Gideon The Ninth Series Novels & Stories

"Timothy... he’s a ghost for a reason. Don't count him out of the fight yet." "I’m not counting him out. I’m counting what I'm going to do to Lity if he so much as breathes on him." Gideon prowled back to the door, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm. "Thinking about him alone with those Rebellion fanatics... it makes the beast want to tear its way out of my skin." Kan coughed, a wet, hacking sound. "What about Gam?" Gideon froze. Gammer Hayes. Their tech specialist and only friend. "I haven't seen him since I left to get the gear. He was on the Xbox. I told him to stay clear of the kitchen."

Medication discontinued. The phone fell out of my hand. I couldn't hold it. I crawled forward on my knees until I was at Julian's feet. "I did what you told me to. Why are you stopping her meds?" Something flickered across Julian's face, something almost like reluctance. Sheila caught it instantly. She clutched her head, faking a wince. The reluctance hardened over. "Ada. Sheila is innocent. You've hurt her again and again, and I can't keep looking the other way."

His gaze found mine, and a slow, calculating smile spread across his face. “Annabel.” He straightened, taking a step forward. “Right on time.” “I didn’t come here to play games,” I said, keeping my voice steady, though my heart hammered beneath the surface. “You promised me answers. Start talking.” Gideon’s smile didn’t waver. “Straight to business. I like that.” He folded his arms, tilting his head as he studied me. “Tell me, Annabel… how much do you really know about Elijah? About what he’s done to keep his power?”

Once I fixed all the loopholes, I was going to return to a quiet living space where no one knew ho they were. “Oh?” He corked an eyebrow, his lips curving into a viscious smirk. I thought he was giving me the chance to explain myself but all of a sudden, he leaped from where he stood and descended in a flurry of sword fight, and with each time, his sword descended on me with the intention to kill, I would always evade him with the dagger. I didn’t even notice when Gideon came closer and began to speak. “My King, news from Velmorra has arrived.” Gideon suddenly announced, and for a moment that disoriented my movement, but I quickly focused once again but he continued, as if he had an agenda.

I've already been doing it for a year, anyway,' I thought. Feeling annoyed, I called up Draven Gibson, the heir to the Gibson family. Even though he was technically Seth's uncle, he was pretty young. "Mr. Gibson, can we talk about setting a wedding date?" His voice was deep and pleasant. "When do you want to hold it?" I grinned and said, "The sooner, the better. How about next week?" His charming voice came back, "Are you free tonight to discuss this?" I was thrilled. I tossed the bottle I was holding right into the trash can with a whoosh.

She slipped out, her gown trailing behind her. I raced toward Gideon’s townhouse, its clean glass a contrast to tonight’s facade. Inside, his tech lair was lit up with monitors, and coffee cups strewn across the floor. Gideon, wearing a hoodie and pecking at a keyboard, his glasses reflecting lines of code. “I got something,” he said, without looking up. “The hack’s messy — leads back to a Lovtan server.”

"We tell the commanders they are dead, then watch who immediately tries to claim the seat or send a messenger bird. We bait the trap, but I’ll have my loyalists positioned at every exit of the valley. No one leaves Moon River tonight." He looked at me for a long moment, a ghost of a tired smile touching his lips. "Five years of hardship have sharpened you, Elara. The girl I knew wouldn't have had the stomach to use her own death as a chess piece." "That girl drowned in the river," I said simply. Gideon gave a curt nod to his most trusted lieutenant, who vanished into the hall to execute the orders. "Move them to the sub-level chambers," Gideon commanded the remaining guards. "It’s a fortress

“But money still opens many doors. And fear opens the rest.” I stared at him, my heart beating hard. “You won’t win,” I said. His smile disappeared. “I already won once. I stole one of your sons from birth and raised him under Alexander’s nose for two years.” My hands curled into fists. “Do not talk about Julian.” “Oh, but I will,” Gideon said, taking one slow step closer. “That boy was quiet and easy to control. Unlike Leo.” I lunged toward him without thinking. Eleanor dragged me back so hard pain shot through my neck.

Gideon stands up so fast from his carved stone chair that it topples backward, crashing loudly against the altar steps. The gathered noble wolves erupt into utter shock. Gali never explicitly named Gideon as the mastermind behind Lionel's death, but with the evidence laid out on the ancestral stone, the sharp-minded wolves of Blackmoor Crescent Keep have already pieced together the entire bloody puzzle. Gideon had sacrificed his own dishonorable nephew to frame Gali, clear his internal rivals, and stir the pack into a civil war! Gali slowly rises from his chair, reverting back to his terrifying, unyielding Alpha aura as he looks down at the trembling old male.

In the meantime, blood continued to seep from my injury, rapidly soaking the hem of my white dress red and pooling on the cold stone slabs. I could hear the revelry in the banquet hall carrying on without interruption, its lively sounds bleeding faintly into the stone chamber. Father was announcing to the gathered nobles that Elara had become the new Sacred Huntress, while Caelum stood at her side, accompanying her through the final dance of the night. Those in attendance didn't even realize that I, the firstborn princess, was actually locked away in the dark by her own family, on the verge of dying. In my semi-conscious state, I thought I heard Wren crying out for me.