Fist of the Furor
Page 18
My fingers tightened in his shirt.
His hand closed over mine. “Gabriella has been sent back to Greemallia, and the marriage has been annulled.” His fingers tightened. “Catriona is pregnant.”
My eyes fell closed. It didn’t surprise me really. I’d been the one to suggest the union, and yet the pain that lanced through my heart was stronger than I’d ever expected it to be. Cadeyrn was the second prince of a very large nation. With New Hope threatening to attack both his country and mine, he needed his alliance with Henderonia more than ever.
It took everything I had to let go, but I was an Aean Brirg and birds are often magnificent survivors.
I walked away from him then, my hands finding the rampart’s edge. He didn’t come to me. We were from two different worlds, two people plagued by the nightmares of war and politics.
“I’d like to make a request,” I said suddenly.
Cadeyrn didn’t answer me, but I knew he listened.
“I’d like to become an official scribe.” I glanced over my shoulder. “This country was once ruled by scribes, their knowledge a powerful tool to its success before the first Dracon War. There are inscriptions on the ruins here in the city. Trees with the word ‘knowledge’ embedded in their leaves.” I turned to face the prince. “I’d like to be a part of that.” I gestured at the village. “A school maybe? An Archives, a place where people can go to gain knowledge. Medeisia has a long way to go.”
Cadeyrn smiled. “Aean Brirg, a scribe of Medeisia.” He nodded. “You’ll have your school, you’ll sit on the king’s council, and you will have your license.”
I returned his smile. “You make a great king.”
His gaze went to the sky before he turned away. “You make a better scribe.” He paused at the top of the stairs leading down from the ramparts. “She’s not you,” he said suddenly.
And with that, he was gone.
I faced the horizon, the smile on my face growing. I wasn’t the phoenix. I was just a girl. And yet, I was more. It was often the smaller characters, the people behind the hero who helped win the war. It wasn’t always about being a savior. Sometimes, it was about being the hero of your own story. True greatness often comes when we allow ourselves to be great. I’d learned a great deal about myself recently. I’d learned that sometimes being a hero is fighting when you’re afraid, never giving up in the face of adversity, and to live even when life doesn’t seem worth living. Life wasn’t about what I’d lost; it was about what I still had to gain.
Below me in the forest, a wolf howled. A kek,kek filtered down from the sky, and I caught a hint of gold on the horizon. Lochlen.
I patted my chest, and then lifted my hands to the clouds. I didn’t have to worry whether or not Lochlen saw it, his answering stream of fire was answer enough. Dragons could fly free now in Medeisia. We were a country in ruins, a country vulnerable to attack, but I was going to be a part of changing that. Why? Because I was Aean Brirg, a dragon rider, and a scribe of Medeisia.
COMING in FALL 2014
City in Ruins: The Scribes of Medeisia Book 4
BONUS
An exclusive synopsis sneak peek at a new fantasy series by R.K. Ryals coming 2015
The Spices of Guarda Series Book 1
Secrets of the Hearth
“In spice there is death, reason, and life.”
Seventeen year-old Lavender Golding lives in the chaotic spice markets of Guarda, her fingers forever stained from her work in the Duke of Caraway’s kitchens. As an indentured servant paying off her noble father’s debt, she wants nothing more than to be free, to go in search of a family secret her mother entrusted her with as a child. For there is one thing Lavender has always been good at … spice.
In the dense jungle nation of Yorbrook, a sickness grows. It is driving its people mad. It eats away at the flesh until there is nothing left of the victim but a pile of ash. Yorbrook’s king has become desperate, his family placed in hiding. There is talk of a cure in the mountains of Guarda. For the plague that racks Yorbrook is no ordinary plague.
Arawn is a jungle mercenary knighted by the king and sent across the Raging Sea to Guarda. The plague ravages Yorbrook, but will the cure be worth the fight? For in the mountains of Guarda lies a sleeping monster …
About the Author
R.K. Ryals is the author of emotional and gripping young adult and new adult paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and fantasy. With a strong passion for charity and literacy, she works as a full time writer encouraging people to "share the love of reading one book at a time." An avid animal lover and self-proclaimed coffee-holic, R.K. Ryals was born in Jackson, Mississippi and makes her home in the Southern U.S. with her husband, her three daughters, a rescue dog named Oscar the Grouch, A Shitzsu named Tinkerbell, an OCD cat, and a coffee pot she honestly couldn't live without. Should she ever become the owner of a fire-breathing dragon (tame of course), her life would be complete. Visit her at http://rkryals.com/.
Other works available:
The Scribes of Medeisia
Mark of the Mage
Tempest
Fist of the Furor
City in Ruins (Coming 2014/2015)
The Redemption Series
Redemption
Ransom
Retribution
Revelation (Coming 2014)
The Acropolis Series
The Acropolis
The Labyrinth
Deliverance (Coming 2014)
The Thorne Trilogy
Cursed
Possessed
Dancing with the Devil (Coming 2014)
The Legend Series
The Singing River
Retaliation Bridge (Coming 2014)
The Spices of Guarda Series
Secrets of the Hearth (Coming 2015)