Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Brie told me once that when she was first learning to wield her shadows, she found them easiest to grasp when she was angry. Later, she learned better ways to control them, but maybe if I focus on my anger, my rage—
I charge through the doors and toward the lawn at the back of the palace and stumble back at the chaos before me, all illuminated by flames that line the perimeter. The dozens of raging bonfires that were lit to fortify the wards have grown in size. The flames lick at the night sky, the crackling so loud it sounds like breaking bones, and the heat so intense I can feel it from a good hundred yards away.
Soldiers fight with swords and fists and magic, and everywhere I look there is death. Dead soldiers being stomped underfoot while others fight. Soldiers struck by blades and magic and arrows and falling to join them.
“We have the queen!” someone shouts, and the insurgents flooding the lawn cheer. Several of the Midnight Raiders turn, distracted by the incoming horde, and are struck because of it.
I tuck myself into the shadows and watch as five males carry my sister over their heads. Her arms are bound to her sides, her legs tied together. I can’t breathe. They’re going to hang her from the gates, just like the oracle showed me.
I want to chase them down and tear her from their grasp. I roll the ring between two fingers. If I put it on, I could save her. I could command them and they would do as I say.
Wait. I drop my gaze and nearly drop it because my hands are shaking so hard. I took it off in the hall with Kendrick. I didn’t pick it up, did I? I don’t want to wear the ring again.
Though, maybe I should. If I’d put it on sooner, who’s to say I couldn’t have stopped all of this?
But last time I wore it, I hurt Kendrick and he may not survive. If I put it on now to save my sister, who’s to say Mordeus won’t take control and kill her with my hands?
It takes every bit of my focus, but I hold it tight and hurl it toward the flames that line the lawn.
The best way I can help my sister now is to keep Mordeus from taking it all, and the only way I can do that is to tap into the power I can’t seem to find inside myself.
I blow out a shuddering breath, ignore every instinct that tells me to run after my sister, and will myself to find that fire Pretha swears is waiting inside.
Someone grabs me by the hair and yanks me backward. “Finally!” he mutters. “We find the vessel. Come with me.”
I let him push me along toward a group of soldiers near the gates. The air grows hotter the closer we get, and I have to squint against the glare of the flames.
Burn now, I tell myself, burn and take this bastard with you.
I dig, looking deep toward my anger, thinking of every day Mordeus stole from me because of what he did in those dungeons—not just the days I was there but the days after. Fury pumps through me, but I still see no flame.
The vessel. They know Mordeus’s plan. And if that’s the case then they know that their king plans to take over this body.
If this continues, I lose, and all my efforts were for nothing. But if they think I am Mordeus . . .
“Enough!” I shout, and everyone in the group pulls to attention. “Is this how you look at your king?” I jerk from the soldier’s grasp and spin to glare at him.
“Mordeus,” he breathes, bowing his head. “Forgive me, I—”
“Give us something so we know it’s you in there, Your Majesty,” someone says behind me.
What was Kendrick trying to tell me before Mordeus pushed me from my own consciousness? Remember the Sword of Fire, he said. Does he think it’s here somewhere? That Erith brought it with him? Maybe it could be used to ignite my power or—
“Yeah,” the male next to him says. “It’s not midnight yet.”
“Exactly. And your job is to protect this vessel until it’s complete,” I spit, spinning to glare at the others.
“Of course,” the first male says. “We will keep you safe.”
The clock on the Midnight Palace sounds its first chime for midnight. If I don’t move now, this is over. Think about the Sword of Fire, Kendrick said. That flame wasn’t yours.
Pretha wanted me to find my inner flame, she thought that was the way to use my power, but what if that’s not how this works at all.
Maybe we’ve been wrong all along. Maybe I can’t wield flames like my sister can wield shadows. Maybe there’s no fire burning inside me but only the ability to survive it. Or not survive but return.