His eyes widened at what he was seeing, his jaw slack as he stepped back, obviously ready to attack, to call his guard on me, to beat me down in defiance.
I gave him a chance for none of it.
Without warning, my magic flared, a stream of red smacking into him as I threw him into the wall, his body colliding with the old, stone masonry with a smack.
His scream echoed around us as his guards moved to attention, only to have my magic move into them, freezing them in place as I brought Edmund back to me. His body was little more than a rag doll as he hovered before me, frozen.
My hands moved slowly as I reached into my pocket and produced the sliver of Soul’s Blade that I had pulled from Ovailia’s body.
“I had hoped to connect all the pieces before I did this, but you left me no choice.” With one wide swing, the shard of red cut through the air, glinting in the light before it disappeared into Edmund, slicing through flesh and bone to embed itself into his heart.
With a sound like he had been punch, Edmund gasped, his blood spraying over me as he coughed, mouth and eyes wide in horror. My magic seeped from the guards in one quick movement, every inch of my power concentrated on the man before me, on the blade that was connecting with his magic, freezing his magic, his body, his soul right where it was. I left him staring at me as his life slowly seeped away.
“Father!” Ovailia shouted in disbelief as my magic surged to its full potential, the strength of the power flooding away in a volatile wind, shielding us from the attacks of the guards who came to life within moments of my magic leaving them.
“Take care of them, Ovailia,” I spat, not daring to look away from the man I held before me.
“But, Sain—”
“Now is the time to decide where your loyalty stands, Ovailia. You can be this man’s slave and let him continue to destroy you, or you can be my bride and let me show you what power, love, and royalty really are!” I roared, specks of saliva flying over Edmund’s face with my temper. “Decide who you stand with!”
There was a pause so silent I wasn’t sure anyone was left in the room. For a moment, it was just Edmund and me, his eyes wide as life left him, as he tried in vain to understand what had happened.
“I choose you, Sain.” Her answer came moments before sparks of green flew around us, Ovailia’s magic erupting as, one after another, Edmund’s guards fell. The men he had trained so well were felled by nothing more than a little poison.
“Wonderful,” I soothed as the second to last one fell.
The last man stared at us in fear, his eyes darting around as he obviously tried to decide if he should run.
“Incapacitate the last one. Make him watch. I need a witness.”
Without question, Ovailia stepped away from me, the barrier I had surrounded us with fell to the ground as her magic wrapped around the man, pinning him to the wall with a thud.
“Hello, Damek,” she said, the venom in her voice taking my breath away.
“She’s beautiful,” I sighed as I turned back to Edmund, the fear on his face making it obvious he could feel his magic seeping away, moving into the blade along with his soul, trapping him in there for eternity. “I have to thank you for making me such a beautiful woman. She was flawed before, but now…” I smiled, looking away from him as I licked my lips, my heart thundering through me with need.
Beautiful.
“Sain…” Edmund’s voice seeped through the pain, pulling my attention back to him as he fought the agony I had closeted him with, his soul and magic no more than a ghost of what they were. “Why…?”
“Why?” I echoed, my voice heightened in false mockery. “Why am I killing you?”
His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, a faint sound of liquid starting to gurgle from his throat.
He didn’t have long left.
“Because I am tired of being patient,” I hissed, moving closer to him, wanting to make certain he heard every word. “I have spent hundreds of years molding you into what you needed to be, but you didn’t do what I desired. You messed up my plan, which means I have to fix it. And if I have to fix it, then I have no use for you.”
His eyes widened as the truth of what was said hit him. His horror increased as he tried again to talk, but the sound of drowning came louder now, blood drizzling from the corners of his mouth as he tried to breath.
“When I have no use for someone anymore, I kill them. I’d normally have you do it, but I guess I am on my own now. I’m sorry, Edmund, but you’ve played your part. It’s time we throw you away.” With a jerk, I pulled the blade from his chest, his now lifeless body crumbling to the ground in a tangle of twitches and moans as my magic continued to move through him, the last of his life seeping away. “Pathetic.”
With one jerk of my magic, I sent a stream of fire into him, the magic infecting his useless body, burning him from the inside out, turning whatever made him the person he was into nothing more than useless ash. His body sagged under the loss before I stopped, knowing better than to get rid of the evidence completely.
“You,” I said to the man Ovailia still held against the wall. Everything about him shook as I started to move closer. “I have a job for you. Do it well, and I won’t kill you. Fail and your life will end in a much more painful way than poor Edmund finally found.”
I smiled, Ovailia laughed, and the man cowered as Ovailia released him from her magic, letting him fall to the ground.
“Stand,” I commanded, and he scuttled to his feet, his eyes darting away from mine in fear. “I want you to go and tell everyone what you saw here. Tell everyone of what Sain, the first of the Drak, really is. Can you do that?”
“Y-ye-yes…” he stuttered as he continued to shake, the smell of urine filling the air around us.
Ovailia laughed harder.
“Good. Then, when you are done, come back to me, and I’ll have another, little job for you. You have a new master now. Do you understand?”
The man nodded before he ran from us, his feet tripping over one another in his desperate need to find a way out.
“Do you think he will do it?” Ovailia asked as she stepped up to me, her body so close I could feel her warmth against my skin.
“Yes, I do. Now is when things really start to get interesting.” I pulled Ovailia to me, her eyes wide as I plastered her body against mine, my arms strong as I held her in place. “Now is when everything gets real.”
“Watch it!” the voice shouted in anger, but I kept running, weaving my way through the legs of people who lingered in the courtyard, making my way around the tents in a frantic need to find out if what everyone was saying was true.
That they had found a girl … about my age.
It wasn’t often kids showed up here or even survived what the Vilỳs had done to them. I guessed this one had. It was something I had to see for myself. Being the single one in a forest of adults was boring, even with magic.
Maybe that wouldn’t be the case for long.
Ducking behind a big, green tent, I moved to the little alley behind the makeshift emergency room Ilyan had put together, knowing I could get in through the window near the end. I had done it before.
Running past boarded up windows and that creepy, old door, I let my magic carefully wiggle open the pane of glass, wind moving around me as it moved me up and through.
Perfectly silent.
The first time I had done that, I had made so much noise one of the healers had scolded me for twenty minutes.
I had mastered silence quickly.
I didn’t even let myself touch the ground as I opened the door, the old, wooden thing creaking loudly as it opened to a hall lined with beds, the badly burned people covered by blankets and sheets. And there, at the end…
A little girl.
A few people hovered around her, their hands looking like birds’ wings as they talked or healed or did whatever they were doing. I knew that, if they saw me, I would get kicked out, and my better logic told
me to run and hide, wait until they were gone. But I couldn’t, not with something this exciting.
I kept moving forward, my eyes trained on her, eager to see her for myself. Then I froze as one of the healers moved to the side, giving me a clear view of the girl they had rescued no more than a few hours before.
“Míra?” My voice rang out loudly as I saw her.
Her head turned at the sound of her name, her jaw dropping as mine did from seeing her here, the adults around us looking between us in confusion.
“Jaromir?” Her voice was the exact squeak I remembered, high and deep … even though something in it had changed.
Something in her had changed. But I didn’t care.
Why would I?
She was here.
She was alive.
My sister.
My twin sister.
Thank you for your support and love during this crazy and difficult journey. Every purchase, every review, every letter has kept me going - you, my fans, have kept me going. So, let's keep it going! And, as a thanks for your purchase, here is a special compilation of every bonus scene that has been written for Imdalind, as well as a little something written just for Dawn of Ash. Enjoy! And Joclyn and the gang will see you in just a few months for Crown of Cinders!
http://www.rebeccaethington.com/2016/02/09/bonus-pre-order-content/
OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA ETHINGTON
THE IMDALIND SERIES
KISS OF FIRE, IMDALIND #1
EYES OF EMBER, IMDALIND #2
SCORCHED TREACHERY, IMDALIND #3
SOUL OF FLAME, IMDALIND #4
BURNT DEVOTION, IMDALIND #5
DAWN OF ASH, IMDALIND #6
CROWN OF CINDERS, IMDALIND #7 (EXPECTED RELEASE 6/16)
THE THROUGH GLASS NOVELLA SERIES
Episode One-Nine Available Now
Ten-Twenty Coming in 2016
OF RIVER AND RAYNN
THE CATALYST
THE REQUISITE (EXPECTED RELEASE 8/16)
Rebecca Ethington is an internationally bestselling author with almost 700,000 books sold. Her breakout debut, The Imdalind Series, has been featured on bestseller lists since its debut in 2012, reaching thousands of adoring fans worldwide and cited as “Interesting and Intense” by USA Today’s Happily Ever After Blog.
From writing horror to romance and creating every sort of magical creature in between, Rebecca’s imagination weaves vibrant worlds that transport readers into the pages of her books. Her writing has been described as fresh, original, and groundbreaking, with stories that bend genres and create fantastical worlds.
Born and raised under the lights of a stage, Rebecca has written stories by the ghost light, told them in whispers in dark corridors, and never stopped creating within the pages of a notebook.
There is something to be said to the people who helped to get this book to the page. For the ones who supported me, the ones who yelled at me to get it done, the ones who cheered me on, the ones who listened to me when I cried, and told me to shut up when it got to be too much. To the ones who made me hurt, and the ones who made it all better.
To the characters in my head, and the real ones they are based on.
To the pushers, and the supporters, and the fans, and everyone in-between.
This book would not exist without you.
Thank you.
Wendi, Shallyn, Kelli, Shaina, Jen, Lila, Joni, Alicia, Elisha, Tanya, Amber, Mark, Alice, Olivia, B.J., The Dynamis Gals, Italia, Melon, Chel, Kaylynn, Jessa, and a hundred more I am probably forgetting.
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Table of Contents
Ilyan
Chapter One
Joclyn
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Sain
Chapter Five
Ovailia
Chapter Six
Ryland
Chapter Seven
Joclyn
Chapter Eight
Sain
Chapter Nine
Dramin
Chapter Ten
Wyn
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Joclyn
Chapter Fourteen
Ovailia
Chapter Fifteen
Dramin
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Ovailia
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Wyn
Chapter Twenty
Ilyan
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Joclyn
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ovailia
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Wyn
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Joclyn
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sain
Chapter Thirty
Jaromir
Chapter Thirty-One
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Dawn of Ash Page 36