Kenna
The dining room table in the castle can seat twenty-four people. It’s insane, really. I’ve been to both formal and informal dinners here during my brief and scattered trips to Crescent Falls. Normally, the family only gathers in Maatua, and there we like to spread out on the grass, or the patio, or the beach for dinner….
But there’s no food laid out. No breakfast spread, no snacks. Nothing to drink or fiddle with.
I lace my fingers together in my lap while I sit on one of the chairs near the head of the table. Ryan sits across from me, his legs crossed as he drums his fingers on his knee.
Sydney and Aunt Maddy are upstairs with Uncle Isaac.
Misty walks into the room, her eyes red, bloodshot, and full of tears. A smear of mascara peppers her left cheekbone as she looks from me to Ryan.
I shoot to my feet. “Misty, what’s the matter?”
She pouts, her lo
EvanderThe moon is still high in the sky when the first blacked out SUV pulls out of the driveway moving toward the security gate. Princess Misty is inside the vehicle with her suitcases. I didn’t watch the heated exchange she had with her parents. I could hear it, though. The Princess of Crescent Falls is not happy she’s being sent away for the summer.I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the hood of a similar SUV, checking my watch. It’s 4:00 in the morning. Kenna and I will set out for the port in twenty minutes, taking a different route than Misty and the Ghosts assigned to escort her to Maatua.Royal warriors in their wolf forms move through the surrounding woods like shadows, searching for threats.I check my watch again. Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes until I’m stuck in a car with Kenna, alone–for two hours, if I respect the speed limit.I roll my lower lip between my
KennaI blink. I blink again, confused about the sudden rush of night air against my right cheek. Evander’s voice is nearby, distorted and hazy. Sparkles cover everything… or maybe that’s just my vision coming back. “Kenna? Goddess, Kenna? Are you okay?” Evander sounds frantic. I reach over and try to pat his hand, but I suddenly lurch forward. The sound of metal on metal erupts in my ears, causing them to ring. I scream, and then I’m thrust back into reality. We’re moving at what feels like the speed of light. I’m in a car. The window at my side is shattered, and the door is crushed inward. By some miracle, I’m okay. I’m covered in glass. The windshield in front of me is splintered but intact, and on the horizon, the lights of the port come into view. We’re barreling toward a private dock. The ferry sits at the very edge of it, but it’s raising its ramp. We’re rear-ended again. Evander grabs my arm. “Are you okay?”“I’m okay,” I rush out, reaching up to wipe tears from my eyes.
KennaCleo, the wife, mother, and matriarch of the property where Evander and I fell through the sky into their chicken coop, sets a huge clay platter on the kitchen table–an old, gnarled table graying with age and wear–and smiles brightly as she lifts the lid. Fragrant steam wafts into the air as roast chicken and an assortment of vegetables come into view. I’m starving and still riding a high from jumping for the first time. I honestly can’t believe I did it. But now we’re in Eastonia, and we’re so far away from the Roguelands that neither of us can mind-link with our families back home. So, we’re stuck. For the meantime, at least. I don’t mind in the slightest. We’ve been here for several hours. Cleo immediately took me inside their cozy home and found me a change of clothes–her youngest son’s shirt and pants that are so long I had to cuff the sleeves and roll up the pants by several inches–but I’m warm, and my body isn’t as broken as I thought. My back is sore from breaking th
EvanderI’ll give credit where credit is due and admit that Kenna is fast. She darts across the grassy expanse of wide open farmland at a speed I hadn’t expected, and I find myself jogging to try to catch up to her.She cuts between two barns and disappears into a shadow of silver mist.“Kenna,” I pant, looking around for the tell tale signs she’s near.A twig crunches in the distance. I whirl around to see footsteps shifting through the grass. They disappear as Kenna–invisible to the naked eye–climbs over a fence and down an embankment.She came into this ability as a child. I vividly remember the day it happened and how jarring it had been. One second, we were playing in the woods surrounding Old Moonrise while her grandmother, Cressendra, forged wild herbs, and the next, Kenna was simply gone.But not really. I could hear her screaming for help but could
Kenna“Kenna.”I reach up to rub my eyes, my back stiff from sleeping on the ground.“Kenna, wake up.”Someone shakes me gently.“Hey!”“What?” I groan, blinking into amber light shining directly in my face. I squint, and Evander’s features come into view, his expression washed with concern. “Ev? What’s going on?”“You need to get up and come with me.”As I come back to reality, unkindly thrust out of a dream I think had to do with the upcoming Rite, I hear voices outside.Evander wastes no time. Suddenly, I’m standing, and he’s laying a cloak over my shoulders, clasping it over my sternum. He works deftly in silence.Fabric brushes against my collarbone, and I feel a sudden spark of familiarity at the touch. I step back, feeling like I just experienced a shock to my system.
KennaEvander steps closer, but I’m still draped in my shadow. I love this power of mine, honestly. It’s my favorite of the arsenal of magic that dwells in my veins. I can just… disappear, or harness the power and turn myself into a writhing mass of the darkest kind of shadow and cause all kinds of chaos, but I’ve never done that.Blending into the shadows? Yes. All the time.But Evander can see me. He crouches in front of me, knitting his fingers together while resting his elbows on his knees.“Your uniform looks stupid,” I grumble.“I’ve been told women love men in uniform.”“You look like an underfed dragon.” It’s true, in my defense. Black, thick fabric envelopes him from his neck to the tips of his toes–every inch of him covered in strange scales of a depthless onyx. Leather armor covers his chest, forearms, and thighs. It hugs them like a glove, which makes sense, given that all of this is possible
KennaEvander shuts the door. The lock clicks, and for a moment, the only sound I can hear is my heartbeat racing in my own ears.He looks… conflicted. Unsure–and unsteady.“You–you smell like vanilla candles,” I whisper, unsure if I say the words out loud or only in my head.But he looks at me, holding my gaze. “I do?” he asks quietly, his voice taking on a tone I’m not accustomed to. It’s softer than before, less on edge.I nod, finding it impossible to swallow past the lump forming in my throat.“Why?” I ask, because it’s the only word frantically bouncing around my skull.“Why do I smell like the vanilla candles you like so much?” He takes a step toward me, then another, but there’s still an incredible amount of distance between us.“Yeah, why?”Evander’s jaw clenches, and his eyes dart to his boots. Guilt clouds the fine features of his face.But I
EvanderI have two options. Option one: Run like hell. Find the nearest village where I’m able to finally mind-link with someone, anyone, from King Ryatt’s forces and find a way to get Kenna home so I can run deeper into the mountains and disappear forever. Or option two: Turn around and claim her as mate, like the Goddess intended, forever shackling her to a murderous, violent man who is grossly unable to give her everything she deserves. I keep running–sprinting–my paws overturning raw earth as I tear through the forest and back up into the mountains until I’m past the tree line and far enough from Tiscoln that I can’t feel the overwhelming pull toward her anymore. In the distance, I can just see the faint lights of Tiscoln shimmering in a shallow valley, nothing more than a muted glow in a thick crop of trees. I skid to a stop on the peak of a lower mountain, my paws sliding over late summer snow and ice. I don’t question why I just did such a thing to Kenna. I don’t need to.
ColeMisty falls into a dead sleep in my arms on Georgia’s old bed. I can’t sleep. I try, but it’s useless tonight. I’m not sure about leaving her here alone, so I bide my time, sliding out of bed and tucking her in tight before standing by the window and watching the square below as the fires turn to embers and warriors go back to wherever their comrades are bunking down for the night. Maybe it was selfish of me to take Misty here, to sleep in an actual bed, while warriors are literally sleeping outside in the square. The room starts to close in on me, and I make the snap decision to leave. The dorm is mostly empty. A few students mill about, their faces marred with confusion. Students who survived the attack but didn’t get away from Richard and his magic. Students who were turned into voiceless, mindless warriors and remember nothing of the weeks they spent in Richard’s clutches. With our bond back in place, I can sense that she’s still asleep, still safe, as I cross the square.
MistyCole doesn’t let go of my hand. He hasn’t since we left the infirmary, and I walked on unsteady legs for the first time in days, my healing powers finally reigniting to speed through the damage done by using every ounce of my powers to close the portal. He didn’t let go of my hand when Sydney whisked us through space and time to the tropical forest that hugs Serpentia, where the trees are so thick it blocks the moonlight on the forest floor. His fingers are knitted between mine, holding tight, as I follow Sydney, Ryan, and Aviva down a fresh wolf trail and into a clearing on a bluff with a view of Serpentia, and the battlefield. Ella’s kneeling at the edge of the bluff, Ryatt standing beside her, leaning down with a hand on her shoulder. Dad stands nearby, his head lowered as he runs his fingers through his hair repeatedly, his eyes locked on… on the clothing in the clearing. Cole lets go of my hand, falling in step with Ryan and Aviva, while I step forward with Sydney in s
RyanThree Days LaterTarsian is gone. That’s the only way to describe it. The cities, the packs… it’s nothing but endless, blood-stained desert now. Even the sea lapping against the shores of Serpentia is stained a dark red, but I watch it fade as I stand on what’s left of a deck overlooking the ocean. Behind me, the incessant chatter of the injured and healing overwhelm the sound of the waves. A few people walk along the sand–warriors of different ranks and alliances. A young man in tattered Arcane Umbra armor talks to a group of men in armor from the Roguelands, reunited with old friends. The curse is gone. The soldiers the Umbra Mortis turned into his puppets, his monsters, well… so far, they have no memory of the war, which is a blessing. The rest of us remember, though. How could we ever forget what happened here? How are we possibly going to move on? “Ryan?”I turn toward Kenna’s voice as she steps toward me, edging around a group of nurses from Moonrise here to help treat
ColeI choke myself awake. Smoke fills my lungs, smothering my senses for precious seconds I quickly realize I don’t have. Muffled voices fill my ears–a few shouts of pain, of surprise. People are calling out for friends and comrades.I’m not in the afterlife. I know that immediately. Pain echoes through my body like waves, driven by the tide of my heartbeat as my body claws back to life, my chest wounds knitting together in real time. But my hand is freezing. I squeeze the fingers tangled in mine and jolt back to reality, rolling with effort to curl my body around Misty. “No,” I breathe into her hair. “Come–Come back.” I can’t feel her anymore. My hand slides up to her neck, my fingers trembling as I feel for her pulse. It’s there, but barely. A weak thump that pauses for several heartbreaking seconds. “H-Help!” I try to shout the word into existence, but my voice cracks painfully, turning into a scream. “HELP!”Figures rush toward us in a blur. The battlefield erupts into view, sh
MistyI land on my feet in a sea of mist. Silver fog snakes around my ankles, around my glimmering armour made of pure light. For a moment, I think I’m… lost within the aether–in the misty, shadowed undercurrent that separates our realm from the Goddess’s kingdom. But wet grass squishes beneath my boots as I stumble forward, breathless, damn near in pieces. Rain pelts the top of my head as I grope for anything to grab onto before I careen toward the ground. I yelp as my body lands with a thud. Thunder booms, followed by its rolling echo as it bounces toward me. The rain fizzles to a gentle whisper as the mist begins to part. A great stone wall comes into view, and then two voices carry toward me, lifted in alarm. I sit up with great effort, kneeling as I gasp for breath that won’t fill my lungs. I slowly lift my head and see two women–one young and… stunning, with long, blonde hair and ocean blue eyes that seem to glow as she holds my gaze, her lips parted in surprise. The seco
Cole“Undo it,” I tell him. “Take the curse back and reinstate order.”He purses his lips to a thin line, confused. “But, Cole, I can’t. It’s not something you can just… stop. Think about it. Use that big brain of yours. Do you see this place? Tarsian is so much bigger than the rest of Eastonia. Riches beyond belief lay below the sand. There used to be mines and forges here, mines that pulled silver and moonstone from the ground and forges that turned that into magic. Yet, in our time, the magic is hoarded by the royals–the Allied Kings.” He sweeps his hand toward the battle. “But not anymore. Once I open the gate, it’s over. This world will be no more. You can come with me, Cole. Be a god instead of a king.”“You can’t, Richard. You failed. Misty is safe, with her family. You needed her to do this.”He smiles a bit sadly, but his eyes flare with mischief. “Yes, she is. Such a shame, really. It would have been easier to do it with her help. Quicker, less leg work for me.” He opens the
Misty“Forgive me, please,” I say to Mom as we walk side by side to the war room, which is really just a massive training area at the very base of the castle. “I know I just got back…hours ago….”“Bring them back for me,” she replies sadly, her hand ghosting down my back. She stops at the staircase leading to the furthest depths of the castle. I turn to face her, and she tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “I’m okay here. I’ll keep the kids happy and comfortable.”That’s my mom’s power. Being the leader of this family. She has a knack for bringing everyone together, keeping everyone loved and… whole. I pull her into a hug and squeeze. “I’ll come home again, I promise. I’ll be bringing my mate home with me in time for Solstice, I promise.”Her tears fall into my hair. I reluctantly let her go and turn for the stairs, refusing to look back. I have to look forward–only forward–if I’m going to get through this. Ella’s already in the armory, sorting weapons, her eyes locked on her tas
MistyEverything else is a blur. Aviva’s screamed words. Ella’s rushed explanations. Grandma taking me by the shoulders and leading me away, tucking me in a sitting room somewhere in the depths of the castle. I barely feel her arm on my shoulder. I barely register sitting down in a chair, holding the bloody pages in my lap and watching the firelight dance over the untidy scrawl I know so well. I sit there for what could be hours. Eventually, I’m joined by Sarah and Kenna… and then Aviva. Still, I haven’t read the letter. I’ve read my name, addressed at the top of the first page, over and over again. This is his final goodbye, and I’m not ready to accept that. “What are we supposed to do?” Kenna grinds out. “The reports coming out of Tarsian are–”“I don’t fucking care what they are!” Sarah’s voice pitches with fury. “The father of my sons is fighting for his fucking life right now, Kenna.”“My mate, too!” Kenna shouts. “But we’ve been told to stay, to be prepared to defend Moonrise
MistyI wait in the hallway for Luke, not believing he’s actually here, in Moonrise, in the same place I currently am. Eventually, he’s escorted around a corner by two of Ella’s royal guards. His eyes go wide when he sees me, his cheeks flushing. “Misty–”“Luke,” I whisper, trying to smile at him, but my heart is skittering out of my chest. He glances at the guards before taking several swift steps ahead of them to reach my side. I pull him across the hallway to a set of windows and benches overlooking the city of Moonrise, now bathed in afternoon light. “You got out,” he says in disbelief. “I heard that you had, but I didn’t believe it–”“Is Georgia safe?” “Yes, she’s with her family. Her father’s fighting, but she and her mother went to Crescent Falls–”“What did Cole have you working on in the castle?” I rush out. “I was supposed to help you with it but never got the chance.”He pulls a small, oval object out of his jacket pocket and hands it to me. “It’s a cryptex. He said it wa