Rogue Royalty

by Rebecca Ethington

  Imdalind Academy

  Rogue Royalty

  Rebecca Ethington

  Text Copyright ©2019 by Rebecca Ethington

  The Imdalind Series, characters, names, and related indicia are trademarks and © of Rebecca Ethington.

  The Imdalind Series Publishing rights © Rebecca Ethington

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published by Market Street Books LLC

  No Part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For Information regarding permission, write to:

  Rebecca Ethington – permissions@ Rebecca Ethington.com

  Copyediting by RainEditing

  Production Management by Market Street Books

  Cover Design by Duck and Bicycle Productions

  Cover Photography by Tattered Butterfly

  Cover Model: Charlee Wagner

  Ebook ISBN - 978-1-949725-35-3

  Print ISBN - 978-1-949725-34-6

  Printed in USA

  This Edition, July 2019

  THE WORLD OF IMDALIND

  Joclyn’s Story, Where it all began

  BOOK ONE: Kiss of Fire

  BOOK TWO: Eyes of Ember

  BOOK THREE: Scorched Treachery

  BOOK FOUR: Soul of Flame

  BOOK FIVE: Burnt Devotion

  BOOK SIX: Brand of Betrayal

  BOOK SEVEN: Dawn of Ash

  BOOK EIGHT: Crown of Cinders

  BOOK NINE: Ilyan

  Ryland’s Story, the King of Imdalind

  BOOK ONE: Spark of Vengeance

  BOOK TWO: Flare of Villainy

  BOOK THREE: TBA

  BOOK FOUR: TBA

  BOOK FIVE: TBA

  Rowan’s Story, Imdalind Academy

  BOOK ONE: The Gauntlet

  BOOK TWO: Rogue Royalty

  BOOK THREE: Broken Renegade

  BOOK FOUR: Reluctant Seer

  BOOK FIVE: TBA

  Contents

  1. Gemma

  2. Rowan

  3. Gemma

  4. Sia

  5. Rowan

  6. Gemma

  7. Sia

  8. Rowan

  9. Gemma

  10. Rowan

  11. Gemma

  12. Rowan

  13. Sia

  14. Rowan

  15. Gemma

  16. Rowan

  17. Sia

  18. Gemma

  19. Rowan

  20. Sia

  21. Rowan

  22. Gemma

  23. Rowan

  24. Sia

  25. Rowan

  26. Gemma

  27. Sia

  28. Rowan

  29. Gemma

  30. Rowan

  31. Gemma

  32. Rowan

  33. Gemma

  34. Sia

  35. Gemma

  36. Rowan

  37. Sia

  38. Rowan

  Special Thanks From The Author

  Also by Rebecca Ethington

  Join Team Rebecca!

  About the Author

  For My Kids

  Never Give Up

  1

  Gemma

  “We are in the right place to end everything.”

  I repeated the words I had said to my best friend Ed a few hours ago, before the sun had set and the call to bed had rang through the long halls of the dorms. Before the crickets had started their incessant chirping and everything from the last few days had finally hit against me in a dark, cold, weight.

  I had blown up the royal families precious Gauntlet days ago, and somehow they had let me live. Not only lived, but forced me to enroll in the school that I had tried so hard to turn to rubble with one well-placed blast from my broken, illegal, magic.

  I had expected to be dead.

  I had boarded that bus never expecting to make it back.

  Instead, I was at the same school I had tried to destroy; magic fixed, if not restrained by a devilish looking blonde woman, Mira.

  She didn’t look much older than me and had a smile that would burn the shade of a demon. I shuddered just thinking about it.

  I rolled over on the blankets I had pulled to the floor, the hard, musty carpet better than the overly soft bed they had provided me.

  After a lifetime sleeping in sewer tunnels and the occasional holey hammock, I had no plans on sleeping in one of those puffy elevated body snatchers anytime soon. The floor was the only thing that reminded me of home as of yet. And, as a special bonus, it wasn’t going to swallow me like the marshmallow stuff they had served for dinner.

  The fluffy clouds of marshmallow was by far the weirdest thing they had served us. Everything else had been mostly normal, with piles of meats, cheeses and colorful cakes coated with sugars and a million other things I had to ask the name of. All of them delicious, foreign delicacies to everyone at home. Well, unless I was blowing up groceries stores, and I wasn’t there to do that anymore. It was all a reminder of exactly why I had blown up that Gauntlet. Why I had agreed to come here at all.

  Of what I was going to do, and who I was planning to kill.

  If I could at all.

  If I was supposed to anymore.

  “End everything,” I whispered to myself, the words musing in the dark.

  I had blown up the Gauntlet, I had faced the queen, all with one desire. To overthrow the monarchy. Then I had come face to face with the queen, the queen with wicked dark eyes and a skill that sent shivers down my spine. I swear I could still feel that deep black weight of her magic press against mine, the endless well of power tugging at my own, as though it was trying to devour it.

  I would never forget the weight of that power, the way her and the King’s eyes had widened, the weird glance they had given each other when they had realized what I was saying. When I had realized they hadn’t known.

  Thousands of people slaughtered. They hadn’t known.

  I turned over again, my body restless as the crickets sang, as the moon continued to travel over the musty carpet, counting down the minutes until the first day and the question that was pressing against my heart, against that Štít that controlled my magic.

  The deal I had made with the queen.

  To work with her, while I secretly plotted to end her.

  It was only in the hollow darkness of the still night that the deal began feeling like a deadweight.

  Perhaps even an impossibility.

  A hollow knock echoed through the darkness, the sound sending me bolting up, hands flared toward the door that I was sure the noise had come from. Of course, with how soft it was it could have come from some squirrel falling off the sill outside of the window.

  A piece of paper slipped underneath the door, sliding across the wooden threshold to come to a stop against the carpet. The grind of paper was loud in the dark, my muscles and magic tensing as I waited for the sound of footsteps, for the door to be blown off its hinges, for the CCC to barge their way in, or any number of horrors I had come to expect.

  Nothing. Nothing but silence and a piece of paper.

  They were still there.

  Bolting to the door, I jumped over the squishy armchair and nearly slipped on the wood as I threw the door open, magic buzzing in preparation to attack.

  I half expected Sia to be standing there, smug smile in place as she threatened me, throwing fire or stones at me. But the hallway was empty, the fire bearing sconces flickering against the dark stone between the doors that lined the hallway.

  “Hello?” I said louder than I probably should have given that it was well after midnight. Who cares if I woke anyone up? I mean, someone had clearly
meant to wake me up.

  Wake me up and bail.

  Lame.

  Glaring to the silence, I slid the door shut with a bang, hoping that it would disturb my favorite next door neighbor, Sia’s, beauty sleep.

  No noise, no yells, no clicks of doors. Just me and the crickets as I stood in the darkened room, staring at the piece of paper on the floor.

  The paper was unmarked, the heavy sheet frayed along one side, like someone had torn it out of a book. The paper was thick enough for that too.

  I’ve battled the CCC, faced the queen, blown up a Gauntlet, and this lame piece of paper slid under my door in the middle of the night was the thing that was going to turn my nerves to pools of fear.

  Great.

  Holding my breath, I unfolded the page, my not so hot reading skills slowly making its way through the loopy writing.

  ‘Gemma,

  Everything changes tomorrow, I wish you luck in your classes and hope you will find yourself on the right path.

  Do not be scared of your past, do not let yourself be blinded by the future.

  Let me know if you need anything. We’ll be in touch.

  -Joclyn’

  “Joclyn?” I said aloud, my brow furrowing. Joclyn, like the queen Joclyn? Like the one who rules over us and sees into the future and bound my magic and expects me to still be working with her.

  Damn. Didn’t know we were on a first name basis.

  Didn't know I had gotten myself in so over my head that I was now getting letters from the Queen, letters that were vague and threatening and somehow supportive all at once.

  Letters that were offering me help.

  “What rat shit have I mixed myself up in now?” I sighed, crumpling the letter in my fist and trudging back to my nest of blankets, the soft squishy things feeling as cold and hard as the floor now.

  I needed to end this. I had planned to end this. But I had also been forced to help the Queen.

  “End everything…” I whispered, uncurling the paper and lifting it over my head, staring at the first few words. “Everything changes tomorrow.”

  Changes.

  Ends.

  It was as though she knew. Seeing as she could see into the future, she probably could.

  A twisted smile spread over my lips as I thought of the days ahead, my magic buzzing and building as I lay in the blue moonlight I had coaxed in to mimic the light that would stream in from the grate back home.

  The queen may be offering me help, but she was only one tendril of a web I needed to weave to complete my plan. One spire of the royal family I was surrounded by.

  Prince Rowan was handsome, sure, but the second he had stepped out of his carriage with that bitch Sia on his arm he could have been some god damned Greek God with iron pecks or some shit and I wouldn’t have cared for him.

  The second she had kissed him, that he had kissed her back, it was near enough to sign his own death warrant.

  Well, not death per se, but I was certainly going to make use of him.

  Rowan was nothing more than another little web in my plan. Hopefully, my ticket into the diamond-studded halls his family called home.

  Get close to Rowan, and I’m closer to ending this.

  “We are in the right place to end everything,” I hesitated. “We are in the right place to change everything.”

  I liked that better.

  “We are in the right place to change everything.”

  The powerful declaration filled the empty dark of my room like a banner, the hollow promise clinging to the dark walls and the sliver of moonlight. It dripped from the lavish furniture and spread over the floor.

  I boomed until it became a living thing, a promise.

  “I’m going to change everything.”

  Those royal idiots had done more than enroll me in Imdalind Academy.

  They had enrolled me with their prince.

  They had triggered the end.

  2

  Rowan

  Of all the endless, sleepless nights I had experienced in the last few years, the night before the first day of my forced enrollment in Imdalind Academy was the worst.

  Back home in the caves of Prague the long hours had become normal. I had gotten used to not sleeping, to keeping myself occupied, to running into my father in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning, to late-night chess matches when Dramin visited. I even found solace in the long lonely hours when no one in my home was awake.

  It was all comforting in their own way. Familiar.

  In this damned school, all of that was gone. Swept away in my massive suite my cousin Cail had assigned me, the far too large space full of furniture that was brushed with gold and opulence that wasn’t me, bed piled high with blankets I would rarely use thanks to my unfortunate inheritance.

  My mother, in her all-seeing wisdom, had sent over a few things ahead of me. Drawing supplies, piles of books, and a few broken relics from when she was a child that I enjoyed tinkering with. VCRs and DVD players, things with letters instead of actual names.

  They had been all wrapped up with family photos and a letter from both her and dad. One labeled. ‘For Now,’ and the other ‘For Later’. I only opened the one, I didn’t want to know what the other one had to say.

  ‘Row -

  I know attending the school was not what you wanted, but I am proud of you for facing a world with the hope of making it better. It will be, in so many ways…’

  I almost skipped forward; I wasn’t in the mood for the brooding Drak predictions that boiled my blood.

  ‘Circumstances may have gotten worse in the last few days, but we wanted you to know that we are proud of you.

  You have always had a heart big enough to swallow the world. You get that from your dad, I think. Be brave. Be strong. Follow your heart, it won’t fail you. Of this, I can promise.

  -Mom’

  Dad’s was even shorter.

  ‘Rowan -

  You inspire me every day. I love you.

  -Dad’

  Sometimes I was sure he secretly wrote greeting cards with the way he talked. If only it had been enough to stop me from wanting to fall through the floor.

  Nothing but getting out of this place could solve that.

  Even after unpacking my trunk, hiding the mug in one of the many drawers that littered the room, and throwing a few shirts on the floor, I couldn't get comfortable. I had spent the dark night hours wandering between the rooms in my suite, looking out the windows that were such an oddity in the caves of Imdalind that they made me nervous that someone would see in. That someone could sneak in. Like Sia, who had stalked me all the way to my door before I had slammed it in her face, a last-minute promise to see her tomorrow hissed through the wood.

  If she snuck through my window I would be sure to throw her right back out of it.

  Letting my pencil drag over the paper I had been drawing monsters and dogs on all night, I turned up my stereo, letting Dave Grohl’s ancient voice sing over the long, yellow rays of sun that had begun to stretch over the floor, igniting the air into fireworks of their own kind.

  Specks of white caught the light, shimmering and moving in a sunrise that painted the stars in streaks of orange and yellow, swallowing them whole. A dance, a beautiful dance that ignited against my fingers as they twirled and snatched at the light.

  It was so different above ground, watching the sun peak over the mountains, and stream through the massive pine trees that I had been told on more than one occasion had been burned to stubble by my Aunt Wyn in one of the final battles of the war.

  Living amongst it made it feel even more like a fairy tale than it had when I was a kid.

  "One last thing before I quit. I never wanted any more than I could fit into my head.” I sang along as the sun filled the room, a red-breasted bird announcing the day that I had dreaded for the past six years.

  "Please don't let this be a shit show," I said with a sigh, leaning back in my chair and pulling the class schedule I had been
doodling on closer.

  Period One: History of Imdalind with Professor Analine Krul

  Well, that sounded boring, and embarrassing. Learning about my own family history from my cousin who Dramin and I used to tease was adopted. How someone so stern was born to the two weirdest people I knew I still couldn’t figure out.

  Period Two: Wind Based Powers and Control with Professor Lexia Stone

  Lunch

  Period Three: Royal Dispatch - Headmasters Office

  Period Four: Healing and Defense with Professor Etma Diarius

  Okay, I changed my mind. It all sounded boring. And Royal Dispatch? What kind of nonsense was that? I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose as warmth and magic pooled in my neck. At least I had the added benefit that I would be sleeping through half the year.

  I had already sat there for an hour longer than I should have in the hopes of missing breakfast and my Uncle’s speech. Much longer and I would cause a scene walking into the main hall in the middle of it. Might as well get this over with.

  I didn’t even bother to smooth the wrinkles in the shirt I had worn all night, I grabbed the starched jacket and threw it over my shoulder, only grabbing my prepacked satchel of books when I realized I should probably look like I was as new to magic as the rest of them.