Page 12

FIFTEEN YEARS OLD

S iraleth had never seen us coming.

I commanded Osiris’ army, and they followed me into battle. We had burned Siraleth to the ground . So much for the holy city. There was nothing left except for the rubble and destruction we had laid to waste.

At the climax of battle, I stood atop a hill with Osiris, the power of dark magic pulsing through my veins. I beat my fists against my chest as I roared in victory. The dark blade in my hand was a symbol of all that I had sacrificed for this moment.

I turned to Osiris, a cruel smile across my lips.

Annikin came up from behind him, pinning the king’s arms behind his back. He pushed the Dark King to his knees before me. Osiris glanced up at me in confusion. He had trained me, taken me under his wing. Made me the most powerful soldier in all the realm.

And I had come to slay him.

“Any last words?” I ground out through my teeth, holding the black blade high.

“Why?” he asked in confusion. “Why would you do this, Donika?”

I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes. “You truly can’t think of one reason?”

His expression was bewildered, fear masking his features.

“You sired one of them, ” I hissed.

He shook his head back and forth furiously. “You know that was not on purpose. I hadn’t known! She had tricked me! She is your own mother!”

I sneered down at him. “That means nothing to me. She is as good as dead to me. Or she will be in a few moments, at least.”

I laughed, throwing my head back. My blue and white ombre hair whirled in the wind, whipping around my face.

I could see the moment his expression changed at the mention of Annelise. It softened…ever so slightly.

“I knew it.”

“Knew what?” he asked, his voice pleading.

“You are still in love with her. Still have a soft spot for her. You banished her and that brood of yours from the castle, but you didn’t do what you should have done. Killed them both . Their blood taints this realm.”

Osiris opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. He was at a loss. He knew the truth…that he didn’t have it in him to kill them. That despite his vendetta against Stormshades and the war we had brought to this realm, he would never have the guts to do what truly needed to be done.

“Don’t worry, Osiris.” My voice was sugary sweet. “You’ll be reunited with your beloved wife and daughter soon enough.”

I raised the blackened blade in my fist and plunged it down through his heart. His mouth opened, blood spilling forth across his lips, running down his plated armor. His eyes fixated on me for one more moment before he slumped in Annikin’s grip.

I placed my foot against his shoulder, sliding his body free of my blade as he collapsed to the ground. I raised my sword to the sky, a battle cry ripping free from my lips.

The Shades of Istmere responded in kind, lifting their swords to their new queen.

I wasn’t the only one who could see his weakness. How dare he sit on the throne but harbor love for a Stormshade? I harbored no love for their kind…and I never would.

I heard a familiar cry from the crowd, and I scanned the rubble. Dead bodies were strewn about, the rocks stained with blood and dirt. But finally, my eyes settled on her.

There in the crowd among the revelry was Annelise. Her scream had split the air when she had seen my blade cut through Osiris. I moved quickly, Annikin on my heels. The crowd parted for me as I jumped down the hill of rubble, descending upon her.

Annelise was on all fours, crawling away from me.

I reached her and placed my blood soiled boot against her back, pressing her into the dirt.

“Face me,” I sneered, allowing only for her to turn over.

She turned toward me—the end of my black onyx sword lowered toward her. I used the point of the sword to turn her chin up, forcing her gaze toward mine. The blade split her chin, blood running down her neck to escape beneath her armor.

“Annelise Kotova, you are hereby sentenced to death for the crime of being a Stormshade,” I spat.

Once she was gone, the Kotova grimoire had to choose me. It couldn’t choose a baby .

“Do you have any last words?”

Annelise took a deep breath and closed her eyes before me, pressing them shut. A long moment passed, but no words came forth. When Annelise opened her eyes once more, her gaze was tortured. Sad.

“Fine, have it your way,” I hissed.

I raised the black sword above my head with both hands, ready to bring it down.

Right before I swung, right before I plunged it into her empty, selfish heart, a memory flashed before my vision.

It was me…as a young girl. My hair was swinging behind me as I pumped my feet faster and faster on the swing at the old cottage. Underneath the old willow tree. It was the last time I had been happy—the last time we had been a family.

Annelise’s answering smile was sad. Was she thinking of the same memory?

Cirilla had come that same day to tell Annelise that King Osiris would fall into darkness.

That Alastir had seen it. Had there been more to that prophecy?

Had they seen darkness consume me, knowing there was no hope of stopping what the mother had already set into motion?

Was that why she had kept her distance from me?

When I plunged the sword down, it hit the dirt with a reverberating clash.

Annelise looked up at me with surprise. Her lips parted, shock masking her expression.

“Donika?”

It had been so long since I had heard her say my name. It stirred something deep, deep within me. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the foothold the sound grasped within me.

I needed to focus.

“You are hereby banished from this realm by the queen of Istmere. If I ever see you here again, mark my words, I will not be so gracious a second time.”

I spit into the dirt next to her, but her gaze remained fixed on me.

When she didn’t move, I spurned her on. “I will not give you a second chance, Annelise. Leave. NOW.”

After a long, drawn moment, she scrambled to her feet, her sword in hand. Her gaze held mine for one more moment, her eyes crinkled at the corner.

What did she see when she looked at me? Did she see the youngest queen Istmere had ever seen? Or did she see a daughter that she had failed, a daughter she had turned her back on?

A daughter she left behind.

I would never find out what it was she was going to say when her lips had parted. She pressed them back together, her jaw set, turning away from me. Her strawberry blonde hair billowed behind her on the breeze, bringing with it the scent of battle and ash.

The scent of victory.

I watched her walk away, waiting until her lithe form disappeared from sight, before turning back toward the cheering crowd. They raised me up, their swords lifted into the air.

“Long live the queen!”

“Queen Donika!”

“The king died with no heirs. On this day, a new queen is born!”

Among the cheering and revelry, I caught Annikin’s gaze.

There was one more problem we needed to take care of before we could truly celebrate.

But try as I might, I couldn’t find him. I searched the palace, searched the whole of Akra, but he had simply… disappeared .

Alastir had vanished into thin air.