A Crown of Star and Ash (The Fate of Ashes #1)

by Victoria K. Taylor

“For someone so vain, the High Mother has a rather fragile sense of self. You insult that and you may as well write your own ticket to the stockade.”

She wanted to see Oswallt . . . wanted to see her one and only friend one more time. But there was nothing hanging from the posts anymore. Only a cloud of gray ash and dust. Then she saw nothing at all.

“I. Do. Not,” he growled, his face so livid Deya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Bleach. My. Hair.”

“If you fight, you will become stronger. From your ashes, you will become steel.”

An angry, deep growl rumbled from the back of his throat. “Fuck it,” he muttered, and then his lips were slamming into hers.

“For what is written in snow, thus revealed in the thaw, born with a crown of ash and star, so he shall be the one to save them all.”

“The balance of one, the downfall of all, only the Queen of Ash can bring about the fall.”

“You deserve happiness, child,” she said softly. “Do not try to sabotage what is right in front of you.”

Io’s prophecy spiraled in thin black lines from the back of her neck, down her spine, and across the backs of her arms. The prophecy had given her wings.

The balance of one, the downfall of all . . . Why would she be the downfall of all? Her fingers traced over the next line. The Queen of Ash.

“Your love for each other and the consummation of that love made the prophecy, not the other way around. Your fear of this has absolutely nothing to do with these prophecies, and everything to do with you.”

“A Shadow Blade is made from the bone and flesh of a species of monster,” Aris said. “Shadow creatures only follow those who offer them power and blood. If Praiton is using them, it would explain a lot.”