The Assassin's Destiny

Hidden Legends: Prison for Supernatural Offenders #4

by Megan Linski, Alicia Rades

Love becomes unchained.
Ava-Marie
Nothing can scare you when you've already died.
Caught between the realm of the living and the dead, I'm not the same person I used to be. I'm darker, crazier... and nothing's going to stop me from ruling over this prison.
The merfolk key is linked to a legendary assassin, and Kallie might be the way to find it. If we're going to save the Elves, my friends and I will have to resort to unsavory methods. I'm getting justice for my past, and taking revenge no matter what the consequences.
My prophecy will test just how far I'm willing to go. If I truly want to stop the end of the world, we'll have to go to the one place every inmate fears...
Cellblock 9.
Charlie
The Warden nearly stole the love of my life away. I'm determined to protect what's mine with everything in me. He thinks he can lock me in this cage, but I'm prepared to show him just what a villain can do.
Our demigod powers grow stronger by the day, and soon, nothing will be able to contain us... contain me . There's nothing I won't do to fulfill my destiny.
One way or another, we're escaping the Institute, and raining hell down on whoever stands in our way.

Genres: Magic, Fantasy, Audiobook, Paranormal

730 pages, Hardcover

Published March 2, 2023

About the author

Megan Linski lives in Michigan. She is the author of more than fifty fantasy and paranormal novels which feature themes of friendship, community, and healthy romantic relationships. She has over fifteen years of experience writing books alongside working as a journalist and editor. She graduated from the University of Iowa, where she studied Creative Writing.

Her passions include ice skating and horseback riding. In her free time she enjoys dancing in the snow and drinking fancy coffee while at her natural habitat, the mall.

Megan advocates for the rights of the disabled, and is an activist for mental health awareness.

Megan co-writes the Hidden Legends Universe with Alicia Rades. She also writes under the pen name of Natalie Erin for the Creatures of the Lands series, co-authored by Krisen Lison.

Awards Megan has won include;

Best Fantasy Book of the Year 2019 by Once Upon a Book

Best Co-Authored Book of the Year 2022 by Once Upon a Book

Author of the Year 2022 by Once Upon a Book

Keynote Speaker at Once Upon a Book 2023

Best Book Friends (Ava and Kallie) 2023 by Once Upon a Book

Featured in the FOX Teen Choice Awards Gift Baskets

Two-time Reader's Favorite Five Star Read (Bronze Medal Finalist)

Winner of Amazon's Kindle Scout Competition

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ava has woken from her coma, because the compound beneath the Institute’s graveyard— where the Warden had been running his sick experiments on inmates— had come crashing down on her. She’d created an explosion to save us all and stop the Infernal, Underground. she died!!!!! But through her phoenix form, Oberi had brought Ava back to life, though it’d been Ava’s choice for her soul to return or not
“I love you.” My trembling fingers delicately traced her face. “I thought I’d never get to have you again.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Don’t cry, Charlie.” Ava wiped away tears from my eyes.
“I never wanted to let you go, but I thought it was the only choice—”
“I told you I’d never leave. Heaven and hell can’t keep us apart,” Ava said.
All her friends come to visit her, They believed Ava to be dead for a week!!!!
The Warden should not suspect anything,” Takashi assured me. “It’s been right in front of us all along. This is a book of poetry— nursery rhymes and stories that are thought to be fables, all originating from supernatural societies
It’s an old Atlantean story the sailors used to tell while at sea. It’s called The Assassin’s Destiny,” Takahashi said. “It speaks of a woman assassin who stole a treasure of the sea. We believe that to be the merfolk key.
“It’s about Kallie,” I said simply. “She was an assassin in Malovia, before she was sentenced to the Institute. She’s one of the demigods searching for the keys. So it must be her destiny to find it
She must connect with her origins and discover who this assassin was, in order to find where this mysterious woman hid the key.”
HOLY FREAKING HELL!!!
Ava has broken her spine and will never be able to walk!!! OMFG!!!
Sophia couldn't heal her
Ava works on her recovery but due the cuffs it's so much slower
Kallie is looking for the assassin in her mothers grimore. She practiced unseelie magic but almost died!!!  it was like I was looking into the past. I saw a woman steal the key from a vault somewhere in Atlantis. It was almost like I was looking through her eyes. Then Marcus appeared… but he wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“You were trapped inside the vision,” Marcus whispered. “I got you out.”
The warden made an announcement:
“My niece is the first student in the history of Darke Institute to attend willingly,” the Warden hissed. “She has chosen to do so in order to raise the prestige of this school
She's a demi god to spy on them!!!!
Ava and charlie find Ez and Opal by the fence, a deer is stuck and deadly wounded, Ez knows its gonna die if they don't heal him
The deer is his familiar!!!! Ava is too weak to heal him and Ez managed to heal him!!! His first power is healing and toaqua is his second
Ava and Charlie have a heart to heart about her being dead and now in wheelchair. He cuffs broke because of their forgiveness: “I think we’re always looking for negative feelings to fix things. Rage, desperation… but I realize now that I didn’t break the inferichite in the Underground because I was angry. I broke it because… I loved
They got into a fight because Deuce pushed Ava out of her wheelchair!!!
You can’t kill people for me.”
“Well, why not?”
“Because it’s going to change who you are.”
It took a moment for her meaning to hit. “Pidge, those guys broke Alistair’s arm and tried to kill Thaddeus. If we’re going to save the Elves, we’re going to have to do a lot worse.”
“You didn’t have to take that warlock's life. You chose to,” Ava said
Marcus and Charlie have a fight over marcus not acting on his feelings
you can break the bond'
“I can’t!” Marcus insisted. “Believe me, I’ve done everything I can to fall out of love with her, but my feelings for her aren’t going anywhere. If Kallie’s going to lose me, then she’ll lose an unbonded mate. It will be easier that way. I saw how fucked up you were when Ava died. I’m not putting her through that
Charlie and Ava convince him to asks her our eventually
They have a dubble diner date
He placed a small crystal ball in her hand, one that swirled with purple magic. “I used my Seer powers to put my memories inside this crystal ball. It replays the day we met, and all my favorite moments of… time we’ve spent together.” This is lovely.”
“I just thought… you should have the right to know,” Marcus said quietly, almost to the point I couldn’t hear him. “To see yourself like I do. Through my eyes
this was the real Kallie. Soft and sweet, with that regal fae elegance sorceresses always had. That tough girl persona she put on was just that— an act to protect herself. When Marcus stepped up, she had the ability to relax and be who she truly was
always thought I’d like to craft a potion to make black rose hybrids. It’d be nice to have a garden of them outside my home someday.”
Marcus gave a huge smile. “Yeah. I’m sure our kids would love them.
Kallie barely managed to hold her composure as she said, “Cute. I’m sure they would be. All mutts are.”
Marcus’ face darkened. I heard a bit of resentment come into his tone as he said, “Right. Our kids would be mutts. I’m sorry I’m not a snobby fae, hooked on bloodlines and good breeding. But I should know my background isn’t good enough for a princess
what do you want to tell these kids when they start asking why no one wants to accept them?”
“We’ll love them. That’s all they could ask for!” Marcus said.
“That’s not a good enough life for a child!” she yelled back. “Community is important!”
to be or not.”
“That sounds really stupid,” Marcus said condescendingly. “Some gods you have, forcing you to take a journey you don’t want.”
Insulting her religion was clearly one of the worst moves he could make, because Kallie erupted. “I don’t know why you even bothered to ask me on this date if you’re so godsdamn independent. Let’s face it, I’m a shifter, which means I need you a hell of a lot more than you need me. It must be nice to only care about yourself.”
“I need you too!” Marcus screamed. I watched as his Seer magic welled out of control, he broke the cuffs and her crystal ball!! “I cut her face— I could’ve blinded her— and I almost killed her faekin.”
“It was an accident,” Charlie insisted.
“People end up dead when I start having accidents,” Marcus shot back
Ivy’s having a powder paint party at The Devil’s Playground tonight,” Kallie said. “The dancers are going to toss a bunch of colors into the crowd. It’s going to be amazing
Ava must not be that sick, if she can go to a club,” Esther said. “She can probably walk. She’s just faking it.”
Kallie turned toward us. “Ava, I’m sorry if you’re thirsty, but this has to be done.”
She stomped toward Esther and dumped both of the drinks onto her head.
You were having a blast before those pricks opened their fat mouths,” Ivy protested. “Why didn’t you tell them off? That’s the Ava I know and love.”
“You don’t understand. I’ve… changed since I’ve come back.” I put my head in my hands. “I don’t want to be that ugly girl I was, who was mean and cruel. I just want to be a good person."
"You ain't a good person. You don't wanna be! Trying to save other people is what got you put in that chair!” Ivy insisted. “You keep giving up parts of yourself to other people, there's gonna be nothing left!
Later Ava and Charlie have sex wjth a vibrator, curtsy of Ivy
They have demigod training:
Takahashi said victoriously. “Ava has the ability to cure ailments beyond what’s possible by normal magic. Ava shouldn’t have been able to heal her brother from sepsis last semester, but her healing abilities are such that she is able to replace what’s already been too damaged to repair
Accessing my healing abilities through song didn’t make me exhausted. It gave me energy.
“Oh my gods, it’s all better!” Kallie said, touching the new skin.
“It’s like a phoenix song,” Charlie said in amazement. “Oberi’s Spirit form fits perfectly.
Charlie and Ava hear a fight between ivy and Chancey
Ivy was ferrying drugs through the club and using them!!!
Chaney cheated on him with Scarlet because he was angry at the drugs
Ivy stole Ava's pills for his own druguse.... oh god
Ivy had helped me through my dark times, so I wasn’t turning my back on him through this
I dug into ancient conflicts, stuff from before the Great Supernatural War. In one of Malovia’s history books, I discovered that the merfolk began a conflict with the fae over something the fae had stolen from them during the time of King Minos’ reign. Specifically, something the sister of King Minos took.”
“Does it mention a key?” I asked.
“No, but it sure does talk a lot about the king’s sister, Duchess Amalie,” Kallie said. “She was quite popular with the people, but she had a secret. I believe this is the same woman I saw in my vision. She was an exceptional assassin, hired on behalf of the crown to take out enemies to the royal family,” Kallie said. “They sent her to Atlantis to eliminate a political opponent, but while she was there, she found something extraordinary
Whatever Amalie took from the merfolk was lost, and she couldn’t give it to the crown, as they’d asked. Eventually, the king was forced to behead her on grounds of treason.”
“She must’ve realized what she had and sacrificed herself to keep it safe,” I said quietly.
“That’s what I figure,” Kallie said with a nod. “Unfortunately, all clues end there
she did have a son before she died. Who had another son, and so on and so forth, until eventually I came to a common ancestor we both share— Arthur Cedrick.”
I couldn’t believe the similarities. “Arthur Cedrick is one of my ancestors, too, on my father’s side,” I noted. “He’s an immigrant who came to California and built Orenda Academy after he befriended the Hawkei tribe
She’d been contacted by Neva, the goddess of time, who told her the merfolk key needed to be kept safe until the proper individuals could take ownership of it.”
“Demigods,” I murmured
It’s a map of the entire island,” Kallie described. “There are three clues to the merfolk key, and all of them are located on campus. The first spot on the map points to the siren lake.”
“Which the Warden is already searching,” Ava said glumly. She’d mentioned the guards were scanning the lake earlier this week.
The second location is somewhere in the middle of the school, but it’s hard to tell which hall. It could be one of the abandoned cell blocks,” Kallie stated. “The third is somewhere in the forest, on campus grounds. A line connects each dot, starting at the siren lake.”
“That probably means we have to go in chronological order,” Marcus noted
Charlie helps with Ava’s treatment, it was up to me to help her with physical therapy. Since the doctors didn’t give a shit. He wheeled her to Cellblock 7, to the room where Chancey had stashed his stolen work-out equipment.
Charlie wants to be bounty hunter and has an assignment, Chancey actually cared about making things better in the world. Better than that… he wanted to be a bounty hunter, too, be my partner and fight crime together.
“I’m honored. I’d love to start something like that with you. We’d be good partners,” I said. For his assignment he asks kallie for help. They talk about the dollmaker: all of his victims have been young women, fae sorceresses, between the ages of thirteen and twenty-two. He cuts their wings off and takes them as mementos. After he kills them, he dresses his victims up as dolls and poses them.”
I almost second guessed my desire to write about this guy. He was a real sicko. But someone had to get him off the streets, and if my profile was of any use to the Union, maybe he would be found and executed.
“How do you know all this?” I asked.
“I broke into the Malovian records office when I was hunting him back home. I saw the crime scene photos,” Kallie said
he’s aging them down because he’s fixated on a girl from his childhood. Something bad must’ve happened to him, and she was central to his trauma. His victims are made to be participants, and killing them is his way of fulfilling the fantasy he never got to play out with this other girl.”
Ava finds Chancey and Ivy in Chanceys cell: "I didn't really wanna do ‘em… wasn't interested, to tell you the truth. But life at home kept on getting harder and harder, and the jobs I took weren't getting any easier… I hated going home with those clients, so I'd just numb myself out to it, because I couldn't stand what they did to me.
Im named adter my dad...
Your dad isn’t you.”
“Bullshit. I’m a scummy asshole, just like him. Nothing but bad choices all my life.” He scoffed. “I named myself after my favorite drug, for crying out fucking loud.”
“You wanna know what I like about ivy? People try to trim it, or cut it down, but it grows and grows until it overcomes everything in its path, and when that happens, everyone is forced to accept that it’s beautiful.” I brushed his hair back. “The drug isn’t you. You’ve taken Ivy and made it your own.
Ava then goes to the library for research, she finds Ez: i’ve declared my major. I want to become a doctor. After I graduate from the Institute, I’ll go back to Orenda Academy and get my PhD, so I can find cures for illnesses, like the one that affects me and Dad. Tahoma and I promised each other we’d work our whole life to find a cure for Chronic Magical Suppression Syndrome
Omg I'm sooo proud of him!!!!
She then gets a call from daddy: “I called to tell you that John Smith has been arrested. Your Uncle Jonah caught him attacking another girl, a freshman at Orenda Academy.”
Pieces of myself that I thought had been put back together began crumbling inside of me
“It’s more than that, peanut. Since his arrest, four other Toaqua girls have come forward with accusations. The Elders are going to prosecute with some heavy charges. If convicted, he faces a number of years in the Hawkei prison
They continue with demigod training: Your illusions must be stronger than the other Elves. It could be your special Elf power. I definitely felt something different when you cast this illusion. I think we may have found your demigod power. He can make illusions through sent and make them sollid with his earth power!!
Marcus and kallie practiced their magic too
We can make the paintings come to life by fusing our powers together and using simultension,” Kallie said eagerly
The lake is free so they go explore for one of the devinity keys
No fae tricks,” Arsinoe complained. “You deliver a fresh body to us, for our consumption, before the semester’s over, and no siren within this lake will do any of your party harm. Otherwise, you don’t get to search the lake.”
Kallie’s eyebrow twitched. “Deal
It’s the giant squid. He’s been here longer than we have,” Arsinoe stated. “The rumor is that the squid was here before the Institute wasIf the Warden thought the squid had something to do with the key, he would’ve killed it by now. And since it swims around the entire lake, I don’t think it’s protecting anything but its food source… which are the sirens
Based on Kallie’s map, what we could tell was the points led to clues to the merfolk key, rather than the key itself. The Warden had the first clue. I prayed it wouldn’t lead him to the second before we found it ourselves.
Charlie and kallie find Brianna:
Brianna was near the point of hyperventilating. “The curtains opened… and Regina’s bloody body was staked to the back of the stage with knives! It was like the doll maker put her on display for the whole ball
Charlie is even more determined.
He goes to historyclass:
The Darke Games, the ridiculous size of the Institute’s property— it was designed to find and use demigods. The Warden must think there was something in the island’s history that would lead us to the keys. Professor Mazu announced the Mission, setup by the warden: “You’ve all come to the Institute to be reformed,” Mazur said. “If there’s any way for a student to better themselves, The Mission is
because their gods got them to war. If we were all governed under one god, there’d be no reason for war. The Mission seeks to unite us as one, so that we can follow the rising god to salvation. The God of The Mission will reveal himself when the time is right, but only once his followers have proven themselves.
He’s creating an army,” Ava said. “He’s getting people to sign up so he has a host of followers that’ll do whatever he tells them to, both inside the prison and in the outside world once these kids graduate.
Alistair stells history the way Eddie told him:
“Our story begins eight-hundred years ago,” Alistair began. “As you know, the Elves and the fae once lived together in a magical realm called Edinmyre. As their numbers grew and resources dwindled, war broke out amongst the two races. In order to save the Elves, their goddesses, Idril and Caralyn, offered them a place of refuge and a purpose in a new land. The Elves were forced out of their city of Ithriel and retreated to Earth. The goddesses portaled them to Dark Island through the Elven gate here on the island, and made them protectors of the gate, giving them seven keys. The purpose of these keys were so the races could commune with the gods together to resolve conflict
Alistair said. “Back then, the Elves tried to create the first United Supernatural Union, in order to unite the existing races so they could use these keys together. Angels, merfolk, fae— they all came together. The Elves invited leaders from all races to come commune with the gods. For a time, the races did unite, and the Elves remained caretakers of the keys and the gate, which was the only way for supernaturals to maintain their connection with the divine
The Seelie and Unseelie fae were in a civil war, so they left the Elves alone, feeling like they’d already won by driving them out of Edinmyre. But tensions continued amongst the fae, and they were banishing their own people to Earth for hundreds of years. By the 1600s, the fae had been cast out of Edinmyre by their own gods to Earth, as punishment for all the infighting. Their portal opened in Europe, which is where they settled to form their country of Malovia
The Elves suggested splitting up the keys amongst the races to show they were united. They believed no race should control them all, and that it was beneficial for everyone to share power. But the angels felt that they were a chosen community, and their race should hold their own key and a key for underrepresented supernatural communities. The Elves disagreed, and people began fighting, trying to steal the keys for themselves so they could have control over the Elven gateway and the afterlife. Legend says the Unseelie Fae got a hold of three keys, which were intended for the witches, fae, and Elementai.”
“Which have been found,” I said. “The races must’ve got them back from the Unseelie, because we have all three keys, passed down through the generations
“What happened after the keys were divided?”

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting paranormal & urban fantasy romance. The team, still imprisoned in the Academy, seeks to find the last clues and keys on the island. They are also searching for information to lead them to elves segregated from the student population. The war with the Warden escalates to epic proportions.

Much of this story is related to the difficulties of disabled, addicted, and suicidal people and their loved ones. It veers into BSDM. These scenes can be skipped to little effect. While the battles reach terrific scope, the tale ends decisively.

Action-packed. Entertaining. Haunting. Romantic. Scary. Steamy. Tragic. Unpredictable. Whimsical. Wonderful characters.

I received a review copy of this book from a third party. This is my honest review.

[Stephanie Ring · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG

Is book 5 out yet?!?!? Holy he|| in a hand basket! How could y’all leave it like that. Once again Alicia and Megan have written an amazing book. If you haven’t started at the beginning I suggest you do. Poor Ava I had a feeling the Warden was responsible for her being in a wheelchair and I was right! I really hope they get reunited with everyone soon!

[Mikayla Snelgrove]

I DNF this book.
I might try again later, but it really lost me here.
I was totally hooked for 3 books and this one just fell off the mark for me…
As I said I’ll put it away and come back to it later. But for now, not my cup of tea…. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

[Dona Bruening · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is amazing! I can't get enough of the characters and twists in the story! Super excited Book 5 just released and I'll actually have to "read" this book since I can't wait for the audiobook!

[JoAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait till the next one