Page 114 of Shadows of Ruin

Into the hands of Andras.

I didn’t know until this moment the anger I held at the king and queen for allowing what he did. Even knowing theyallowed it by sheer ignorance. The overpowering guilt that followed when thinking anything bad about them after their deaths wrecked me further.

The others remained silent behind me until Ian kneeled next to me.

“Come on, Lana, let’s do this. Let’s find what your mother left you.”

Standing, I turned to the group, wiping my hands along my pants. Resolve washing over me. “I’d like to look inside.”

Kade sent his shadows in ahead of us, slipping in through the cracks of the windows and doors. He had been adamant that he examine everything first, wanting to make sure we weren’t walking into an ambush. The moment his shadows returned, he nodded.

“Storm and Raya will remain outside to keep watch. If anything appears amiss, leave. We don’t want to disturb any unnatural forces here.”

Kade spoke like a commander. A leader. Even Ian nodded in agreement.

I stopped at the front door, knowing everyone was standing behind me. With me. I tentatively placed my hand on the knob. After one more deep breath, I turned it, allowing the door to creak open.

Unlocked.

I frowned, until I looked at Kade. He gave me a wink while his shadows danced at his feet.

Was there anything his shadows couldn’t do?

As I stepped inside, my breath caught in my throat. Stumbling backward, my hand flew to my chest.

Kade caught me before I fell. His hardened glare, focusing on the house, softened instantly as he looked at me.

“Breathe,” he whispered. “It’s okay.” He cradled my head to his chest.

“What is it?” Ian ran forward and abruptly halted at the door. “Fucking Fates.”

He’d seen what I had. Not only had the outside of my parents’ home been left alone, but the inside had been as well.

It had never been cleaned from the attack that took their lives.

I’d walked in the front door of my parents’ home only to witness the bloodstained walls perfectly preserved from the night they were murdered.

Chapter 32

Lana

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, stepping from Kade’s firm grasp. “It just caught me off guard.”

Kade tensed beside me, but instead of pulling me back to him, his shadows closed in around me. With him by my side, I stepped fully into the living room.

The furniture in the home lay scattered and broken, disheveled from the obvious fight on that night. Nothing remained upright or whole. A thick layer of dust covered the home and shifted with our steps.

I walked up to a long-crusted bloody streak and gingerly touched it.

Tears silently fell down my face as I placed my hand on the wall.

“Why?” I asked to no one in particular. “Why leave it like this?”

“Sometimes grief makes people do horrible things.” Jax stood beside me, closer than he normally did. I looked at him to find his focus solely on me and not the mess around us.

“Horrible things?” I asked.

“When I was a boy, dark ones murdered my mother. Igrew up on a farm, and my father had been working in the fields when it happened.”

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