Sky's End (Above the Black, #1)

by Marc J. Gregson

“The King doesn’t care about us, trust me.” ...

You are not a beast at heart, Conrad. I think if I chose you for my crew, you’d help me win. You’d help me feed my people.

She probably doesn’t trust me either. But, if I say no now, I’ll lose an ally, potentially forever. So, gently, I nod.

I’m a liar; it’s in my blood.

Can’t let her know that truth. I must win,

She’ll never know that I’d betray her to reach my goals. She’ll w...

I’m not ...

I wake Roderick from his hammock, and despite his whiny co...

Just as she raises to strike, Sebastian stabs. Quick as a snap. A precise jab straight into her throat. Her neck cracks, and she topples. She lays, unmoving.

I’m watching Sebastian.

And on his face grows the faintest of devious, yellow smiles. A chill slithers up my back. He paralyzed her.

He shouts. Cries. Tries to hold her hand. “Samantha, I’m sorry!”

Sebastian sprung a trap on her and executed it, all without anyone knowing.

He hurries under the tarp before they raise his score of thirty.

“He’s a liar,” I whisper. Roderick looks at me funny

You are singularly focused on rising, but that doesn’t mean you’ll kick everyone off the starboard bow on your way to the top. No, I think you’ll rise because you are better than them. Because you’re supposed to be above them.”

On my island, Littleton, we have a custom. When one sacrifices for another, they are owed a debt. I am in your debt until I can repay you equally.

Maybe, I’ll rise not by being the biggest and meanest bastard, but by being a strong person who chooses what is right over what is easy. Mother would have it no other way.

Mark Sebastian down as another boy who was so absorbed with rising that it ended up being his downfall.

Despite being Captain, I still don’t get enough rest. Maybe I’m just doomed to have purple rings under my eyes forever.

“And I’m bigger and smarter than you, Elise.”

He isnt referring to him by his fathers name, but instead his mothers.... Hmmmmm

For now,” Mother said, glancing back at the paintings, “gorgantauns are our great enemy.”

wtf does she know and how is conrad only remembering this now???

“Commander, millions will die!” “The Below’s Ascension is nigh. Thank you for your service, but we are moving forward with Downfall.”

It’s a special privilege to come here. The King is very private.

we come upon King Ferdinand’s portrait. Seems recently hung.

there is an unexpected expression on Pound’s face. One of complete disgust.

I killed him in seven seconds in the arena.”

“Can you still run, old man?” she asks Uncle. “King,” he says. “Not my King,” she answers.

And her voice has the fury of all the winds combined. “TO WAR!” she cries. The Hunter ships launch. And for the first time in over two centuries, the two most powerful Trades face off in aerial combat.

Almost can’t believe that I’m still breathing. That life still happens. That the sun still rises and falls. The wind still blows. As if nothing horrible had ever happened.

At one point, the Master of Disposal sips on his flask, props up his feet, and naps.

When I survived the prowlon, I was emaciated. But this girl, she doesn’t have sallow cheeks or sunken eyes. Her skin isn’t caked in dirt either. She’s made the jungle her home in a way that I never did.

My family rose again. All the way back to High. They didn’t need me. And I realized something.” “What’s that?” “They’re all assholes.”

I was embarrassed before the entire island of my birth. And when I needed them most, they told me I wasn’t good enough.”