The first time Bayu fell in love, he was twelve years old.

His maids had bustled into his room early in the morning, carrying swathes of expensive batik fabric in their arms, soap and jugs of water.

"Tuan Muda! Get up! Get up!" Bayu remembered wiping the sleep crust from his eyes, being lifted into the bath and scrubbed from head to toe. They dressed him in lavish clothing, placed several heavy rings to his fingers and jangly bracelets to his wrists.

"What's going on?" He mumbled, half delirious.

The maids said nothing, they marched him down into the great dining hall in his home, affixed with gilded gold furniture and a sparkling chandelier Bayu had accidentally broken one too many times.

The table was spread with mountains of food; fragrant nasi kuning, a golden rice dish cooked in coconut milk and turmeric (Bayu's favourite), skewers of succulent satay doused in rich peanut sauce; bowls of spicy sambal that filled the air with a sharp, fiery scent; and crispy emping crackers made from melinjo nuts. Bayu spotted dessert also. Baskets of sweet, sticky kue lapis layered in green pandan and coconut, he fought the urge to drool in front of him.

His Father sat to the opposite end of the table dressed in a red batik fabric, his staff leaning against the table. His four brothers sat on the other ends, jostling each other and whispering to themselves inconspicuously.

"Jaya." Bayu plopped himself down next to his oldest brother. Bayu liked Jaya the best; he was the most skilled of all his brothers, scoring high in magic lessons and boasting the perfect eyebrow thickness that made all the girls in Batavia swoon. "What's going on? What's with all the food?"

"You don't know?" Bayu didn't like the glint in his eye. "It's your engagement dinner."

"Engagement?"

"Yes you're betrothed."

Before Bayu could struggle to formulate a response, the large ornate doors to the dining room swung open, and in walked the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her skin was the smoothest shade of brown, her hair long and dark. Her eyes were a sweet mahogany, her lips were like roses. She was dressed in a stunning purple batik fabric, she looked perfectly miserable. Governer Suryono followed behind her with a leering smirk on his face, his thick hand pushed her into the dining room.

"The Noble Santoso!" He engulfed Bayu's father in an embrace, then pulled back to showcase his petulant daughter. "My daughter Ratih."

"Let her sit!" His father replied. "Let us feast on this merry day!"

While his brothers quickly started wolfing down the food Bayu stewed in thought. Engagement? Jaya must be lying, his father hadn't uttered a word about such a thing.

"Papa." Bayu called.

"Yes Bayu?"

"What is this dinner for?"

"Your betrothal Bayu, to the honorable Ratih." He smiled then and Bayu remembered a few weeks prior when his Father had called him into his office.

What Bayu had only just started to understand was the Santoso's were not an ordinary family. The average person did not have a flurry of maids, butlers and secretaries waiting on hand and foot. They did not ride in lavish carriages and sleep in beds made of silk and satin. They did not feast day upon day or attend the most coveted schools in all of Indonesia. The average person did not belong to a noble aristocratic line of highly skilled wizards. Indonesia's population mainly consisted of the Orang Bunian, forest sprites similar in appearance to elves. Wizards were exceedingly rare.

His Father had sat that day in his office with his long golden staff next to him like always, his moustache thick above his upper lip. "Bayu as a Santoso you will soon need to accept your duty."

"My duty?" Bayu stuttered. He was distracted by the paint stained on his hands. In fact he was in the middle of painting a glorious sunset before he was summoned into the office, and he was not in the mood to have any important and boring chats with his elusive Father.

"Yes it exists in many forms. You have a duty to the people in this country. I may ask you to do something that you don't understand but in the future you will come to realise why this has been required of you."

"Yes Papa." Bayu had scarcely listened that day. He wish he had, or he wouldn't be sitting here in this dining room stocked full of food, a beautiful girl across from him, glaring.

After dinner Bayu's Father and the Governor went to sit into the garden patio, smoking from their pipes and drinking piping hot ginger tea. Bayu was told to "speak to the honourable Ratih", his brothers teased him mercilessly.

"Would you like to take a walk through our gardens?" Bayu's voice was high and childish, he was aware of the fact he had the beginnings of a pimple growing on his chin and gaps in his teeth from a recently fallen baby tooth.

Ratih shrugged, but she followed him despondently into the gardens. Their gardens was one of Bayu's favourite places to paint, there were Rainbow gum eucalyptus trees, jasmine, moon orchids and corpse flowers. It was an explosion of colour and opulence. Bayu felt it was rather romantic.

"Were you told that we're getting married?" Bayu glanced at Ratih's side profile and looked away into the rich blue sky.

"Yes." Her voice was flat and clear. Bayu thought she sounded like a birdsong. "It's against my will. My Father only told me yesterday." Her voice broke down at the end.

In a rush of bravado, Bayu grasped her lithe fingers and turned to look at her seriously, squaring his shoulders. He was a Santoso—part of one of the most coveted and influential noble wizard families in all of Batavia, perhaps even all of Indonesia. He would soon rule this country side by side with his brothers. This girl, this young, beautiful, sad girl, would be his wife.

"I've just met you Ratih. I don't know you at all. But we both have a duty to this country as noble wizards." He squeezed her hands a little tighter. "I will love you, irrevocably so. I will kiss the ground at your feet. You will never be hungry, you will never want for anything. I'm making this vow to you Ratih. Though we are bound by duty, cajoled by our fathers. Know that I am choosing you now, and I will choose you when we marry in years to come."

Ratih stared at him, aghast. Bayu held still, affixed in her arresting chestnut gaze. Then she laughed, it rang through the gardens, danced over the roses and the orchids and the palm trees and the gorgeous ornate water fountain. She wrenched her hand from his grasp and stepped away. "Bayu." Bayu liked his name on her lips. "You're just a boy."

She ran into the house, her dark hair swaying behind her.

Bayu loved her anyway. He loved her even when they were forced to attend a multitude of events—dinners with governors and ministers, tea parties, and lavish balls where Ratih would wear flowers in her hair, her lips stained a crimson red.

He loved her still once he past the awkward precipice from teenager into man, when he became even more handsome than his brother Jaya. Girls would throw themselves at his feet for a dance or a tryst in the bushes, he turned himself away from them, utterly devoted to Ratih. Even when he felt the crushing weight of his responsibilities piling up, his Father holding and swinging him around like a puppet on a string, he held fast to his adoration. That was for him alone.

On the eve of his twenty second birthday, his affluent mansion home was awash with celebration. The maids had prepared golden lanterns across the winding staircases and baskets full of food. His Father used Bayu's birthday as a networking opportunity, inviting the most prominent people in government to laugh, smoke and debate the future of the country. As Bayu was the youngest brother his other brothers had all swiftly gotten married to pretty wives with large grins and even larger purses. All except his oldest brother Jaya who was poised to occupy his Father's position. He got to choose who he could marry.

"Bayu!" Jaya ruffled his long locks, Bayu stepped out of his way, smoothing down his deep velvet batik cloth. "Happy birthday."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You planning anything?"

"What makes you say that?" Bayu felt the large shape of a ring box nestled in his pocket. Today he would fulfill his promise.

"Nothing. Anyway, let's go down and get food, don't want the celebrations to start without you."

Bayu could not focus on the meal he was eating, he couldn't focus on his friends sending him well wishes, or the ministers trying to miserably network with him to gain favour for their rotten sons. He looked wildly around the hall for Ratih, holding steadfast to the knowledge that he had invited her and she said she would come.

Bayu strode out to the garden, he slipped the ring box out from his pocket and stroked the plush cover of the box as he walked, he bit into his lip in nervousness. Maybe he shouldn't ask her today, maybe he should do it on a Saturday when it wasn't so busy, they could eat steamed buns and drink rose milk at her favourite cafe, Bayu could even get her some flowers while he was it. Or maybe...

Bayu halted in his tracks, he clutched tight to the ring box. Right in front of the fountain was Ratih and Jaya. They were kissing. Jaya had his strong, capable hands wrapped around the small of her waist, he drew Ratih to him, breathing into her as if she was oxygen. She clutched tight to his shoulders, coming away and sighing, whispering fervently, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' Bayu watched them for a disturbingly long time.

Horrifyingly, Bayu could feel hot tears slip down his cheek, he bit back a gasp that had Jaya finally wrenching his eyes off his beloved to witness Bayu standing across him.

"Bayu-"

Bayu walked right up to Jaya and slapped him. His cheek was tinged a scathing red. "How dare you Bayu? How dare you slap your older brother? Do you have no respect!" Jaya squared his shoulders, his thick eyebrows bunched over his face in red-hot anger.

"How dare I!" Bayu furiously scrubbed at the tears on his face. "You are kissing my fiancee. How dare you!"

Jaya's eyes softened a little, as if he had finally witnessed the markings of tears on his face. He sobered, rubbing at his stinging cheek. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have reacted in such a manner."

Bayu turned his face away from his brother, staring Ratih down. Her lips were full and swollen from being kissed, her long straight dark hair wrapped into an elaborate updo. She looked like a lily.

"Ratih-" Bayu pleaded, he couldn't extract the whining from his voice. "How could you? I love you. I was going to propose to you." Bayu held the ring box to her face, his hands were shaking.

She shrugged, pouting her lips. "I don't care."

"You don't care?" Bayu willed his legs to stop shaking. The garden all of a sudden felt terribly cold. He felt like an imposter in his lavish clothes, his necklaces weighed heavily around his neck. He felt a swell of magic surge within him and he tempered it down with a groan. He would not hurt her.

"Bayu, you're sweet, you know that. And I am fond of you. But I don't love you." The worst part was that her eyes were so kind, so lovely. "I have never loved you. I was forced into this engagement because of my Father and because of that I think I felt some resentment towards you." She looked past Bayu at the birds soaring through the inky night. "I never wanted to love you, no matter how kind you were, no matter how devoted you may have been. Remember when we were younger and we met for the first time?"

"I remember."

"And you told me that you chose me? Bayu that was a lie, you did not choose me, you may have deluded yourself into thinking so, and even if you did choose me, I did not choose you."

"But you chose my brother?" Bayu couldn't help the fact that his voice shook, he could barely look at Jaya.

Ratih stared at the ground. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it-"

"You couldn't help it?" Bayu sputtered in disbelief. "You...we...we went on dates, so many dates and walks and events...you held me Ratih...why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me you did not want to be with me?"

"Bayu-"

"And how long? How long have you been kissing my brother! How long have you been laying with him." Bayu said the last part with venom, he meant for it to hurt.

Jaya swung his fist into Bayu's cheek. Bayu could taste blood seeping into his tongue. "I don't care how angry you are, do not ever speak about Ratih that way."

Bayu smiled then, a cruel vicious smile, blood stained his teeth. Strangely he felt as if all the fight had gone out of him. Everyday he was working to get into his father's good graces, he attended long boring meetings, honed and practiced his magic to a startling perfection, created healing potions for the local doctor's hospitals that saved thousands of people. He did every single thing that was asked of him. Bayu did not stray out of line. He was supposed to marry Ratih. He was supposed to become a Governor. He was supposed to be a Santoso.

"Does it feel good when you fu-"

Jaya pushed Bayu into the ground and repeatedly began to punch him. The pain seeped into his limbs. He could hear Ratih screaming in the background. Bayu curled himself into a ball and took it. The pain was almost cathartic. Finally Jaya stopped his onslaught, Ratih was holding his hand tightly in hers, crying.

"Please stop Jaya, it doesn't matter."

"It's your reputation he's defacing."

"Please Jaya."

Bayu watched as they left the garden, his body felt like it was burning all over. He wasn't even angry at Ratih, but at his brother, the betrayal sat like a log in his stomach. He hated him.

He heard a slow clap flood into his senses. There was a man standing by the fountain, Bayu tried to move his head to figure out where the man came from but his head hurt too much. From his shoulder blades two protruding black feather wings shook slightly in the slight chill. He was smirking at Bayu as if the sight amused him.

"What are you?" Bayu could barely form words.

"I'm a soldier. Rupert Lowe at your service." He crouched by Bayu's trembling form on the ground. Rupert's eyes roved over Bayu's face. "Blimey, your handsome! Happy birthday by the way. I've got a gift for you."

"What-"

"Ever heard of the Aetherwing Brigade?"