So, I've explained how the elves are overlords and have enslaved humans, and how halfbloods are basically all supposed to be killed at birth and all. Valyn (heir and son of Dyran, the most powerful and cruel of the elven lords) has always been sympathetic to humans, and doesn't agree with treating them basically like animals. Dyran also has an extensive harem of human concubines, and a lazy brother - Treves. While Dyran was away handling politics one time, Treves came to visit the manor and took advantage of the harem. He took a young concubine who had just been taken off her sterilization medication, in preparation for breeding to one of Dyran's gladiators. She wasn't supposed to be still in the harem, but there was an overslight.
The next day, she was bred as planned. Nine months later, she gives birth. the midwife was halfblind, and missed the telltale signs that the baby was actually a halfblood - Treves was the father. The concubine was able to keep the baby (Mero) hidden until he was eleven. That's the age when all human slaves were inspected and collared. So she smuggled him to Valyn, and begged Valyn to protect him. Valyn said he would, constructed a collar himself that would hold an illusion of full humanity, and claimed he was commandeering the boy for his own personal body slave. He was so protective of Mero that he kept him with him almost constantly, and after a few years everyone just called Mero 'Valyn's Shadow', until no one even remembered his real name and just called him Shadow.
And Shadow was a constant pawn in Valyn and his father's power struggles - Dyran knew how much Shadow meant to Valyn, so he'd often beat or punish or threaten to give Mero to one of his violent overseers as a concubine, to keep Valyn in line.
Uh, yeah. BUT YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK EVEN THOUGH I TOTALLY EXPLAINED EVERYTHING!
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So, I've explained how the elves are overlords and have enslaved humans, and how halfbloods are basically all supposed to be killed at birth and all. Valyn (heir and son of Dyran, the most powerful and cruel of the elven lords) has always been sympathetic to humans, and doesn't agree with treating them basically like animals. Dyran also has an extensive harem of human concubines, and a lazy brother - Treves. While Dyran was away handling politics one time, Treves came to visit the manor and took advantage of the harem. He took a young concubine who had just been taken off her sterilization medication, in preparation for breeding to one of Dyran's gladiators. She wasn't supposed to be still in the harem, but there was an overslight.
The next day, she was bred as planned. Nine months later, she gives birth. the midwife was halfblind, and missed the telltale signs that the baby was actually a halfblood - Treves was the father. The concubine was able to keep the baby (Mero) hidden until he was eleven. That's the age when all human slaves were inspected and collared. So she smuggled him to Valyn, and begged Valyn to protect him. Valyn said he would, constructed a collar himself that would hold an illusion of full humanity, and claimed he was commandeering the boy for his own personal body slave. He was so protective of Mero that he kept him with him almost constantly, and after a few years everyone just called Mero 'Valyn's Shadow', until no one even remembered his real name and just called him Shadow.
And Shadow was a constant pawn in Valyn and his father's power struggles - Dyran knew how much Shadow meant to Valyn, so he'd often beat or punish or threaten to give Mero to one of his violent overseers as a concubine, to keep Valyn in line.
Uh, yeah. BUT YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK EVEN THOUGH I TOTALLY EXPLAINED EVERYTHING!