Page 5 of A Story of Sinners

Kieran eyes flashed a deep crimson.

With that confirmation, we moved through the hall. Fear seeped from Kieran’s pores, filling the air with absolute terror. The witches had pinned guards to the walls with their spells, and as we passed, they dropped to their knees like deadweights, eyes glassed over, mouths gaping open in silent screams.

Once we reached the end of the hall, I glanced to the witches standing outside of the throne room, muttering incantations. I met Matilda’s wrinkled gaze, and her head dipped in confirmation. The plan would be successful.

I inhaled as Kieran and I passed through the witch’s barrier and entered the throne room. Kieran’s red irises scanned the room, sending the courtiers to their knees.

I smiled as my eyes met my target. Straight ahead, sitting atop the throne with Lyra on his lap, sat Caspian.

I stepped forward, my canines cutting and tearing through my gumline, thirsting for blood as I smiled viciously.

“Hello, brother.”

Chapter3

Ryken

Caspian shot me a cursory glance, determined I wasn’t a threat, and promptly ignored my presence. In his mind, I was simply his powerless brother returned home. He remained completely unaware of the fae on their knees and the witches standing just outside the entrance. His attention shifted to the window, an obvious dismissal.

When he spotted the dragon attacking the palace walls, it finally dawned on him. His body tensed, and his gaze slowly slid back to me, eyes widening as he noted the silver sparks crackling off my skin.

“That’s right brother. My magic has been recovered.”

Caspian knew what this meant. The crown would no longer be his, and so he frantically pushed Lyra from his lap, preparing for a fight.

A fight he would not win.

Lyra pushed herself up from the marble flooring and giggled, tossing her pink hair behind her shoulders as she sauntered away. Caspian stood, panic etched along his face, as he took in the downed fae, the witches, Kieran, andme. His hands whipped out, palms facing the air as he summoned magic, but not a single blue spark appeared.

He shook out his hands and tried again—still nothing.

“The wine, brother. Lady Lyra slipped a potion into your wine.”

Caspian was never one for hand-to-hand combat. He’d made his way in our world through conniving and manipulation, skills that weren’t helpful at a time like this.

When a dark stain spread across my brother’s trousers, I held my hand in front of Kieran, a signal to lessen his magic for the moment. I wanted Caspian here, fully present, aware of what would transpire next.

“When did you get your powers back?” Caspian asked, blue hair slipping into his panic-stricken face.

“Three months ago.”

Awareness slowly crept in along Caspian’s face. If he’d bothered to glimpse outside of the bubble of Faerie, he would have noticed the darkness that had taken over the continent and the deteriorating state of the outside world. Outside of the bubble, the sky was one of endless night, dark and filled with shadowy terrors. Outside of Faerie lay hell on earth.

One wouldn’t know that simply by looking up at the sky in Faerie, since the barrier nearly stretched to the stars, not allowing a single shadow to slip through, but Caspian had always been spoiled. Spoon-fed since the day he was born, our parents had molly coddled him after he faced a short bought of sickness, and it showed.

I’d been brought up differently—raised to fight, to lead.

“You’ve grown complacent, Caspian. You would do good to remember that the barrier was never created to protect us from the outside world. It was created to protect the outside world from us. Father was the one to put it into place, after all.”

“Father put it into place to keep the mortals out,” he argued.

As far as Caspian knew, it was impenetrable to mortals but could be dropped to allow high fae entrance and exit, but that wasn’t true. The fae were never allowed to exit; at least, not until after the war, when small cracks had formed beneath the constant onslaught of the shade gods. The fae, myself included, used that crack to sneak in and out of Faerie beneath his nose.

Caspian had never left Faerie, had never even tried. If he had, he would have discovered that the barrier was nearly impenetrable, regardless of species.

“That’s what Father told the fae to appease the masses, but centuries ago, after a particularly gruesome wild hunt, he’d drawn the barrier to keep us in. You wouldn’t know that, though, since he thought you so delicate.”

“It’s funny how you call him father,” Caspian snorted.

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