Athos Dane

Athos by Mona May

**King Athos Dane** is the ruler of White London alongside his twin sister, Astrid.

## Physical description

Athos is a tall, wiry man with short colorless hair and pale blue eyes. Because of his misuse of magic, his veins stand out black against his pale skin. Except for his broader shoulders and shorter hair, Athos looks exactly like his twin sister. Like her, he usually wears close-fitting white protective clothes that cover most of his body.

There are various runes engraved in his body; one of them is a translation rune that allows him to speak and understand any language perfectly.

## Personality

Athos is a cruel and ruthless man who has no regard for others, except for his sister He delights in torturing people and turning them into his slaves by binding their bodies to him. Furthermore, he is power-hungry and experiments with magic to become even stronger.

Since he was a child, Athos likes to search for treasures. In adulthood, his treasure hunts have become more sophisticated and focused on finding Black London artifacts to help save White London. Athos also prefers games with "tangible" stakes over challenges of wit, unlike his sister.

## Biography

### History

Seven years ago, Athos and Astrid poisoned Ros Vortalis and bound Holland Vosijk to become the rulers of White London.

Once, while he and Astrid were playing a game of Ost and torturing a man, they took turns telling the story of the darkest vein. Astrid won the game and made Holland kill the man. Holland then told them the end of the story before he left. Amused, Athos and Astrid began another round.

At some point, while searching for artifacts and treasures, Athos found a black stone that has been split into two pieces.

### The black stone

In October 1819, Athos is torturing Beloc when Holland arrives to tell him that they have a visitor: Kell Maresh, the Red London *Antari*. He leaves Beloc strapped to a metal frame and heads to the throne room to meet Kell; Holland follows him.

In the throne room, Athos joins Astrid on the dais and invites Kell to drink with them. He commands Holland to cut himself and fill a goblet with his blood; unable to refuse, Holland complies. Athos then shares the blood with Astrid while Kell drinks alcohol.

### The Black Night

Using the power of his black stone, Athos watches everything unfold: Kell and Lila Bard's adventures, Holland's demise, and Astrid wreaking havoc over Red London. He is dissatisfied by his sister's actions because she failed to contain Kell. When he sees Kell arriving in White London and heading to find him, Athos leaves the throne room and goes to meet—and kill—Kell.

They fight; at first, Athos has the upper hand, but then Kell taunts him into creating a gigantic snake with the black stone. When he sees it, Kell remarks that Athos finally created something strong enough to defeat him; after all, he seemingly cannot do it himself. Wanting to prove him wrong, Athos tries to dispel the snake—in vain. Instead of vanishing, the snake becomes sentient and refuses to be dispelled; it wraps itself around Athos and snaps his neck.

## Skills and abilities

* **Magic:** Despite the scarcity and peculiar nature of magic in White London, Athos is a remarkably strong magician. His specialty are binding spells.

## Possessions

* **Black stone:** A powerful stone from Black London that Athos found one day. He gives one half of it to Kell Maresh who eventually gets his hands on Athos' half as well and sends the restored stone to Black London alongside Holland.
* **Whip:** His weapon of choice. Athos uses it to fight and torture people.

## Appearances

* *Winner Takes All*
* *A Darker Shade of Magic* (first appearance)
* *A Gathering of Shadows* (mentioned only)
* *A Conjuring of Light* (flashback only)

## References

1. ↑ "[The Dane twins] are roughly the same age as Holland, who is in his mid-30′s."
(V. E. Schwab on Tumblr)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *A Darker Shade of Magic*, IV: White Throne, II
3. ↑ *A Darker Shade of Magic*, IV: White Throne, IV
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *A Darker Shade of Magic*, IV: White Throne, III
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *A Darker Shade of Magic*, XI: Masquerade, IV
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *A Darker Shade of Magic*, Bonus short story: "Winner Takes All"
7. ↑ *A Darker Shade of Magic*, IV: White Throne, III-IV
8. ↑ *A Darker Shade of Magic*, XIII: The Waiting King, I-III
9. ↑ *A Darker Shade of Magic*, XIII: The Waiting King, IV
10. ↑ *A Darker Shade of Magic*, XIV: The Final Door, I