Page 3 of Shadows of Ruin

When I finally pulled myself from the ground, bloody droplets, more black than red, ran down my rib bones.

Slow. Steady.

Cassandra didn’t stop her ministrations, swirling her hands in sweeping motions. Sparks emitted from the tips of her fingers, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

“I think my magic is abandoning me,” I said to her, confiding in the woman who had stood by my side since my mother died. “Or fighting me.”

“Your magic will guide you if you let it.”

I shuddered. “I’m the Monster of Mysthaven. My magic should obey.”

“Obey who?”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to. She knew everything, even the darkness inside of me. The one I tried and failed to fight so many times.

“This is not your path, Kade Blackthorn,” she hummed. “You forget my words, but I never will.”

She spoke reassuringly as she continued healing me, her speech coherent, in a way it so rarely was.

“I’ll speak them once more for your weary soul.” Herhands continued removing the pain from the lashes decorating my back.

I knew the words she’d speak, even if they didn’t make sense to me yet. She believed in me. Believed I’d figure out this damned prophecy. Cassandra’s assurances to convince me the prophecy was mine drowned out my protests long ago that it might be for someone else.

Her voice changed, coming out as if she spoke the words of a lullaby as she finished mending what the king had so enjoyed breaking.

“Rebels rise where darkness lies,

Not one but two must break the ties.

Across the void, a queen you must seek,

Trust freely given, for one alone proves too weak.

Though evil will free and be bound no more,

Fate still awaits one final war.”

Chapter 1

Ian

“The king is dead!”

“Murdered!”

I attempted to force open my eyes, but they were so damn heavy. A throbbing pain radiated from a hundred different places over my body. The gasps and cries around me barely registered past the intense torment raking over my skin.

“After such a sickening act of betrayal, your princess fled. Queen Roxana remains so stricken with grief she cannot even be here to tell you herself of the atrocities committed today.”

My head bobbed once as I struggled to compel myself into a conscious state.

Lana? Lana fled?

No. Bile crept into my mouth, but I swallowed it down, ignoring the acidic taste it left behind. She would never. I must get to her. Find her, fight for her.

A cool breeze flitted through the air, dragging with it the coppery smell of blood until it permeated my senses.

I am the damn captain of the guard. I’m better than this.

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