Page 1 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Three

One

Avalon

Conscription Day - The First Day Of Spring

T here was blood pooling on the cobblestone entrance of the Boellium War College.

I shouldn’t be surprised, given the baying of the crowd jammed into the front courtyard, and the man suspended in the air, bleeding steadily from his nose.

The ruby liquid fell in huge drops, splashing on the ground beneath him with a gruesome dripping sound.

Once the puddle of blood became too much, someone with water abilities seemed to wash it away.

That would definitely explain the pink stones.

The guy in the air, bound with invisible ropes, looked at me imploringly. “Help me,” he gasped weakly.

I met his eyes, keeping my face shuttered and neutral, then timed my steps to walk under his blood droplets so they didn’t splatter on me.

Someone huffed a laugh, and someone else muttered, “That’s cold.”

My steps faltered. I spun back around. I couldn’t just leave him there, could I?

“Why are you up there?” I asked softly, and the whole courtyard held its breath.

The guy suspended in the air gurgled on his own blood. “I pissed off the wrong person.”

I looked past him, to a pair of deep blue eyes that I had no trouble identifying. Vox Vylan, Heir to the First Line. I’d seen the portraits, and even if I hadn’t, I could feel his magic swirling around the courtyard even now. There were very few people in all of Ebrus who had that kind of power.

I was a bug to this man, insignificant in every way, but the way he watched me was unnerving.

A shiver ran down my spine. I stood up on my toes and looked at the guy suspended upside-down in the eye.

“I can’t help you, but even I know you need to watch yourself.

We mean nothing to men as powerful as the Vylans.

It’s a lesson you need to learn, if you want to survive. ”

I touched his arm, then leapt back as the guy fell from the air. He landed heavily on the ground, but I kept my eyes on Vox Vylan.

Shit, is he going to think I did that?

Fuck him.

Let him think I had a tal to break his elemental magic. I didn’t, of course, because talismans that powerful would cost more than all the money in the small coffers of my Line.

But I hadn’t come from being beaten down every day of my life to stand by and watch someone else bully those weaker than them.

As soon as I stepped over the threshold of this college, the unwanted daughter of a heartless Baron, I knew this was my chance to change my fate.

I would get what I wanted—my freedom—and if I had to go toe to toe with the Heir of the First Line to do it, I would.

I held his gaze, fully expecting to be the next person hung up in the courtyard as an example, but instead, the Heir to the First Line smiled at me. Or maybe he stole my air, because I forgot how to breathe.

“I’ll be seeing you, little dirt scrabbler.” It sounded like both a threat and a promise. “Run along now.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. As I opened the door of the atrium, my ears were immediately assaulted by a cacophony of animal sounds and the yelling of a rabble of conscripts.

Two hounds had a man cornered, and I was watching them so intently, I didn’t even see the man in front of me until I ran straight into his chest.

My heart climbed up my throat as he stared down at me, his wild forest-green eyes and square jaw so familiar. I knew his face like my own, even though I’d never met him before in my life.

“Excuse me,” I whispered, my bravado from the courtyard suddenly disappearing. I dipped around him, but he reached out insanely fast and grabbed my arm.

“Who are you?” he breathed.

My mind went blank. I had a name; I knew I did, I just couldn’t remember it right at this particular moment.

He gave me a little shake, and words returned to my brain. “Avalon Halhed of the Ninth Line.”

“You,” he growled.

Oh fuck. I was dead.