The price of power is a heavy burden. If one’s disposition is not accustomed to such accountability, the weight becomes crushing, threatening to topple a lesser being. It is because of this that those who wield such power – such responsibilities, are also gifted with greater privilege in the world.

I, who wanted for naught in my life, hungered for the one thing that was not meant for me. When the opportunity arouse, of course I wrapped my greedy little fingers about it and held it fast lest the chance slip away. So it is to me that everyone looks when they think of House Solspire. Not my sister, who was brilliant and beautiful.

Benevolent…that was the word they used for her at her funeral.

Her compassionate heart always led her to some public service or another, whether it was offering alms to the poor or providing warm clothes and a hearty meal to someone down on their luck – that was just the sort of woman she was. It was no surprise to see her walking the streets of Silvermoon City, the emblem of the Blood Knights staining her breast with defiant crimson pride.

While I played and led a decadent life of self indulgence, she maintained the House under my mother’s watchful tutelage and showed what a true Noble should be like.

When the Lich King’s dark minions advanced upon our beloved City, she rallied with other brave souls, while I and my cronies cowered within the city walls. Our greatest hopes and prayers were that we’d not have to see the decaying corpses that crept and clawed at the gates.

In the aftermath of it all, when I realized that I would live to play another day though many of my friends and family never would, I remember thinking how decidedly sad it was that the Midsummer Gala would have to be postponed. It didn’t dawn upon me that my sister hadn’t returned, or that more than three quarters of my kin lay dead upon the gilded streets of the city.

What form of monster I am, that I felt only numbness as I watched my home burn, the proud spires of the Solspire Estates set ablaze by the might of my mother’s fury. She was a Magister of Silvermoon to the end, and would rather die than to allow the corruption seeping through her body to overtake her.

At least she died as she lived, with pride.

Our glorious society shattered, my father’s mind along with it, I was lost, bereft of guidance and of understanding. What was I to do?

When the young Lord, Gorhodin Sunfury offered his aid, I could not turn it away. In exchange, I offered him comfort over the loss of my sister, and the alternative of my hand in marriage. After all, the betrothal should go on. Our two great Houses should not be without their Lord and Lady.

I proposed this for the good of public relations, and to maintain the contract our parents formed when he and my sister were only babes. There was no hidden agenda; after all, I didn’t lust after my own sister’s beloved….