The Dreamthief's Daughter
Chapter One
Stolen Dreams
My name is Ulric, Graf von Bek, and I am the last of my earthly
line. An unhealthy child, cursed with the family disease of
albinism, I was born and raised in Bek, Saxony, in the early years
of the century. I was trained to rule our province wisely and
justly, to preserve the status quo, in the best traditions of the
Lutheran Church.
My mother died giving birth to me. My father perished in a ghastly
fire, when our old tower was partially destroyed. My brothers were
all far older than I, and engaged mostly in military diplomacy
abroad, so the estate, it was thought, would be my responsibility.
It was not expected that I would wish to expose, any longer than
necessary, my strange, ruby eyes to the light of common day. I
accepted this sentence of virtual imprisonment as my due. It had
been suffered by many ancestors before me. There were terrible tales
of what had become of twin albino children born to my
great-grandmother.
Any unease I had in this role was soon subdued as, in my questioning
years, I made friends with the l ... read full excerpt from The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino ebook
