Servant of Earth (The Shards of Magic, #1)

by Sarah Hawley

The winter solstice wasn’t just the shortest day of the year; it was the day the Fae took yet another thing from humans. A faith that yielded no rewards, prayers that met uncaring ears, a legendary history that had decayed into this disappointing reality…We gave the faeries our hopes, and for what? Silence and far-off lights that led nowhere.

Dreams were nothing but air, though, and real change took more than just hope.

That was the way of some men. Their tongues wagged in an imitation of love while their fists dealt pain. I stroked the dagger’s outline at my thigh, thinking about what it might be like to live in a world where women didn’t have to depend on people they feared for safety.

“The Fae houses are each ruled by a prince or princess. Oriana is the princess of Earth House, and her eldest child and heir is Lady Lara. Lara will be undergoing the immortality trials soon, and it’s customary for every candidate to have a special servant who attends to their needs during this time. The king selected you.”

People vanished all at once, but the things you wanted to tell them or do with them or show them didn’t.

“If you give too much of yourself down here,” he continued in an odd tone, looking down at me intently, “you risk losing everything. Because no one will ever return that loyalty. You’ll give and give and end up hollow…or dead. Remember that.”

Life can be so painful. During the worst moments, all you can do is focus on one second at a time. You focus on staying alive. You make it your only goal, and you forget everything before or after.”

My breath caught. This wasn’t just a mystical dagger. It had been one of the most important weapons in a war fought centuries ago. Caedo had belonged to Princess Cordelia of Blood House, leader of the rebellion, who had refused to bow to a tyrant and had died with her people instead.

Caedo quivered against my arm, radiating pure joy. What’s happening? I asked the dagger. You passed. What do you mean? You have power now. My fingers throbbed with energy. I felt full to bursting with that strange fire. What power? You are Blood House reborn.

That was what love was. Not just romantic love, but any type of love. It was caring so much for another person that you would do anything to see them happy and whole.