More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“I was,” I agreed. “Those crystals you helped tear from my skin kept me…frozen. That’s why the madness didn’t take me while I was parted from my magic. Its why I didn’t age or wither in my captivity. I became a living, breathing statue, my only purpose to serve their needs.”
“I think the stars stopped collecting our accursed souls long ago, lass.”
“Those who appear the purest possess the darkest sins. Don’t be fooled by clean hands. The cleaner they are, the deeper the blood stains ‘em.”
War of the four, divided and torn asunder. Flame, sky, rock and sea collide, While the stars bless the valiant souls of battle. Seek the void, for it shall guide the victor to their glorious path, A weapon of purity, and the gift of null. In a web of lies and cruelty, fate will favour the swinging steel of destiny, And a bountiful empire shall be reborn under one all-powerful rule, Garnering the fortune and favour of the almighty sky.
The energy in my chest slithered away from me, invisible yet I could practically see its path as it snaked across the battlefield and slipped into the ground. My magic latched onto something within the very earth, a magic so terrible, so violent, so destructive that I lost all sight of everything.
My eyes flew open and I found Mavus kneeling over me, his hands gripping my arms as he shook me. But I couldn’t stay, the blackness pulled me down, sucking me into that unholy chasm of power that wanted to tear me apart. I was tethered to it by the Void, unable to break the bind, and all I could do was watch myself fall into an abyss so endless that I would never return from it.
Hello, friend. Let us play, it seemed to call. With a wrenching, splintering feeling in my chest, somehow the Void magic untethered itself from the chaotic power it had found and my eyes flew open.
I was calm. All too fucking calm. Like every anxious thought I’d ever had had suddenly ceased to exist. And not only that, but my fears were gone too. My doubts. My longings. All of it was silent in the face of what remained. Power and glory and pretty, pretty Mavus.
I pressed my hand to his face, pushing him back so that I could get up, marvelling in the lightness of my limbs. I was a cat, a predator that had been trapped in the body of prey. Why had I ever doubted myself?
“We’d need to make a blood-tie, lass. I don’t ever risk the tide turning against me. You want more stims then you gotta make a deep kinda promise. One that’ll have grave consequences were you ever to rat me out.”
“Oh that. I saw the monster they’re keeping in there. Well, not keeping exactly. Half summoned or something. Almost ready to step into this world and destroy us all apparently. That monster knew things, it did Mavey-pie. It saw me. It liked me, I think. Well who wouldn’t like me? I’m a delight.”
“It told me a secret, Mavus. A big, big one. One I shouldn’t tell anyone. The Fury knows though. That’s why he wants me so badly. He’s obsessed with me. We had to kiss to seal the er-”
“Anyway, he tastes good – don’t tell him that. He has a big cock too, I felt it once.”
“The point? I guess the point is I’m the Void. You know, the one from the Elysium Prophecy? I can stop people from casting magic. I did it to a Reaper once. Didn’t realise it at the time. That was while I was torturing him. Then Kaiser killed him. Oh, and he totally released a Vampire. I don’t know why, do you think he’s in love with him?”
“I am the Void and the Void is me. But shhhhh.” I pressed a finger to his lips. “We’re not allowed to tell anyone. Not ‘til I get to Cascada. We’re going to win the war. I told you I’d be legendary.”
I fell under his spell, controlled like a puppet on his strings as he tugged me against his body and spoke into my ear. Warmth spread between my thighs and a heady sigh left me. Pretty, pretty, evil Fury, how I’d like to ride your cock while slitting your throat wide.
“I will chase you across the wilds, into the heart of The Crux if I have to, silka la vin. You are mine to wield and mine alone.”
“She’s stimmed up. Look at her eyes, they’re shimmering pink.”
Damn, he was handsome, it was somehow clearer now that the butterflies were floating in my brain. His muscles pressed nicely against his clothes and he had a hardened look that spoke of how rough he would be with me should I have the care to let him.
That mouth too…that mouth could paint sins on my skin until I burned.
like this look on you though. Roughened. I think this would feel nice between my thighs.” I reached up to graze my fingers over the stubble and he snatched my wrist, gripping it tight.
By the way, you remind me of a tree I once knew. It was this big bland thing, no leaves on it. It just sort of, sat there. Kind of dead, but sometimes it grew a bit so you knew it was still alive. You’re like that tree, Kaiser. It’s so very, very, very, very dull.”
“Mavus Angelico has been trading information for gold too. I didn’t have the coin he required for his knowledge but whatever he was selling, he had Fae from every nation lining up to buy it.”
It was breathtaking, the architecture so much more beautiful than I would have given the Flamebringers credit for. I knew this place from description alone. The capital of Pyros. Cinder Vale.
Only one thing united them and that was the emblem of the Magpie stitched into their clothing, the glimpse of wings and tails hinting at the very same tattoo. These were likely some of The Matriarch’s Talons – her guards among the members of the Ember Wing
Why did they get to live like this? Why were they so damn happy? Where was the terror? Where was the struggle?
There was supposed to be blood running in the streets. Mirelle Brimtheon was said to cut off the heads of any who opposed her among her own people and sit them on spikes outside her palace walls.
My throat thickened as Kaiser’s hand curled around my shoulder and he steered me forward, his fingers digging in hard.
The Matriarch was obvious among them from the fierce look of power that highlighted her as a queen. Her skin was richly dark and her black hair hung in sleek braids over her shoulders, adorned with golden clasps that matched the bright flecks in her tawny brown eyes.
She had to be over six feet tall because she was almost on eye level with her two sons and it made me feel all the more disarmed to be cast in their shadows. She wrapped Kaiser in a fierce hug, kissing his cheek and grabbing North by the back of the neck to yank him into the fold too.
“I wrote you both together, love.” She grinned at North, so at ease, so damn sweet and motherly that I wanted to punch her in the face for it.
“I’m Everest Arcadia of Cascada. Your son Kaiser murdered my mother and I will one day plant my dagger into his heart and end his worthless existence in payment for her death.”
A dark and rolling laughter rose in Kaiser’s throat which turned to a manic, raucous crescendo. It was a maddened thing that filled the room and Mirelle whirled toward him as North’s face paled in shock.
Kaiser’s laughter abruptly guttered out and rage took its place as he grabbed a coffee table and hurled it at the wall.
But the Void fluttered away, abandoning me at once and Kaiser’s expression dropped, flattening out to that hollow nothingness.
He tugged me out from the cage of flames and turned to find Mirelle watching him with tears wetting her cheeks. “Kaiser,” she croaked. “How?”
“You laughed,” he said, his voice coming out cracked. “I’ve never heard you laugh.” “She used the Void,” Kaiser said slowly. “I…am not sure what it does to me. It awakens something inside me.”
She was a Harpy, a flying Order that could fly as fast as the wind.
“You’re a dangerous creature, Everest,” she whispered to me. “And you are now my dangerous creature.”
Not to mention that he was arguably one of the most infuriating men I had ever met who didn’t seem in the least bit concerned about causing trouble wherever he went and riling up the wrong people. I was probably more likely to find him joining me in this cage than sneaking in here to break me out of it.
“I’m not using my gifts on him. He’s fallen for my allure which I can’t control – weak minded Fae often do this. They usually stop spouting poetry around the same moment as I run them through with my blade – if either of you has one to hand I’d be happy to oblige.”
“Your friend was correct,” Kaiser replied. “I would estimate that I could cut you into at least forty pieces before your heart ceased to function-”
“Who in their right mind would even attempt such a thing during a war like this?” “My count is currently at three-hundred and sixty-seven,”
“Ninety-four Raincarvers, Two-hundred-and-twelve Stonebreakers and sixty-one Skyforgers.”
There wasn’t so much as a flicker in his emotionless eyes, nothing to suggest he had any feelings whatsoever about the thought of killing me. It was fascinating in its own way. I’d been called heartless many times in my life but even I held plenty of space for rage and bloodlust in my emotionally stunted range.
“I wouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry, freyin. You know I love you. But she’s just so fucking everything.”
The truth was, despite what I’d told my friends, I’d never actually killed anyone. My hand was tight around the grip of my sword, near to trembling.
I pushed the heavy thoughts from my head. I hadn’t had to deal with moral questions before. I was Ransom Rake. I had no worries to face. My life was easy, enjoyable. I trained, I drank, I fucked. Life was good. But now it had abruptly become very real. And I was wrapped up in the truth of war, soon to be headed into an actual battle.
“Your son, I presume, Commander?” Prince Dragor drawled, those shards of ice for eyes tracking over me. “He is the image of you. Well, he would have been in a time before I gave you that scar.”
“I swear my people will not harm yours when we unite to attack Pyros and kill The Matriarch.”
