Page 3 of The Umbra King

Gathering her clothes from the bathroom floor, she threw them into the laundering machine, dumped an insane amount of detergent into the barrel, and pressed start. With a scrub brush, cleaning spray, and her boots in hand, she stepped onto the balcony. Even though the boots were black, she never left evidence behind.

Cleaning was tedious, but it was also soothing. It was familiar, which she liked. She’d hated change since the day her realm was tilted on its axis, and as it always did on nights like these, her mind replayed the worst day of her life.

Rory didn’t feel welland stayed home from school that morning—at least, that’s what she told her family. Truthfully, she didn’t do the reading assignment for period five and didn’t want to fail the test that day.

Before leaving for school, Corapromised they would watch Rory’s favorite movie that night.

Rory sat on the couch by the window, bored after being alone all day.She knew Cora would be home soon and stared out the window, waiting for her as she huffed hot air on the glass to draw a smiley face.

Shewiped the drawing away with the sleeve of her shirt and saw Cora turn on their street. “Thank theSeraphim.” She pushed herself off the couch and pulled the window up to yell, but stopped when Bane, an older guy Cora met earlier that week, approached her. Did Cora forget about their movie date?

Bane summoned her sister into an alley across from their apartment, and before Rory realized what was happening, he pinned her to the wall, clamped his hand over her mouth, and stabbed her in the heart.

Rory screamed Cora’s name and clawed at the screen on the open window. She watched helplessly as Bane motioned to another man Rory hadn’t seen. The new man held up a clear jar to Cora’s mouth, and when she took her last breath, the inside of the jar filled with a bright pink light.

“No!” Rory screamed, the guttural cry burning her throat. The man with the jar was aMerrow, and he’d just captured her sister’s soul.

Merrowswere soul stealers, and their abilities were supposed to be bound by the Crown, but somehow, his weren’t.

She ran for the door, sobbing in agony at what she’d seen, and her mother rushed into the room, asking what was wrong. All she could do was scream Cora’s name and point at the window as she fought to unlock the deadbolt. When her mother saw Cora lying in the alley, she pulled Rory back.

“Stay here.” She threw open the door and looked over her shoulder. “Do not leave the apartment.”

Ignoring her mother’s instructions, Rory pounded down the stairs after her. When they reached her sister’s body, her mother fell to her knees and tried to staunch the bleeding, but Rory knew it was too late.

She’d seen Cora’s soul leave. When mystics died, Rory saw their souls leave their bodies and disappear without having to touch them, something she learned inFeyhistory class last year. She never thought she’d have to see it.

Her mother stood and screamed for help as she fumbled her phone outof her back pocket. Rory fell to the ground next to Cora, pulled her into her lap, and rocked her back and forth as she cried.

Blood coated Rory’s shirt from holding Cora to her chest, and when the enforcers arrived, she held her tighter and twisted side to side as they tried to pry her sister’s lifeless body from her arms. She kicked and fought as she screamed her sister’s name until her throat was raw.

Her mother pulled her back and into her arms, and they stood, crying together, as their realm crumbled apart.

Rory scrubbed harder,clenching her jaw to fight down the tears. From that day on, she became obsessed with hunting down her sister’s killer and theMerrowwho stole Cora’s soul.

Merrows used souls to heal themselves if they were hurt or to extend their lives as they aged. She could only hope she found the two men in time before Cora’s soul was gone forever.

When Rory was twenty-two, she took justice into her own hands, because too many times, innocent people were found dead in the streets with no one to blame.

She needed the practice for when she finally found Bane, anyway. If only she knew something,anything, about him.

Her sister only mentioned him once and showed Rory a picture she’d snuck across the room of the café where they’d met. Cora asked Rory to skip first period with her that day to get coffee, but Rory refused, too afraid to get in trouble. The picture was blurry, but still clear enough to recognize him in the alley.

When she asked Cora why she’d taken the picture in the first place, her sister replied,“There was something different about him.”

She and her twin shared everything, and when Cora didn’t voluntarily offer information, Rory peppered her with questions. Her sister gave vague answers, saying they only spoke for a few minutes, and despite the uneasy feeling in Rory’s stomach, she afforded her sister privacy.

Cora never said she liked him inthatway, just that they weregoing to meet up for lunch later that week. He was older than her, and it seemed weird, but again, Rory didn’t want to step on her sister’s toes.

That was the extent of knowledge Rory had of the man who killed her sister, and she knew absolutely nothing of the man who captured her soul.

For years, she asked around about Bane and any known unboundMerrows,and while she had a few leads, they were all dead ends.

When she finally found Bane, she would watch him swing as his blood played the sweetest melody she would ever hear.

2

Rory struggledto hook up a new beer keg at Whiplash, the dive bar she worked at five days a week.

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