All Chapters of Book One of the Rosewood Trilogy: The Broken Sanctum: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I stood there staring at the dirt and the toes of my worn shoes.I knew better than to speak first.Makayla enjoyed making people wait. Making them remember their place.“Esmeralda Cantari,” she finally said, her voice sharp enough to cut skin. “Still as useless as ever.”I kept my head bowed.“It took you long enough to get here. You’re lucky I didn’t throw everything away.” Her lip curled as she glanced toward the house behind me. “It should have been your responsibility to clean that place and repair all the damage you caused over the years. But I have no intention of letting that house remain tainted any longer than it already is.”“Yes, ma’am,” I murmured quietly.The words tasted like ash in my mouth.Makayla stepped closer, her blue eyes blazing with open contempt.“You should consider yourself fortunate your name was still tied to this coven,” she continued. “Otherwise Rosewood never would have accepted you. Not even with your mother’s reputation.”Her gaze traveled slowly dow

I had only made it halfway down the road before I heard footsteps behind me.Several of them.I kept walking.If I ignored them, maybe they would lose interest.“Look who’s leaving already.”The voice was bright and mocking.I didn’t have to turn around to know who it belonged to.Lyria.She was only a year older than me and had spent most of our childhood making my life miserable.“Well, well,” another voice chimed in. “Poor homeless Esmeralda.”A few of them laughed.I clenched my jaw but kept walking.“Where do you think you’re going?” Lyria called after me. “Back to Rosewood already?”“Maybe they’ll let her stay,” someone else said. “Someone has to clean the toilets.”More laughter followed.My grip tightened on the strap of my bag as I focused on putting one foot in front of the other.Just keep walking.Just get out of town.Something soft and wet suddenly smacked into the back of my shoulder.I flinched.A rotten apple rolled across the dirt beside me.“Oh, sorry,” Lyria said s

Hands grabbed at me from every direction.Someone twisted my arm behind my back while another yanked my hair, forcing my head back. Pain shot down my neck as their shouting blended into one overwhelming roar.“Hold her!”“Don’t let her run!”“Teach the little rat her place!”I struggled, trying to wrench free, but there were too many of them.The burning inside me was unbearable now.It felt like molten fire racing through my veins, flooding my chest and arms until my skin felt too tight to contain it. My heart slammed wildly against my ribs as heat pulsed through my body in violent waves.I gasped for breath.Something was wrong.Terribly wrong.The air around me seemed to thicken, pressing down on my shoulders as if the world itself was watching.“Look at her,” someone sneered. “She’s about to cry.”Lyria stepped closer again, her lip curled in contempt.“Pathetic,” she said.Her hand connected with my cheek with a resounding slap, snapping my head the other way.The motion sent ano

I didn’t know how long I stayed in the air.Seconds.Minutes.It felt like both.The wind roared in my ears as my wings beat unevenly behind me, each movement jerky and uncontrolled. I barely understood what I was doing. My body seemed to move on instinct alone.The ground rushed past beneath me in a blur of trees and dirt roads.I didn’t look back.I didn’t want to see if they were following.My lungs burned with every breath. Panic still clawed at my chest, making it hard to think, hard to focus on anything except getting away.Just get away.Just get away.Eventually the trees began thinning and the familiar shape of the next town appeared ahead of me.Ashville.Relief crashed over me so suddenly my wings faltered.The sudden drop made my stomach lurch.“Okay—okay,” I gasped, trying to steady myself. “Just… land.”Easier said than done.My wings beat once more before folding awkwardly, sending me tumbling down toward the edge of the road just outside the town gates.I hit the groun

The portal flared with bright white light before snapping shut behind me.For a moment I just stood there, blinking as Thornridge slowly came back into focus around me.The portal station here was much larger than the one in Ashville. Several glowing circles hummed quietly across the stone floor as travelers stepped in and out of the gates. Voices overlapped with the crackle of portal magic and the shuffling of boots against the stone.It should have felt familiar.Safe.Instead my heart was still racing like I was being chased.I tightened my grip on my bag and stepped off the platform, keeping my head down as I moved toward the street. The last thing I wanted right now was attention.My body still felt strange. Drained.The burning magic had faded, but I could still feel a faint echo of it lingering beneath my skin.Like something inside me was awake now.Something I didn’t understand.Something I wasn’t sure I wanted.I was halfway down the steps when I collided with someone.The i