MasukSkyeI’ve been in the southern Allied Kingdoms–mostly Moonrise–for a little over a week but haven’t faced my father yet. I anticipated that. I knew he’d be busy helping make arrangements for Isaac and Maddy with my grandpa Sydney. What I didn’t anticipate is this. Ryatt stares at me from across the coffee table in the castle in Crescent Falls. He’s dressed in his usual black but looks like a modern man in a finely fitted black suit and tie compared to his cape and rugged dark ensembles I’m used to seeing him wear in Eastonia. He hasn’t blinked in what I’m sure is several minutes. His acute, quicksilver stare bores holes in my reserve, but I refuse to be the one to fold and start the conversation he wants to have. After several days of travel on the royal train, forced to witness the epic fights between Fallon, Naomi, and Maeve, I could sit here in silence and play this game with him for hours. Family members, both closely and distantly related, filter in and out of the room, but no
Alex Skye has been gone for four days when I knock on the door to President Alloway’s office. Her voice is pinched when she mutters, “Come in,” but her eyes light up the second I open the door and step inside. “Dr. Scarlett. I wasn’t expecting you, but I’m happy to see you.” She rises and motions for me to sit in one of the armchairs in front of her desk. I shake my head. “I won’t be here long.”“I’ve been meaning to reach out,” she says, easing back into her chair while I lean a shoulder on her office door to close it, remaining there, taking in the slate gray walls dappled with diplomas, certifications, and pictures. She tucks her bright white, stick straight hair behind her ears and clears her throat, closing her laptop. “Dean Kanten hasn’t been responding thoroughly to my inquiries into the biology department and how he plans to move forward, safety-wise, after Laney’s death.”“That does not surprise me.”She blinks and then motions again for me to sit down. This time, I accept
SkyeFallon closes her bedroom door with a soft click and glides across the room to shut the curtains. She moves with the practiced grace of the princess she is–Maeve’s heir who will one day be Queen of Eastonia–and she looks like it, walks, and talks like it as well. But I know Fallon better than most. She’s an enigma–soft and stoic on the outside, but on the inside?She’s the most animated, opinionated woman I’ve ever known. “You cannot tell that bitch Naomi I’m telling you this.”“Your sister Naomi?” I arch a brow, chuckling, and she rolls her eyes to the gilded ceiling. “We’ve been on the outs recently.”“Over what?” I sink onto the edge of her rather regal bed. I’ve always liked Fallon. She’s six years younger than me but an old soul at heart, and for a while, it was just the three of us–her, Kieran, and me. We also grew up in Moonrise together, and that gave us a rather close bond. She was incredibly angry when I announced I’d be staying in Lunaria for the foreseeable future.
SkyeAn hour later, in the hazy, blue glow of morning, the stars are still on full display like always, but at their dimmest now. Alex follows me across the hallway to my condo. The university is at a standstill, and the tension pours through the thick concrete walls. I’m used to silence, but this is something else entirely. “Can you water my plants while I’m gone?” I ask with a touch of hesitation, looking up at him through my lashes while he leads the way to the loft where I mentioned I keep a suitcase. I watch his shoulder shrug through his soft gray shirt. His hair is mussed from lying in bed with me for the better part of an hour, and he radiates a new kind of warmth that’s hard to put into words. Alex is perplexing, but I knew that. Now, however? After being in the throes of passion with him? Having him touch me? It’s almost like his mind is split into factions all the time–hyper-focused on preservation. Now, he’s not wearing his usual masks. He’s looser, freer, and shockingl
Alex13 Years Ago…Emma grabs my trembling hands, turning them over to check for injuries I already know aren’t there. Beyond the blood-splattered stone walls, another battle rages, an endless swarm of bodies against the glow of torches and bonfires dappled over the countryside. Red velvet and tarnished armor scatter at my feet while my cousin sucks in a breath, her ocean blue eyes meeting mine. “What have you done?”“Go to the nearest clinic outpost and find a way home to Crimson Peak,” I urge, my voice trembling. Below, at our feet, dark, almost black blood pools around my shoes, spreading toward Emma’s boots. Tangles of platinum hair float in a crimson current.“Alex–”“Go. Now.” I grip her shoulders, squeezing tight, leaving bloody prints on her healer uniform. “Alex? Alex, what have you done!” Emma sobs as I push her out of the puddle of blood, her boots leaving sticky tracks across uneven cobblestone. An ancient temple in horrendous disrepair rises around us, blocking the rain
SkyeAlex moves us away from the couch, taking two steps to the side and pressing me against the smooth plaster wall. I breathe in his scent, closing my eyes against the sensation of his hands closing around my hips, his body flush to mine. It’s like the library but… better. We’re alone. There’re no wandering eyes, no whisper-hissed lead up to this–to this. His lips part over mine before he leans in to kiss me like this is the first time all over again. I make an involuntary sound–a moan, a noise I doubt I’ve ever made, and Alex sighs into the kiss, turning it from exploratory and measured to something wild and more passionate than anything I’ve ever experienced before. His hands travel up the curve of my waist until he clutches my ribs, his thumbs resting precariously near the slope of my breasts, which ache with an intensity I’m not prepared for in the slightest. I feel deliciously heavy. I feel… warm and out of control in a way that would normally have me spiraling, but now?He p
RyanAn hour earlier…I can’t scrub the image of Aviva dead in my arms out of my head. It’s been several days since the battle, since the moment I put her in my uncle's arms and turned back to the ravaged scene, not knowing whether or not s
MistyI follow Cole through his… apartment, I guess. The layout of these suites is remarkably like the Firestone castle in Moonrise where my family has their own apartments within the castle. But this place is practically empty. Dusty and stale. If he has personal object
Aviva“I have her.”Ryan and I turn to look at Sarah. We’ve been avoiding looking at her because, quite frankly, she looks terrifying right now. Her eyes are glowing and totally, completely violet. Her hair floats around her head as she stands with her hands on either side of what Ryan called a “bird
Misty“Wait, wait.” Georgia smooths her hands through her hair, riling up her curls. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and says, “Let me get this perfectly straight.”“Okay.” I curl my legs beneath me as I sit across from her in







