Page 1 of Red Ruin
CHAPTER1
IRIS
I’ve reachedfor my non-existent phone fifty times in the hour since I arrived at Lomfort—the last station at the end of the line. One more time, I catch my hand halfway inside my empty pocket.
When I snatch my fingers back, I wince at the weird, bare ridge of skin where I used to wear my engagement ring.
I left it and everything else behind.
Out here on the edge of Faervaine’s shrinking empire, pulses of magic from constant monster spawns fry all human technology. Maybe someday, I’ll learn to live without scrolling and same-day delivery.
Right now, I have no way of contacting the Farguard to remind them that I’m waiting for a ride.
I’m still reeling that I made it.
That Iescaped.
That some clueless bureaucrat actually approved my request to transfer guards.
I think of Duke Kevan Kyorgos—my former fiancé and now former commander—twice as often as I reach for my phone.
It’s easy to pull back my fingers.
It’s harder breathing past the sickening wave that sweeps through me every time I remember why I had to flee.
Five years of devoting myself as Kevan’s Guide. Of being his all-in-one spiritual healer, life planner, and pre-scheduled sex partner. Always working behind the scenes to earn his recognition, running his Deathguard and dreaming of the day I became his titled duchess.
The day Ifinallyhad a permanent place to belong.
Now, I’d bet everything I have left:
For all the times I’ve thought about him on my journey, Kevan Kyorgos hasn’t thought of me once.
I’ve already been replaced.
I swing my heels on a weathered bench, waiting for someone at my new guard to care that I exist.
The military engine that dropped me at Lomfort chugged off without coming to a full stop. As soon as I hopped onto the collapsing platform, the conductor steamed away.
When I shield my eyes against the setting sun, I spot the jagged, half-oval cut out of the train station’s rafters.
Something ate the ceiling. No one ever bothered to fix the damage.
It screams desolate and forgotten.
Just like home.
Just like me.
I let out a bitter laugh.
For a few crazy seconds on that train, I wondered if I might actually have things easy in the Farguard. What other S-class Guide wouldvolunteerto fight in a territory this doomed?
No one could even tell me who’s in command out here.
Thankfully, I didn’t come for easy.
I came for the “far” in Farguard.
