Black Sight

Prologue

“My lord, are you awake?”

“No, I’m not.” Marcus mumbled and pulled the blanket over his head, waiting for his butler to
get the hint that he was not going to get up.

“My lord?”

Marcus heaved an irritated sigh. “This had better be good, Pymm.”

“You have a visitor, my lord.”

“Is that all?” Marcus asked incredulously, opening his eyes. It was still dark out. Who in their
right mind would visit at this hour? “Send them away. I don’t care.” He rolled over, turning away
from Pymm.

His butler, however, did not move. “I’m afraid I cannot, my lord. It is a rather important person.”

“Unless it is the King himself, I do not care.” Marcus grumbled.

“It is, my lord.” Pymm said. “The king, I mean.”

There was silence. Then Marcus groaned loudly. No one turns away His Majesty, no matter how
far back their history with him goes.

“Bloody hell!” Marcus cursed as he flung back the sheets and sat up on the edge of the bed. He
ran a hand through his hair, shaking off any traces of sleepiness from his mind.

Damn the king.

“Welcome back,” Nicolai, the King of Delegaris, called out in greeting as Marcus stomped into
the library. “You look like hell tonight,” he added.

Marcus walked right past him and headed straight for the liquor cabinet. “I was sleeping, Nick,”
he said as he pulled out two wine glasses and a bottle. “You know sleeping? The thing normal
people do at night.”

Nicolai merely raised his brows in amusement. “A little grumpy tonight, aren’t we?”

“Naturally. My first night back and I can’t even get a decent rest.” He poured the dark liquid into
the glasses and handed one to Nicolai.
“My apologies, but this really is quite urgent.” Nicolai set the wine glass down on the side table.

Marcus sat down on the chair opposite Nicolai and sighed. “I don’t really have much choice in
this, do I?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Well,” Marcus said. “What is this ‘urgent’ matter than needs to be addressed in the middle of
the bloody night?”

“The retrieval of my sister.”

If Marcus had taken a sip of his drink, it would have been sprayed all over Nicolai. Thankfully
he didn’t. Instead, his eyes widened. “You’re not serious, are you?”

“I honestly wish I wasn’t.” Nicolai replied evenly.

“But why does she even need to be retrieved in the first place?” Marcus asked.

“She’s in hiding,” came the simple answer.

Marcus paused. “Nick… you had better explain to me what is going on.”