Two figures stood in a nicely decorated room, a solemn air surrounding them.
One figure was a middle aged man with waist-length thick black hair tied with a red band and piercingly sharp gold eyes that emitted the warmth of metal. A gleaming gem-encrusted gold crown rested on his head that was bowed as if the weight of it was too much to bear.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back so tightly the veins in his knuckles bulged and his expression was tight and screwed as if he were in pain. He was King Aeson Deus, first of his name and supreme ruler of the Kingdom Zyra.
The other figure was a male ethereal in appearance with shoulder-length silver hair and bright jewel-like eyes. He stood loosely, his expression calm with even a light smile playing at his lips as he watched the King before him stress. HIs name was Novus, trusted emissary of the Unseelie court.
Despite their difference in demeanor both men were there for only one thing.
A loud wailing cry erupted from another room and King Aeson's head shot up, eyes red from strain as they focused on the door. Novus focused as well, inhaling softly but deeply as he waited in anticipation.
Long moments passed before the door opened to reveal a tired midwife, her hands and the fronts of her clothes stained with blood and other bodily fluids. Exhaustion sagged her face but a large bright smile stretched across her lips. She faced King Aeson and bowed deeply.
"A son, your Majesty." She hesitated briefly before continuing. "He bears the mark of the Chosen."
The King let out a soft sound and sunk to his knees, a look of helplessness on his face as he turned to the man standing beside him with a satisfied expression.
"Must it be him?" He asked, voice trembling.
"So was the promise made by your father, King before you, so it shall be kept. The Fate bestowed upon him does not negate what is due." Novus spoke impassively. He turned to the midwife. "Let me see the child."
Powerless, King Aeson could do nothing but watch as Novus entered the room. After a moment, the King stood on shaking legs and entered the room as well. His jaw clenched as he observed the Faekin standing over his wife and child.
Queen Ilaria Deus was the kingdom's pride and joy with outstanding beauty and smarts to rival any scholar. The Heavens, however, believed in balance of all things and for her beauty and smarts Queen Ilaria suffered from low fertility.
In the fifteen years of their union, she had only gotten pregnant once before and unfortunately miscarried at the beginning of her second trimester. This was Aeson's only child, only son.
The Queen looked up at Novus with pleading bright blue eyes, clutching the infant tightly to her breast.
Even after childbirth, dark brown hair tangled and skin splotchy, her beauty was as radiant as ever. Novus remained impervious to her gaze, his attention solely only the child she so desperately tried to hide from view.
Novus reached forward and gently pried the babe suckling at his mother's teat, shushing it with practiced ease when the infant grizzled in discomfort. The Queen let out a wail that had Aeson rushing to her side and gathering her collapsing form into his arms.
"Sweet child." Novus cooed to the babe as he placed it on the far end of the bed.
The child already took much after his mother in appearance, soft hair dark brown and eyes sapphire blue. A mark slightly darker than the child's brown skin bloomed in the form of a blue lotus flower directly above the child's heart, marking him as a child of the Cosmos.
This mark, resembling an upside-down bell with a geometric flower-like pattern within, was of no consequence to Novus. He was there to collect the debt owed to the Unseelie by the Deus family ruling over Zyra.
In the future, once the child was Faekin in every means but birthright, Novus could care less about the decisions the child made.
"Before I begin," Novus directed to the anguished couple, "What is his name?"
Queen Ilaria's longing gaze never left her son for even a second. She had long ago decided the name, should it be a boy or a girl, when Aeson had first told her the destiny of her child.
"Aerick." She whispered. "King forever."
King Aeson nodded in approval, his gaze also on the child. "King forever."
Novus nodded once as he drew a figure from his wide sleeve. It was a puppet made of some sort of black wood with eyes, nose and mouth carved into the 'face'.
With ease Novus placed the puppet beside Aerick, pricked the infant's finger so quickly the pain didn't register, and smeared the blood in runes along the puppet's body from head to pelvis. He then cut a lock of Aerick's air and placed it on the 'mouth' of the doll before chanting in low tones, his hands hovering over both figures.
Aerick's pudgy face screwed up in discomfort and he then let out a soft wail. Queen Ilaria jumped as if to grab her babe, but was held back by King Aeson. The two could only watch in grief as their son wriggled in distress, Novus still chanting above.
As the Faekin chanted, the properties of the doll began to change and before their very eyes the doll began to take on a human lifelike appearance resembling Aerick.
A while later Novus stopped chanting and lowered his arms.
On the bed were two identical babies with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. They were the same in all likeness except one child had the Mark while the other remained bare. The process could not change fate.
Novus lifted the changeling child and presented him to the royal couple for inspection. Queen Ilaria gathered the babe into her arms, but nearly wept at the lack of bond only found between mother and child.
In every way the child looked like hers, but it was as foreign as the babe of another woman in her arms.
Even though the changeling moved and breathed as if it were human, it was still a wooden doll.
But as she watched, the child nuzzled against her breast and latched onto her nipple, letting out a satisfied baby noise as it suckled its way to sleep. Her mother's instinct seized as she gazed at the helpless child. Doll or not, the child needed love and care as her Aerick did. She swallowed hard and vowed in her heart to love the child as if it were her true born.
King Aeson approached Novus, now carrying the true born Aerick, his expression hard.
"The promise has been fulfilled. Leave and never return to Zyra."
Novus bowed deeply, respectfully. "I have no reason to return. Should one appear, I will only do as instructed. I hope the changeling can satisfy the loss in your heart. The Mother Diwa blesses you."
And with that, Novus turned gracefully and exited the room.
King Aeson turned to his wife and Queen, despondently looking upon the false child he now had to call son.
Power truly carried a heavy price.