Healer to the Ash King (Dark Rulers, #5)

by Rebecca F. Kenney

“I went back and fetched my horse from the stables of the Lord Mayor,” the Ash King continues. “The magical toxin did not harm the animals—a small mercy. With my rebel prisoner, I rode out of the city. We were nearly shot down by rebels as we rode. Once we cleared the city walls, I saw green fumes sweeping across the land, leaping from farmhouse to roadside inn and to villages beyond. This was a plague designed to destroy all life in our kingdom, leaving it thinly populated by those with allegiance to the Undoing. I could not allow it time to spread any farther. So I rode to the edge of the toxic fog, and then I released my magic.” “You burned everything,” I whisper. “A cleansing fire, destroying the bodies, the plague itself, and every traitor, along with their families. All the animals, the buildings, the possessions, the crops—I wiped it all away. Once I began I could not stop. My anger and pain were too great.”