Page 5 of The Crimson Princess (The Ravengale Chronicles #1)

A collective sigh of relief echoes through the crowd. Only one death so far. It could have been much worse.

The big screen lights up and the competitor’s name is etched on the guardian side of the stone.

The crowd goes wild, and King Killian congratulates the young competitor who then claims her place on a stage where she will be honored at the end of the challenge and awarded a magical guardian blade.

Killian reopens the portal and another young woman steps forward.

A hairy monster explodes from the portal and dives at her—a gorge, we call them—with sharp fangs that land well beneath his chin.

They, like most of our creatures, are magicborn, unnatural, and therefore faster and more dangerous than the animals humans fear.

The young woman rolls out of his reach, but as she faces off with the monster, it swipes its giant clawed hand at her, and she is dead, bleeding out in front of everyone.

Satima catches my arm in a vise grip. “What did she do wrong?”

“Again, get behind the hands and teeth, and go for the eyes and throat.”

She nods in earnest and sinks back into her seat, watching another recruit approach the beast from the front, screaming for her to get behind the beast. Three more die, and Satima says to me, “They can’t get behind him.”

“They keep giving him a target. Move fast right, left, under, and behind.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I’ve trained with your father,” I say, but I don’t tell her that I was a target of death threats when I first claimed the throne. There were many who didn’t want me with their king.

“I need to train harder,” she says. “What if one day I have to fight?”

She’s right. I don’t want her to be right, but she might be, and that’s a reality both her father and I must face.

Finally, the beast is defeated, and we move on to the next battle.

And now, it’s time for contestant number nine. That’s when tiny, timid Raven steps forward. “ No ,” Satima hisses, as if she’s blocked out the idea that this moment was coming. “No.” She turns to me. “No!”

I grab hold of her hand and watch as Killian opens the portal.

That’s when I spy at least a dozen microraptors—nasty creatures created during the civil war—pour from the opening and head straight for Raven.

The worst monster anyone has faced today—half snake, half bird—they’re disgusting little poisonous creatures.

Raven doesn’t stand a chance. Me and Satima are on our feet, and I grab her hand, holding on, as Raven launches bursts of energy to blow the microraptors to pieces, but there are just too many for such a young little girl.

Raven kills six, maybe seven of the nasty creatures, but dozens more pour from the core of the portal.

Satima is bawling at this point, screaming for Raven to fight harder.

But I can feel Raven’s panic, and she must too.

She grabs my arm. “Why aren’t they helping her?

Why aren’t they saving her? Do something. Please, mama, I beg of you.”

It’s that moment when I know, in some deep, instinctual way, almost a magical hum, that tells me the dreaded truth.

If Raven dies, Satima will never claim her throne.

She will live in hatred for the crown, hatred for her father, and maybe even me.

I know what I have to do. I lift my hand and blast the microraptors about to reach Raven from behind, and by the time the crowd and Raven have recovered, I’m in front of her.

“Go!” I yell and squat down, dragging my hand from left to right with a wave of energy, and then shooting flames into the sky.

The microraptors explode and fall in pieces to the ground.

The crowd is loud with a mix of joy and disapproval.

All eyes lock on the scoreboard as we all watch my name appear in place of the active guardian of our most broken and vulnerable portal; the one located in the human city of San Francisco.

There are gasps, and several people cry out with the knowledge that our guardian must be dead, and for reasons no one understands, the Book of Life wants me to skip the line and claim her place.

Killian appears in front of me, his hands gripping my arms the way they had Satima’s earlier. “What did you do?”

He blinks, and we’re in a private room outside of the arena, but his hands are still on my arms. “Why, Sophia?” he demands.

“Satima would never have forgiven us had Raven died. She never would have forgiven you. I’ll serve. There are many who will be pleased.”

“You are the queen. You will not protect a portal. ”

“The Book of Life chose me . That’s how it works. Those who are supposed to win, win. There is a reason for everything, remember? A purpose? I have to do it, or we look like hypocrites.”

“They all know the queen cannot serve as guardian.”

“I can. And you’re wrong. If I don’t do it, they’ll lash out at us both. You know it’s true.”

“The council—”

“Barely exists any longer. They cannot overrule the Book of Life. Neither can you without risking it turning on you.”

He grits his teeth and releases me, turning away from me, his hand rubbing the tension on the back of his neck, and his torment cuts through me.

He doesn’t want me to leave, and it’s bittersweet confirmation that he cares for me.

He loves me, but my destiny is set, and I am not meant to be by his side.

“There will be a price to pay if we ignore the book,” I say.

“And what if that price might be Satima?”

He whirls on me. “This was never supposed to happen!” The words quake from him and rattle the walls.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I know I have to do it. You know I have to do it.”

“You’ll serve. Five years. Half a cycle and no more. You are our queen. This, they will understand.”

“I have to serve my full ten years. Every guardian serves ten years. If I don’t, the gales will resent us both.”

His gaze rises skyward, the veins in his neck pulsing, before he lowers his gaze to mine. “I’ll visit often. And your shadow can cover when you visit me.”

Emotion balls in my chest and climbs through my body, and I’m all but quaking. “Yes,” I confirm. “Yes, but I need my daughter with me. She’ll spare another and be my shadow. Let that shadow go to the reserve list. Satima needs to train. She needs to understand what her gales go through."

“No,” he says, steel in his voice. “My daughter will not leave my side. And she’s no shadow. ”

“She won’t stay, not without a fight. Not without hating you.

She is the future queen and there is no better way for her to earn respect than to be the best warrior among us.

And to have served just like her gales. This is how it has to be.

We establish this now. I’ll reject my shadow.

The book doesn’t require I have a shadow at all and I’m far more powerful than any guardian at any portal.

I don’t require a shadow, but Satima needs training. ”

His eyes glint with anger, but I feel the stab of pain in him. “You’re punishing me.”

I swallow hard, my throat raw. “No. You know me better than that.”

He closes the space between us and presses his hands to my face. “You’re punishing us both. I can’t go with you; you know that.”

“I do. I know.” My voice is low, barely audible.

I blink again, and I’m in the center of the ring. Somehow, a microphone is in my hand. “I will serve as guardian and Satima as my shadow, so that one of our gales is spared,” I say to the audience. My words are met with shouts of disapproval.

“This can’t happen!”

“No!”

“You can’t go! You are our queen.”

Killian raises his hand and silence follows.

“Your children,” I say, “your loved ones, compete, and if they are chosen by the Book of Life, they serve. I was chosen. If I do not serve, the consequences for our people could be many.”

Killian pries the microphone from my stiff hand. “Your queen will serve, but she will not vacate the throne. Queen Sophia will remain your queen and mine, as well.”

Chants of, “Queen Sophia,” fill the arena.

And so, it’s commanded by King Killian, the Book of Life, and the gales.

I will serve as guardian to the most volatile portal in existence.

And I do believe everything happens for a reason.

This is my destiny and maybe, just maybe, the reason I was gifted with powers that outreach my natural born class.