Vhassyl, the murder of his daughter would mean nothing less.

If a wiser man had been in his place, someone who knew that this meant the end of House Vhassyl, he would have sought another way. He was the victim in the situation and could have demanded compensation, compensation that would have meant enormous losses for House Sathmantes and enormous gains for House Vhassyl.

But, as fate would have it, that was not the case. He had many daughters, but Selene was by far his favorite.

"What did you say?" Parquello raged as he held the captain's chainmail in his hand and lifted him up.

"It was on the orders of Narbo Sathmantes, the second son of the First Magister," the captain answered calmly despite the situation he was in. He hadn't risen to his rank without reason. Whining wouldn't change the outcome.

"And why, pray tell me," Parquello growled as he threw him to the floor, "would he want to kill my daughter?"

Captain Motho coughed as he moved to get up. "He confessed his love to her, and she rejected him, called him a good-for-nothing."

Parquello's face twisted with rage. "For that, he killed her?" he shouted.

"I will kill him, I will gut him in front of his mother, this piece of human waste." he ranted.

"Call everybody back, NOW!" he finally exploded.

"Magister Parquello, I don't think-" Before the Captain could finish his words he was punched in the gut, leaving him breathless once again.

"That's right, you don't think, and if I ever hear you speak again today, you won't be able to think ever again, is that clear?" he threatened.

The Captain was breathless, and could only nod.

"Good. You can consider yourself lucky that it is you who spoke, everybody else would have their family's heads already cracked open like an egg. Now, go." Parquello hissed.

A few years ago, he was lucky enough to have saved Magister Parquello from an assassination attempt. Since that day, he had always been in Magister Parquello's good graces. He didn't have to stop the assassin back then, because he didn't like Parquello either, but his daughter and sons would have followed, and they were no better than him.

He seized the opportunity and climbed the ladder of life to where he was, till today. 

On the orders of Magister Parquello, the soldiers turned around and marched towards the villa of the First Magister, destroying every establishment of House Sathmantes along the way, reducing them to rubble and ashes.

Chaos like this had never been seen by any resident. Fires were started by the very guards meant to protect them, and battles raged as if a revolution was in full swing. In a way, it was. The ruling power of Lys was slowly but surely being overthrown, but no one knew that the true culprit and instigator was lying in a soft bed on another continent, having fun with his lover, while his orders were being carried out by House Rogare, the house profiting from all this.

A revolution was carried out in the shadows, and no one knew it.

Some dragonlords were on Lys, relaxing, and initially thought it was just a search operation for a criminal, which it was at first, but it quickly escalated into much more. Some had brought glass candles and human blood as offerings to use. Fresh blood was always more effective, but they had neither fresh blood on site nor did the distance matter.

They contacted the fleet general about the events and ordered him to make landfall.

No matter how powerful House Vhassyl believed themselves to be, the soldiers of the Valyrian army were more numerous, better trained, better equipped, ruthless, and fanatically loyal.

If House Vhassyl refused to comply, by tomorrow, House Vhassyl would no longer exist.

But the ships would take time to arrive and march to the estate of the First Magister. House Sathmantes had guards, as every noble house did, but nowhere near as many as House Vhassyl. It was a massacre.

Bodies were cut in two, heads separated from the rest of the body, and screams of suffering and clashing swords dominated the First Magister's estate and the surrounding area.

"Have you lost your mind, you idiot?" First Magister Azzak Bessaro Sathmantes asked as he was finally confronted face to face with Magister Parquello Vhassyl, with only a few guards remaining to protect him.

"No, I very much know what I am doing! Your son has taken something from me, something that was more precious to me than anything else, and I would rather die and stand proud before the Gods than cower in the corner like a coward. Your foolish son has challenged my family, and now he will face the consequences of his actions," Parquello said as he wiped the blood from his sword with his sleeve.

"I see," Azzak said, narrowing his eyes. "Is this truly worth it? You have dozens of children and are willing to throw away everything you have for this? Ha, your brother should have gotten the inheritance, not you, you oaf of a man," he accused while laughing slightly before he sighed. "Well, this is the end then."

"Yes, yes it is," Parquello answered.

"Say hello to your daughter and let her know what a foolish father she had."

Parquello was confused by the words and was about to respond when his breath was taken from him. Pain filled his entire body.

He looked down and saw the tip of a sword protruding from his body. He grasped it with slow, gasping breaths as life left his body.

"Why?" he muttered, falling to the floor, first to his knees before his whole body followed.

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Ha, first cliffhanger, you bitches!

As always, beware of mistakes because I hardly care about my story. And well, till tomorrow. Can't write another chapter!