Our Vicious Oaths

On the continent of Nimani, fae society is divided between the Six Kingdoms of the south, ruled by vassal monarchs who serve the Hyperion high king Rishaud the Conqueror, and the independent Apollyon Court to the north. A prophecy spoken at the birth of Kadeesha Mercier, archprincess of the Aether Kingdom, foretells that she will become high queen of a united Nimani and her firstborn son will inherit the throne. Rishaud has used this prophecy for decades to justify his claim as the divinely anointed high king, and Kadeesha has been betrothed to him since infancy.

Kadeesha is also the general of the Nkita, an all-female squadron who ride kongamatos, massive half-avian, half-draconic war serpents. Alongside her second-in-command Leisha and third-in-command Samira, she leads the squadron to destroy a camp of Apollyon soldiers near the Aether Palace on the eve of her wedding, hoping to prove her military value to her father, King Sylas Mercier, and convince him to cancel the marriage. Sylas refuses, insisting the alliance with Rishaud is essential. Kadeesha sits silently as Sylas and Rishaud negotiate the final marriage contract, treating her as a commodity.

Meanwhile, the young Apollyon king Malachizrien Diamundis, known as Malachi, faces his own pressures. His parents were assassinated in a coup when he was seven, orchestrated by the court's high cleric, and his aunt Nychelle, the former queen regent who raised him, insists he must marry to stabilize his rule against the remnants of the Cleric's Rebellion, the insurgent faction born from that coup. Malachi agrees but reveals a secret plan: He intends to assassinate Rishaud and the Aether king at Kadeesha's wedding, using the chaos to position himself as high king.

Desperate for one last night of freedom, Kadeesha sneaks out to Oleander House, a pleasure club she secretly owns. She encounters a striking stranger and spends the night with him. He introduces himself only as Malachi. The Apollyon king knows her identity from the start. A spy informed him that the princess frequents the club, and he gambled she would seek it out before her unwanted wedding. His goal is to ensure word of the tryst reaches Rishaud, provoking the Hyperion king into a rage that provides cover for Malachi's Cadre, his inner circle of warriors, to infiltrate the ceremony under magical disguises created by runes.

As Kadeesha prepares for the wedding, her mother Yashira visits and dismisses her fears about Rishaud. At the ceremony, Rishaud halts the vows upon learning Kadeesha spent the previous night at a pleasure den and orders his soldiers to massacre the Aether court. He burns Sylas alive with sunfire, a solar magic unique to the Hyperion bloodline. Kadeesha attacks Rishaud with aether flames but cannot match his millennium-old power. Malachi's Cadre drops their disguises and attacks the Hyperion court. Malachi reveals his true identity, battles Rishaud, and severs the Hyperion king's arm with a void scimitar forged of shadow magic. Rishaud escapes before Malachi can deliver a killing blow.

With Samira bleeding out on the altar, Malachi offers Kadeesha a deal: Come willingly to the Apollyon Court as bait for Rishaud, and he will heal Samira and free both her and Leisha. Kadeesha accepts, and ancient fae magic seals the bargain. At the Apollyon palace, she negotiates expanded terms with Malachi and Nychelle, securing sanctuary for Yashira, her Nkita, and their kongamatos while swearing an oath not to assassinate Malachi on his soil. Privately, she vows to kill him once Rishaud is dead. Malachi presents Kadeesha to his court as a war prize, and the two have sex on his throne before the gathered court to provoke Rishaud and undermine the prophecy.

Threats close in from multiple directions. Malachi's cousin Cassius, a lord prime (head of a major noble bloodline) and third in line for the throne, formally challenges Malachi for the crown. An assassin attacks Kadeesha, and the investigation reveals that Lady Niyarre, one of the most powerful nobles in the Apollyon Court, has been secretly allied with the Cleric's Rebellion since before Malachi's parents' murder. A magical explosion at the palace gravely injures Samira and Malachi's Cadre member Zayvier.

Working side by side through the aftermath, Kadeesha and Malachi's relationship shifts. Candid conversations reveal shared burdens: Both struggle to contain the destructive urges of their magics. During an intense night together, they involuntarily bite each other, creating mutual Markings, an ancient practice that interlinks both parties' life forces and magical power. Kadeesha then kills Lady Keeya Tareek, the daughter of a treasonous lord prime, after Keeya attempts to poison her and confesses that Rishaud himself leads the Cleric's Rebellion from the shadows. Kadeesha trades this intelligence to Malachi in exchange for a binding oath to leave the Aether Kingdom independent after Rishaud's defeat. Malachi defeats Cassius in a brutal hand-to-hand challenge, killing him, and purges treasonous nobles, restructuring his Assembly of Primes, the advisory council of high-ranking nobles, with loyal replacements.

During a training session, Kadeesha collapses. Yashira confirms her daughter is pregnant, explaining that the Markings disrupted her fertility cycle. Kadeesha requests a tea to end the pregnancy, and Malachi raises no objection. Before she can drink, Rishaud appears at the palace gates as a magical projection, demanding Kadeesha's return within a fortnight. Explosions then rain sunfire on the city's market district, killing hundreds of civilians. At the war council, Kadeesha proposes keeping the pregnancy as a strategic weapon: If the vassal kings learn she carries a child of dual royal blood, they can be convinced to defect from Rishaud by reinterpreting the prophecy to mean Malachi is the high king chosen by the Celestials, the divine beings whose will the prophecy expresses. This would strip Rishaud of his vassal armies.

Kadeesha and Malachi meet the four vassal monarchs atop the Yunna Mountains. The Water king confirms Kadeesha's pregnancy, and all four swear fealty. The following night, the pair marry in a sacred mountain cavern. Malachi then addresses Kadeesha's longstanding plan to kill him, admitting he knows and offering her the chance to strike. Instead, he confesses he loves her and proposes they rule as genuine equals. Kadeesha admits she loves him too and accepts, on the condition that there will be no massacres of innocents and their future son will be raised to witness true justice.

Their new understanding is immediately tested. Rishaud launches a surprise full-scale invasion, having used masking runes to conceal his army's advance, and reveals the severed heads of the four vassal kings, announcing he has dissolved the Six Kingdoms entirely. Battle erupts. In the skies, Kadeesha's Nkita engage enemy flyers and lose one of their sisters before Kadeesha orders lethal force. On the ground, Malachi and Rishaud clash in a prolonged duel. Kadeesha identifies a pattern in Rishaud's teleportation, communicates it to Malachi through their Marking bond, and Malachi teleports her into position behind Rishaud. Kadeesha decapitates the Hyperion king with a flaming aether sword.

Malachi unleashes a wave of shadows to incapacitate the remaining forces and proclaims Kadeesha as high queen. She returns to the Aether Palace and addresses her diminished court, announcing the dawn of the Seven Kingdoms under shared rule. Malachi pledges to serve Kadeesha's vision while making clear that threats to their family will be met with absolute force. The gathered Aetherfolk raise their goblets in cautious support, and Kadeesha reflects that she has seized her throne, her kingdom's independence, a genuine partnership, and a child who will be heir to a united continent.