Page 237 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

I straightened myself once more, wiping my hands over the front of my armor. A wet, deep laugh came from the corner of the room.

“Something funny?” I snarled at him.

Killium sat up, his hand holding his cracked ribs. “You think I made a weapon for a fate? You’re as dumb as you look. I made a weapon to bridge a gap, to fix what you broke.”

My hand whipped out, grabbing him by the throat. “What does that mean?” I hissed.

Thunder echoed across the sky, and a soldier burst through the door a heartbeat later.

“My liege.”

“Not now, Grog.” I spun, still holding Killium, my spear drawn. “Can you not see I am in the middle of maiming?”

His eyes were so wide they took up most of his face. He stammered and pointed up. “The sky, my liege. It’s moving.”

“What?” I asked, my brows furrowing. Killium started laughing again, even though it obviously hurt. I shook him and growled, “What do you know?”

“You’re out of time.” He smiled at me. “The true king has returned.”

He was still smiling when I rammed the spear through his midsection. His body disintegrated into a heap of dust, and I turned toward the stairs. My generals let me pass and then followed me up the steps to the front door.

The town gathered outside, everyone gasping and pointing toward the sky. I looked up and watched in disbelief as the silver disappeared and the clouds bellowed. The sky split, and rain poured down. Thunder roared, so loud and violent that everyone on the streets cringed and scrambled toward their homes. My eyes stayed drawn to the sky.

“Our next order, my liege?” one soldier asked.

I gripped the spear deathly tight, steel creaking in my hand.

“Prepare for Tatil’ee.”

ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

ISAIAH

They had talked about him. Nismera had the old records that recorded Samkiel’s rise and fall from Rashearim. I remembered being enamored with the way they painted his accomplishments. I’d even wished to be like him. He was this powerful, brave figure everyone looked up to. He was faster than any and extremely deadly with a blade, any blade. I just never thought I’d see it in real life. Mera had said he was trapped behind the realms, and he’d be long dead for them to open, yet there he stood. He’d ripped the very sky open for her, and now, all it did was pour.

Blind rage poured into his eyes, and tendrils of destructive, raw power struck at the air around him. My chest ached. Kaden had fallen so easily as if killing him were nothing. Samkiel was so fast my eyes hadn’t even registered his movements, and as my body begged to retreat, I realized what we were dealing with. We had dared to touch her, and now there was no mercy in the creature I faced.

I swallowed my fear and charged him, striking out with my sword. Samkiel dodged the blow easily, effortlessly. Too quick. I felt his hand at the back of my armor, then a sickening crunch from somewhere deep in my body. Too damn quick. I had only seen one other person move that quickly, only one, and I’d helped murder him because no one else could. Unir. Our father. There was searing pain and then nothing but darkness.

MY WRISTS AND HEAD THROBBED. I SHIFTED, TRYING TO ALLEVIATE some of the strain on my shoulders. My eyes flew open when I realized my body was pulled tight and aching everywhere. I was on my knees with my arms stretched out to my sides, thick metal cuffs wrapped painfully tight around my wrists. Shallow cuts covered my body, blood stained me, pooling around me on the floor. The color was almost black where it had dried. They had been bleeding me out for a while now, it seemed. I wondered how long I had been unconscious.

The room faded in and out. When my vision cleared, my breath stuttered in my chest. Samkiel stood framed in the doorway, and for a moment, I saw our father. The same stance, the same lean, the same posture, and above all, the same power. Curse the old gods and the dead. He had it all back. He’d ripped his power from the very sky for her.

Samkiel had always been the weak one in our story, a means to an end. He was merciful and kind, a guardian and protector, but always below us. Now, he leaned against the doorjamb with a predator’s intent, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. He was no untried youth. This man had been tempered, tried, and driven to the edge. He was a god in the true sense of the word: terrible, beautiful, and overflowing with power. We were all wrong. She was so wrong.

He carelessly tossed a silver dagger into the air, catching it easily by the hilt. I saw the blood staining the edge of the blade and knew instinctively it was mine. I tried to move but struggled to make my body work, feeling so weak and tired.

“When I was younger, Unir constantly scolded me for not being where I should be. Instead of training or participating in the council meetings, I would be off looking for fun, adventure, and, as I got older, partners. His punishment was always to lock me in the athenaeum. I’d study for hours, sometimes days, depending on what trouble I had caused. He wanted me to be a great king, a smart one. I remember reading about a powerful race that could bend water at will, and then there were those who learned to bend blood.”

Samkiel paused, appraising me with molten silver eyes. They burned with barely contained rage, reminding me of Nismera.

“The trick with magic or power is to find the source and stop it just like a dam in a river. Stop the flow. Blood is your power, but it is also your weakness. I made a few cuts. I hope you don’t mind. They won’t seal since the blade I used is ablaze. It is what hurts you that can kill you, but Unir didn’t teach me that. She did.”

Ablaze. He had used the ablaze weapons on me and not that swirling death blade. Until he’d killed Kaden, I had never seen it, never been close to it. I’d only seen the aftermath of his destruction and learned why they called him the World Ender. Nismera had the ring. I had seen it, and I knew it didn’t rest on his hands. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to summon it, but if what he said was true, he didn’t need it for Oblivion. He was Oblivion. My heart broke as I remembered how quickly Kaden fell, becoming nothing but dark ash.

“Kaden . . .” I didn’t realize the word left my lips until he made a noise in his throat.

“Is dead.”

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