Dark Rise (Dark Rise, #1)

by C.S. Pacat

Her first instinct had been to save her brother. Will’s had been to save everyone.

“You don’t have a key,” he said. “I don’t need a key,” said Violet. And she reached into the water and took hold of the chains. Lion, the Stewards had said. And no one ever realized they were siblings, but Tom was not the only one with strength in his veins. She heaved.

He was beautiful. A golden beauty, he might have been carved from fine marble by some master, but there was no one in the world who looked like this.

He’d never forget the moment James’s eyes had met his—the sensation of coming home, as though they knew each other.

James let out a strange breath, and Will saw that he had not only James’s surprise, but underneath it, something else. “You’re not what I expected.” “Aren’t I?”

He still hadn’t understood. He’d seen Will touch the armor. He’d seen him survive the Blade. But he hadn’t understood what Will had come to realize piece by piece. The truth that his mother had known when she’d died on this very spot, looking at Will with despair in her eyes. “I’m not Blood of the Lady,” said Will, looking at the sheathed Blade on the ground. “The Shadow Kings aren’t coming for me.”