LOGINSarah
We pass the main gates to the Shadowcrest territory. They fall away behind us, cloaked in frost covered vines.
It’s been a silent drive. Silent–and I’m terribly sick to my stomach. Alpha Sydney was right about the uphill drive being bumpy and dangerous, but his pack lives in one of the more remote territories surrounding Crescent City.
A stone wall runs alongside the truck as he continues driving uphill, turning with great
NaomiFallon’s old bedroom in our shared suite blazes into technicolor stripes of blue and dark purple. Early morning shadows sink over the four bodies in her old bed, which is in use as it stands, seeing as the princess herself has returned for a family visit with her twins, and her husband, who is awake and looking at me with cat-like intent. I take several silent steps toward the bed, eyeing Zayn, who is so still I’m not confident he’s breathing, but whatever. I was hoping Fallon would be awake, not him. At least, I don’t need him. I’d prefer if he wasn’t here all together. I keep telling myself it’s because, while he’s an all-powerful wizard, the Grand Wizard of KiloKilo, and could likely kill me in a second with just a twitch of his fingers, not because I see him as more of a pet of my sister than a man. Right now, he’s curled around her like a lion, his hazel eyes open but narrowed on mine. His arm is stretched across the dip of Fallon’s hip, his fingers resting on their daug
IanIt’s storming in Veiled Valley, as it usual is in the later afternoon. I honestly love it here, and I’m not alone. Aris and Posey’s home, which they share with their entire brood of children, rests on a cliff overlooking a dense, mystical forest that doesn’t make any sense. Evergreens grow thick here, but so do tropical trees and underbrush that makes the view from the crystal skybridges overlooking their deep valley an uncommon shade of bright green. Aris, as a Shadowsynger but also the divine heir of his bloodline, controls the weather here. At least, his emotions do. I honestly don’t know much about that. I’m normal in comparison. Skye spirited me here an hour ago. Lucan, her son, is at home in Moonrise with Alex, where they both work as researchers at the university. Moonrise was my first stop. Uncle Sydney didn’t say much to me when he arrived in New Glade, but he did talk to my parents for a moment. I’m not really sure what to expect now. To be collared again? Probably. To
IanDad’s in the mill on the edge of New Glade territory when I walk into the village. It’s almost noon. I took my sweet time walking home, mostly because Miller and Allison crossed paths with me, and I knew for sure he was about to get his ass handed to him in pieces for keeping her out well past sunrise. Both looked guilty as hell, which is good. He deserves that. She does, too, honestly. The air is spiced with saw dust and sap. I breathe in deeply, filling my lungs with the familiar smell, and lift my eyes to the catwalk where my dad is standing, his arms crossed over the railing, talking to another equally imposing man twenty years his senior. Grandpa Ryan arches a brow down at me, and I know I’m screwed. “Fuck, fuck,” I murmur, climbing the stairs to the catwalk, grumbling over the hum of saws. “Well, well, well.” Grandpa smirks, his beard peppered with sawdust that makes up half the air in the room. “Chose the long way home, I take it?”“Likely to avoid the conversation he
OakleyI’m barely lucid when the rolling, golden hills of Silverhide come into view at first light. A giant breakfast spread was laid out in the center of New Glade when Ian and I traversed back down from the peak after several hours of just talking and watching the stars. I’m not sure it even happened, to be honest. It feels like a dream, even now, while walking in sleepy, quiet solidarity beside him. Neither of us have said a word since we set out after breakfast. I have no idea where Allison is, but I’m sure she is on her way home as well. I trust Ian, which means I should trust his friends, too, and if not, Miller has another thing coming for him in the form of Allison’s fierce mother. My house comes into full focus when we approach the village center. The shops are opening for the day, and the air smells like yeast and sugar from freshly baked bread with a hint of the smoke from the village fire. Ian has slowed his pace for the past half mile or so. I’m pretending not to notic
IanRhett frowns beside me, both of us leaning on a neat stack of logs yet to make it through the mill for processing. It’s well past nightfall, but the village of New Glade is bright under the haze of firelight. Music and dancing takes up my vision, but I’m keeping a close eye on Oakley while she stands in a group of young women a few yards away. I stayed close to her throughout the ceremony, which I’m sure can be daunting and a little outlandish, even for people from the tribes. Funeral pyres were a big deal in the Glade when our people were in Pantharas. Death was everywhere, according to my father and the elders. Now, people live long, happy lives, or will, anyway. All the children here live past their fifth birthdays. No one has to worry about their fathers, brothers, and sons getting swept into servitude or cullings. This ceremony is how we honor who was lost before the wolves of the Glade finally found freedom. Oakley took the ceremony in stride. She was interested, which ma
OakleyI need to see a healer, I think. A priestess actually. Yeah, that would be more helpful in my situation. I’m either cursed or losing my mind, along with chunks of memory, because I do not remember hurting myself last night. I meet my bloodshot reflection in the mirror in the bathroom while rubbing my swollen wrist with a potent healing salve I pilfered from my Aunt Shuna. It’s from Teshka, of course, like she is. It feels gritty on my skin, like the rough sand beaches in that territory, but it does quell the incessant tingling. A sharp knock on the door tears my attention from my reflection. My mom’s voice rings out, “They’re here! Prince Ian is downstairs waiting for you.”“I’m coming,” I murmur, shaking my head several times like I can somehow knock loose the wool rolling through my mind like a ball of yarn, snatching memories and rational thought with it. When I step out of the bathroom, every female hand in the house begins to fuss over me like it’s my wedding day. By t
*Isla*“Look at you,” Maddox beams as he balances on his hands and knees in front of Isaac on the floor in the large, airy sitting room near the library. I glance up from the magazine I’m reading to watch them, smiling as Maddox drops onto his elbows to look Isaac in the eyes. Isaac, hating every min
*Isla*“It’s not even in the way she talks or handles business between the servants,” Poppy says as she winds a lock of my hair around a curling iron. “There’s just something strange about her.”“And Trinity hired her,” I add, dusting my cheeks with blush. “Yes, and that,” Poppy grimaces, starting on
*Maddox*My head is ringing as I open my eyes and try to remember where I am and what’s going on. The last thing I remember is a bright light shining in my face and then being thrown. Judging by the pain in the back of my neck and my shoulders, I must’ve hit something hard.Turning around, I see I’m s
*Maddox*He looks like her. He has her blonde hair, even if it’s only a fine, silken dusting of it so far. I run my fingertips over his eyes, closed tight against the light flickering in the quiet corridor. They’re the same shape as her eyes, and I know as he starts to open them and see the world for







