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ONE
Finn
FOUR MONTHS AGO
I slide the scarlet mask onto the bridge of my nose and draw back my shoulders, flexing my wings. My muscles twitch and tense with anticipation.
Because I know I am finally going to see her.
After all these years, I will be within touching distance of the woman who will change everything.
And she has no idea what’s about to happen to her.
Crouching by the stream, I trail a long, lithe finger through the gently flowing water. My upper lip curls into a smile as I picture Lord Eldrion, my master, my keeper, pacing his chambers.
“Tonight is the night, Finn. Find her for me. Bring her here.”
His entire body was vibrating with tension. He too craves Alana. But it would never occur to him that I am already plotting to steal her from him.
Tonight, he has given me a slice of freedom and he believes that, like a well-trained hound, I will return to him with the prey he sent me to fetch. Tail wagging. Tongue out. Desperate for his approval.
He thinks I will drop Alana at his feet and let him claim her for his own.
But he has always underestimated me.
The all-powerful Eldrion. He looks at me and sees my impotent wings, the way they almost disappear in the sunlight, their shadowy veins betraying the void inside me where magic should beat, and sing, and live.
He sees the way I bow my head, and nod, and clasp my hands behind my back as if they are physically chained there. He hears the bells that chime when I move, and thinks I will bow to him forever.
But he does not see inside my mind.
Despite all his games, and his power, he does not own that part of me.
He does not know the thoughts that have tormented me for centuries. He has no idea that I remember what he did.
I was only a child when Eldrion shattered my entire world and planted the seed of vengeance in my soul.
My parents were brave, courageous leaders amongst the Shadowkind. They dreamed of a better life for our people, free from the tyranny of the Sunborne. In secret, they gathered allies and planned a rebellion.
But they underestimated Eldrion’s reach. The night before the uprising, his forces descended on our home like a plague of locusts. They dragged us from the Shadowkind Quarter, through the city, to the citadel. And made us stand before Eldrion to face his wrath.
I remember the cruel curl of his lip as he looked down on my parents, the way his eyes glittered with malice. He wanted them to suffer. He wanted to make an example of them.
I have seen that look in his eyes so many times since, I truly believe that inflicting pain is at the core of his being. It is what he lives for. The thing that makes his heart beat faster and his blood run quicker.
My mother was first. Eldrion’s guards held me in place, forcing me to watch as he tore the wings from her back with a force that ripped a sickening scream from her throat.
Her screams echoed off the stone walls of the citadel. I have remembered it for centuries. I still hear it in my sleep. But it’s not her scream that ricochets around my mind when I am sleeping; it’s my father’s.
Watching her die broke him.
With a cruel smirk, Eldrion slit my mother’s throat, letting her blood pour out onto the cold flagstones, filling the crevices between them, painting them scarlet as her entire body drained of colour and life.
I remember bracing myself to witness him do the same to my father.
But with him, Eldrion took his time, savouring each moment of agony. He shattered my father’s limbs, the crack of bone mingling with his anguished sobs. Still crying for my mother.
In front of the watching crowd of traitors, who’d be summoned to observe their fate should they try again to rebel against him, Eldrion gouged out his eyes, condemning him to darkness before finally ending his life.
