King Of Ashes Novels & Stories

“Our king.” Emmy’s eyes narrowed. “The Hollow already made itself a king?” “Not yet.” The man looked at her. “It needs one final name.” Cold crawled up Emmy’s spine. “Whose?” The man’s empty eyes fixed on her. “Yours.” Ignisvath moved. Emmy grabbed his arm. “Wait.” The prisoner laughed. “The Queen of Ash and Amethyst.” “I’m not queen of this valley.” “You are queen everywhere the Hollow cannot enter.” Emmy frowned.

The silver poison was freezing his thoracic walls from the inside out, turning his breathing into a wet, hollow rattle that barely cleared his teeth. He did not calculate the asset freeze or check the digital tickers displaying the complete liquidation of his corporate pack board. Driven by a raw, primordial, and absolutely unhinged wave of fatherly remorse, the fallen King crawled straight toward her boots, his gold-rimmed irises burning like twin dying nuclear suns through the smoke.

We reached the edge of the tree line, the heavy iron gate of the southern annex looming ahead of us like the jaws of a trap. And then, right as we stepped past the first line of frozen pines, the air in front of us fractured. It didn't make a sound. It just warped, the gray mist twisting into a sharp, blinding ring of white-gold light that hovered five feet above the frozen dirt. In the center of the ring, standing silhouette against the dark trees with his arms outstretched over a jagged slab of black stone, was the Ashen King. He wasn't wearing his iron visor. His face was bare, scarred, and twisted into a triumphant, terrifying grin as he looked straight at me.

His voice was barely there. “Whatever she thinks happened that night… whatever she believes I did… you tell her that.” “You can tell her yourself.” He didn’t answer. His eyes closed. Within seconds, his breathing became slow and shallow again. I kept my arm around him. The car moved deeper into the darkness. Kai said nothing. Renata kept looking back at us through the mirror. Then Dom spoke. “There.” He slowed the car. “Ashford Hollow.” The rain had eased. Everything looked ordinary.

"I saw the burn on your back! You got that when the Mermaid's Rest exploded!" I didn't flinch. I reached back with a gloved hand, lightly touching the ruined flesh of my shoulder blade with cold indifference. "A tragic house fire in Kensington when I was a teenager. It is a matter of public record. You are projecting the grief of your dead wife onto a corporate rival. It is pathetic, and I will not entertain it any longer." "You're lying," he sobbed, the arrogant, untouchable king of New York breaking completely in front of my eyes. A tear slipped down his face, dropping onto his ruined collar. "You're lying, Sera. He's my son. He has my blood."

Around midnight she reached the section describing Meher's gradual decline. The whispers. The forest. The growing suspicion. The fear. A knot formed in her stomach. She kept reading. Then came the murder. The rain. The clearing. Meher's final words. I have only loved you. Aisha closed the notebook abruptly. The room felt too warm. For several moments she simply sat there staring at nothing. The tragedy struck harder than she expected. Not because it was real. Because it wasn't. Somehow that made it worse. A fictional murder should not have felt devastating.

“Magister, why do we let garbage through the gates? Let me throw her to the stone giant and save us the paperwork.” I ignored him, but my left hand squeezed into a tight fist. My nails pressed hard into an old, ugly scar that hid my forbidden blood seal. It kept my real, dangerous ash-magic buried deep inside me. In this empire, that kind of magic meant death. It was the same power the lost Ash King used when he nearly burned the whole world a hundred years ago. “Put your hand on the stone,” Vane ordered. I stepped forward. My boots hit the hard ground, and I felt cold eyes burning into the back of my neck.

Idaliah flashed her a tearful smile, closed her eyes and bowed her head with her right hand on her chest. Speechless, Adeline stood up, but she only stood there, her hands shaking and chest burning as the chains shook with kneels after kneels that followed when Idaliah herself kneeled. She absentmindedly looked around and found fifty hearts offered and fifty heads lowered for her. "Alpha."

The guild members' resolve held strong, and they emerged victorious once more. Finally, they reached the last floor. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation as they entered the final room. Samuel's voice crackled over the communication devices, guiding their movements. As they stepped into the room, the sight that met their eyes was chilling. Greyson stood before them, his expression a mix of arrogance and defiance. He was flanked by his remaining henchmen, their guns aimed at the guild members. "Jota," Greyson's voice was mocking, his gaze flickering over the guild members. "You've come to face me at last, be ready to die."

“Ok. Now listen to me. I will take you to that hut with enough supplies to survive. This is a special oil I have got. Keep applying that daily so that nobody can get your scent.” “Are you leaving me?” Fear could be detected in Anna’s voice. “Yes, silly. Just for three days.” Ashley raised three fingers in her face, “We need to start somewhere new. Where we can be together…” “Where are you going?” “I am going to meet the King of Kavoda Kingdom!” “What!” Anna quickly sat up pushing Ash to sit on the mattress. “I have heard he is in favor of true love. He doesn’t believe in fated mates. His queen is also his chosen one.”