Page 1 of Fates of Monsters

Prologue

LORENZO

We were never their monsters, and when it comes down to it, they will take our help. Fae flood through the mirror portals endlessly until I can’t see who is going through at all, but it’s mostly fae who do not look like they have had a good meal in a while.

Goldway City is one of the most stunning places in this world, all the houses made of pure gold, along with its high walls that block out the sea. Red trees line the pristine streets, and even the stones are dotted with gold flecks in the stonework. All this wealth, but in the end, nothing will save them from the Rift King. Most of the city has completely ignored our warning, and it’s getting really, really frustrating to see some of them walking away, back to their homes.

Posy grabs the arm of a fae boy, only about eleven and I step through the portal to help her. “I know your mother said to ignore us and return, but I’m telling you, death is coming. You won’t escape it. Get through the portal.”

He roughly tugs his arm from her grip. “You’re a monster like they are. We don’t need your help.”

Posy places her hands on her hips as the boy walks back to a group waiting for him. They all follow him away, and Posy looks at me, sensing me watching her. She is broken, much like my own heart. I don’t know how either of us is standing right now. Emerson and his fae female, Calli, are gone. The best, pure lights of this dark world are just dead. I didn’t know Calliophe all that well, but I find myself grieving her. Maybe she was right about the memories… That means I just lost more family than I thought. The crown on my head is heavy, and part of me already resents it. I will protect whoever I can, but this crown belongs to my brother. Solandis is doing most of the work, even though she is a shell of herself too. The Rift King has won, and I don’t know what I’m fighting for anymore.

A baby’s cry fills my ears, and I look down, right into the eyes of a dark-haired fae baby clinging to my arm. Her mother tugs her hands away. “I’m so sorry. She must like you.”

I touch her cheek—that shows how thin she is. I’m fighting for them, for people here, who can at least spend the last of their days safe and fed. I can do that. Zurine tells me to put one foot in front of the other and keep going until there is nothing left to give. “Go through the portal. It’s okay.”

Posy has begun to throw people through the portal with her air magic, ignoring their shouts. She is far more brutal with telling them to get into the portal, and I’m almost tempted to smile. She is inspiring.

Goldway City spreads out in front of me, and it’s shaped almost like a giant crown with its high barricaded walls on the edges, with spiked towers in a circle around the entire city. We’re on a slightly raised hill just outside it, after their populous leader agreed to let us evacuate whoever we could. They’ve done evacuations themselves to the sea and islands in the distance, but that was for the rich only. The poor fae and mortal slaves have been left behind like they aren’t people at all. They never stood a chance, and it was a good idea to come here and give them one. My soldiers stand at the edges of the path to the portals, pushing more people along. It makes me sick to my stomach to think how many they would just leave here to die.

I walk over to Posy, needing to be near her. Not that she wants me anywhere near her, but sometimes, I find her staring at me. Sometimes I let hope dig its traitorous claws into my heart. It doesn’t matter to me if she never chooses to accept our mating, to be with me at all. Her safety is important and, while I’m still breathing, I will make sure she survives this war. She’s all I have left. She and my sister, but Emerson is gone. My brother is dead. My heart clenches. I can’t think of him for more than a second without wanting to break apart.

“The idiots are still refusing to believe what happened in Junepit City,” Posy growls. “The idiots will die in their disbelief.”

My hand itches to stroke her back, just to comfort her. Goddess above, she smells amazing. The wind blows her hair across her shoulder, the strands inches from my cheek. “They are stubborn, and they have made their choice. Maybe they will change their mind before he gets here.”

Posy looks up at me. She is tiny, but I have planned every single way I could use that to both our advantages. Fuck, I need to stop looking at her. “You’re going to be a king. Can’t you just force them through the portals, and then we will deal with it later?”

“I might be next in line to the throne, but I’m not anywhere near as powerful as Emerson’s wa—” I pause. I can’t talk about him in the past tense. “I can’t do that. They wouldn’t take it well even if I did.”

“They’d be alive,” she answers with a bite in her tone, not for me, but for the fact she can’t convince them to do what she wants. “I can’t watch millions die again. I just can’t.” She stops moving, her body locking up as we both sense the same thing. A darkness, a sense of something very wrong that floods every warning system in my body. I turn to the coast, and on the glittering seas in the distance is a black line. The Rift army on the seas. It is full of ships, and a single black ship is heading straight towards the city. Louie doesn’t need an army to win this city. He is the army. Grey magic spreads out from the ship, like a cloud, wrapping around the front of the city barricades. They explode loudly, the explosion ringing through the air as I step closer to Posy. People scream around us, running for the portals in droves.

A figure appears in the settling dust, and even from here, I can see him. I’d know that evil anywhere. He took my brother. I take a step forward, but Posy grabs my hand, her skin soft where she touches me. “We need to leave, or we die here. We will get revenge, but not here. Not now.”

I look back at Louie once, gritting my teeth. “Get in the portal now! EVERYONE RUN!” Posy doesn’t resist as I pull her with me, pushing through the crowds and into the portal. Posy stands in front of the portal, her arm stretched out. A heavy wind whips through the air, pulling everyone nearby into the portals with a crash, knocking her over, and I catch her before she can fall. As I hold Posy, we both watch from the other side of the mirror in horror. Grey magic spreads out from Louie, destroying the city bit by bit before it gets to us. The mirror shatters and there is silence… so much silence.

Posy’s bright eyes find mine in the darkness. “He just destroyed the last fae city. That means he’s coming for us next.”

ChapterOne

Idestroyed an entire city. I’m a monster. Everything that happened flashes into my mind until that final moment plays over and over.

Louie leant down. “When everything is dead and gone, I will stop. This world will burn, and you will be the trigger.”

I frowned, wondering what he meant as he ripped the crown off his own head and slammed it down on mine. Time paused as a power like I’ve never known ripped through my soul, burning my skin like fire. I screamed as the power built within me, and it was more than fire or ice. It was darkness. It was shadows, light, and everything this world needs to survive. All of it built in my chest as I fell to my knees, grasping my stomach, and suddenly my power exploded. A flurry of fire, ice, shadow, and darkness all in one, rolled out around me in waves that felt like they are being torn from my soul. I couldn’t stop screaming as I lost control of the power, unable to do anything, to control it at all.

Suddenly, there is silence. Too much silence.

“You’re stronger than predicted. Thank you for giving me your power to share with the other rulers, blood of the goddess, but now it’s time you die.” Louie roughly pulled the crown from my head, ripping my hair with it. “The prophecy was right about your power. ‘Reborn to mortal life five times over, each time, a drop of power taken from the rift.’” He repeated the first lines of the prophecy about me. I never knew what they meant. “You had so much power from the Rift, more given each time you were reborn. Now that I have your power in the crown, this world will fall.” I couldn’t hear him, fear him, or see anything but the destruction around me. Ash fell slowly from the sky, right down on my cheeks, and I lifted my hand to brush it away. I screamed in horror as I realized what I had done. What he made me do. Junepit City is gone, and there was nothing left but ash piles, spread in every direction to the sea and thick forest. I had destroyed an entire city and murdered millions.

Warm hands cupmy cheeks as I suck in the bitterly cold air. My ears are ringing as I wake up, and all of it feels like it’s a nightmare. I don’t want to open my eyes, because I might see the destruction again and again. See the falling ash, the destructive magic that exploded out of me and Louie. Goddess, Louie. He claimed to have stolen my power, and with that power, he could destroy the whole world so easily. It would be all my fault just like Junepit City is. The city is gone. It was me. I destroyed an entire city. Whether Louie made me do it, whether it was me completely losing control of my power, whatever happened, I killed millions. Millions are dead because of me and that crown. I can see their blood, so much of it, devouring my soul. I destroyed the city. The city of the goddess. The one place I wanted to see for so many years, and it’s gone because of me. A sob crawls out of my throat. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s not,Calliophe. Open your eyes.” Emerson’s firm, deep voice cuts through my thoughts, and I blink against the dark night. Emerson is lying on the ground next to me, both of us on our sides, and the first thing I see are his moonless purple eyes. His wings are in tatters, falling over his body, and there is so much blood on him. He doesn’t move much, only enough to grab my hip and tug me against him with a grunt.

I wrapmy arms around his neck as he rests his forehead on mine. His breaths are shaky, and he feels cold. Too cold. “How injured are you? We need—”

“I’m fine,”he grumbles, but each word is laced with a sharp pain that no one could miss. I lift my head back, blowing out a breath. He is alive and arguing with me. That’s good, that’s normal. I can see from his eyes alone that he’s in so much pain, but he cups my face once more. He runs his thumbs under my eyes to wipe away the tears. “You destroyed and killed no one in that city. Junepit fell to him, and he used you as a tool, but it is he who destroyed that city. You were the sword, but he was the one who killed with you. In battles, we don’t blame our weapons for death.”

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