Heir of Lies (Black Dawn Series Book 1)

by Mallory McCartney

  In a place like the Academy, it bred more emotion and hope than Adair liked to admit. A government built on dreams, to nourish the most gifted. But to him, there was no control, and it suffocated him.

  Grinding his teeth, he allowed his feet to carry him, having walked the path a thousand times. He tried not to think about what waited for him in that room, tried not to think about last night. Everything was a blur, the people and the school washing out to a dull white noise, as those doors appeared.

  Five steps.

  Taking a deep breath, trying to stand a little straighter, he smoothed his hair to no avail.

  Three.

  Adair bit the inside of his cheek, his teeth breaking skin as iron filled his mouth.

  Two.

  He would not bow. He would not break. He was better than this.

  Reaching the doors, Adair gripped the handle and pulled. For a place like the Academy, the library was simplistic. Just a room with a desk, filled with bookshelves and dull material no one with an imagination would find exhilarating.

  Cesan leaned against the desk, impeccably groomed, causally inspecting his nails. The door clicked quietly shut behind them, cutting off the roaring commotion from outside. Adair tried not to flinch as his father raised his gaze to him. Indifference etched into his features, the burning promise and hunger for violence simmering behind his hooded eyes.

  Adair waited, his lips pressed into a thin line as he desperately tried not to throw up or to dip into his ability.

  It would be so easy.

  He couldn’t do it, not against his Dad.

  Protect yourself.

  “Adair, do you believe in fate?”

  The question registered slowly, and Adair paused, digesting that his father was talking to him. There was no anger, no violence, no accusations. Just a simple question that Adair was not prepared to answer.

  Cesan didn’t wait for him to. “Fate. It is something that for a long time after I met your mother, I believed in. We were living in a dangerous world, but we knew what we wanted. To see the injustices paid for, to end the war Roque’s father had started. For years, I followed the Faes’ dream. I followed my best friend and didn’t doubt a thing. I had a life and a family, strung along with the promise of more.”

  A chill snaked down Adair’s spine, when Cesan stepped forward, whispering, “Who wouldn’t want more? To be powerful, to rule? Roque promised me that our day would come, Adair, to have equal right to the Academy. That it would always be fair, that there would be no secrets. That he would always weigh our family’s opinion with an equal mentality.”

  His face contorted, and Adair stepped back.

  “It was all lies. Things have changed, Adair, and I’m not going to follow Roque into this trap. I refuse to stay in his shadow.”

  “Dad?” Adair’s voice trembled, his heart trying to catch up with what his mind had already concluded.

  “These people from the Shattered Isles shouldn’t be entertained or tolerated. And instead of making them our guests, I’m going to end them.”

  “Dad, no.”

  Cesan had backed Adair flush against the door, sneering down at him. “Are you with me?”

  “What, and leave the Academy?”

  “If you’re not with me, you’re with them.”

  “Dad, you don’t have to do this! The Faes aren’t the enemy, even these people...” He should have seen the hand coming; Adair’s head snapped back as his father hit him. Tears welled in his eyes.

  Cesan growled, “You are as weak as the rest of them. These people are a threat, Adair, and I am going to stop them.” Cesan’s face was flushed, and his eyes sparked with rage as he spat, “You are no son of mine.”

  With that, he shoved past Adair, slamming the library door with such force Adair was sure the door would splinter.

  ‘You are no son of mine’, played in his mind.

  He couldn’t breathe as he blindly grappled with the doorknob. The door swung toward him, the explosion of noise surreal to him as he looked down the hallway, seeing his father getting further away with every step.

  He had to stop him.

  Lurching forward, his breath caught in his lungs, burning against his ribcage.

  Move.

  He was numb; he was nothing but the stinging remainder of how his father saw him.

  Weak.

  The word turned to ash in Adair’s mouth, and the hallway spun sickly on its axis. He was anything but weak.

  Someone caught his arm, their cool fingers brushing against his burning flesh, bringing him slamming back into reality.

  “Stratton?”

  Rounding on Memphis, his friend visibly flinched at his withering look.

  Pulling hard out of his hold, he said, “Let me go,” through gritted teeth.

  He had already wasted too much time. What was his father going to do? What had he already done?

  Sprinting, he wove through the hallway, through the classmates that hated him, through the school that confined him.

  “Adair!”

  He hadn’t realized that Memphis had been on his heels, and with a flash of blond hair, he was in front of him, arms crossed.

  “What happened?” Memphis asked. His voice was quiet, his ice blue eyes piercing into Adair.

  Adair’s chest was heaving, fists clenched tightly at his sides. He licked his dry lips, trying to begin to explain why he had to go now, that he couldn’t even begin to explain what his dad had been doing, what he was about to do. He could feel the stares burning into his back, the judgements, the whispers of the students around him. His world was tipping, and he was drowning in it.

  Snapping his gaze past Memphis, Adair felt that small protected part of himself crack, falling into oblivion. Falling into darkness.

  “Get out of my way now, or I will make you.”

  Memphis’s eyes widened slightly, the only sign of hurt flickering across his face.

  Adair’s anger was liquid fire in his veins, consuming him, incinerating him. It was effortless to abandon himself, diving into his ability that was always waiting just beneath the surface. Waiting for him to come home.

  Memphis’s mind was an iron seal, but Adair overtook him within seconds. Not wasting any time, he dove deeper into Memphis’s muscle memory. Pouring his breaking heart into his actions, Memphis clawed against him, ripping and tearing at Adair, trying to stop him. But he barely noticed.

  Adair felt his power overflowing, tipping the scales, knowing he was about to land the finishing blow.

  “Adair, no.”

  Memphis voice was distant and weak, and Adair suffocated him, pushing him further down until darkness snapped liked a whip and consumed them both.

  Adair took a gulping breath as he was snapped back into his body, looking at a crumpled Memphis in front of him.

  “What did you do?”

  Adair raised his gaze to a pale faced boy with flaming red hair. Adair shrugged. “He is just knocked out, Alby.”

  Rushing to Memphis, Alby yelled something at him, but Adair was already running, his adrenaline fueling him, pushing him harder, faster.

  What had he done?

  The concrete world around him was a blur, and panic sunk its steady claws into his mind. He had crossed a line. He pushed the thought down. Memphis wouldn’t have let him go otherwise.

  How could Adair possibly start to explain what had happened? Who would understand? Who would listen to the shadows of his heart when they kept him at a distance? Who would see that he was desperately trying to be a man and not a weapon?

  A choked cry escaped from him, and Adair threw the doors to the Academy open, the afternoon sunlight pouring over him. Cesan was in the courtyard, his gruff voice snapping commands at several senior students.

  “Dad!”

  Cesan turned slowly, taking him in. Adair took one step, his mind reeling when thundering footsteps sounded from the hallway.

  “CESAN!”

  Roque’s voice made Adair flinch, and the door e
xploded open behind him. Roque, Nei, and his mother appeared first. Tadeas and his entourage quickly following behind them.

  Adair was swept to the side, but Bresslin stopped to crouched down and cup his cheek, “Adair, did he do this to you?”

  Ice crusted over his skin at his silence, and Bresslin stood, her eyes slits as she took in her husband. Cesan, in a fluid motion, gripped a hilt beneath his jacket and, with a hiss, brandished a black steel blade.

  His grin was twisted, contorting his handsome features as he yelled to Roque alone, “No more, Roque! I will not bow to you! A desolate, weak man! How dare you string me along on your empty promises for years! How dare you go back on everything you promised my family! Promised me! I will be King, and I promise you, you will wish you hadn’t crossed me.”

  A ripple of anger spread through them at his words, and Roque walked down the steps, appraising his best friend.

  “Cesan, listen to me. Don’t do this. What are my choices? The world constantly changes, and it demands that people either accept it, or they will fall stagnant in this life. I will not make my father’s mistakes.” He shook his head. “For the first time in years, we have the chance to make our alliances stronger instead of continuing to break them. Stay with me. Please.”

  Mad, crackling laughter erupted from his father and dread filled Adair as Cesan raised a dark eyebrow and breathed, “No.”

  Adair saw it in slow motion at first, Cesan running full tilt toward Roque, that mad dark gleam shining in his eyes, and Adair knew in his heart exactly what he was about to do, before anyone else could react. He was born from ice and darkness, and he was his father’s son through and through. He was the only one who could stand up to Cesan.

  “Dad, NO!”

  Adair exploded past the group, shoving arms and bodies out of his way, and flung his physical body off the step, but his ability was already soaring, pouring out of him like smoke. And it wrapped itself around Cesan. It was like hitting a brick wall, battering repeatedly, all his energy pouring into this single action only to get pinned.

  He was slammed back into his physical body, the air knocked out of his lungs from the force of his father’s ability. He landed hard on the ground, his head cracking from the impact. Wheezing, Adair rolled, white spots dancing in his vision. Cesan’s blade slammed into the ground right where Adair had been a second before.

  “Do you think you are strong enough to stop me?”

  Scrambling back from his father, from his words, from his violence, his voice cracked as Adair begged, “Dad, please. Stop. Listen to them. Listen to me. I’m asking you not to do this. Don’t leave.”

  Cesan ran, forcing Adair back onto his feet, to duck and dive from his onslaught.

  Steel hissed through the air, harsh and relentless. Tripping, Adair fell on to the steps and saw Cesan about to plunge the tip of the blade down. He shut his eyes, flinching as he readied himself to feel the slice of the blade.

  “NO!”

  The world exploded into ice, rippling down the stairs, courtyard, the blade in Cesan’s hands. Bresslin charged toward them, as the sword shattered, forcing Cesan to turn his attention to her. Flickering anguish crossed his face as he took in his wife, spears of ice forming in her palms.

  “Cesan, leave. Now.”

  His dad paused, sweat dripping off him, and whispered, “Bresslin. Come with me. You don’t have to do this. Don’t make me choose.”

  Face darkening, Bresslin stalked up to him, not pausing as she slapped his face, ice slicing his skin. Glistening ruby droplets streaked his face. “How do you like it? How long have you been doing this? He is our son, Cesan.” Her lips twisted into a snarl. “Get. Out. Now.”

  Each word, she threw at him like a punch, direct and fierce.

  “Bresslin, wait.”

  She snapped her hands down, and a wall of ice exploded from her, forcing Cesan to stagger back. The ice was thick, a thousand colors shimmering in it as the sun sliced through it. For a second, they just stared at each other, unsaid things passing, both of their chests heaving. Bresslin growled as she watched Cesan turn his back on them, snapping orders to his group.

  Adair watched as if in a trance as two seniors freed the horses Tadeas’s group had brought, and they mounted them.

  Cesan hauled himself up on a stallion’s back, twisting to stare at them all. His gaze landed on Adair last as he roared, “You will all regret this!”

  Then with thundering hooves, they slowly disappeared, leaving them with his ringing threat and their broken hearts.

  Cursing, Bresslin snapped her fingers, the ice cracking into a thousand tiny shards, suspended in the air like crystals. She stared at her work before turning her back. The ice melted and dissipated into droplets of water, sloshing onto the ground behind her.

  “Adair, are you okay?” she asked.

  Her hushed murmur broke him even further. One word burned in his mind, etching itself there permanently.

  Why?

  “Adair, you have to stand for me.”

  Looking up to his mother’s face, her kind eyes, her soft features... she was strong, and he never once doubted that she wasn’t good. But what was he? Was there any trace of her in him?

  Adair stood, shaking, his already bruised body making each movement drawn out and painful.

  Roque still stood on the steps, staring at where Cesan had been, as if willing his best friend back. At their movement, Roque snapped his attention to them, and narrowed his eyes. “Bresslin, you need to follow him now. Take a group with you but do not let him accomplish what he wants to do.”

  “And exactly what is that?” Adair was surprised at how steady his voice was, and Roque sneered, taking the steps two at a time.

  “Your father, Stratton, is planning on starting another war. By preying on desolates and people from the Shattered Isles until I step down from accepting my terms as King of Kiero.”

  No.

  Roque didn’t stop until he was face-to-face with Adair, his breath hot against his skin, “He is doing what he knows will hurt most. It’s what my father would have done.”

  Bresslin stepped in between them. “Roque, enough. It’s not Adair’s fault.”

  “You’re right.” Roque stared at him a moment before wrenching his gaze away. “Bresslin, you have an hour to get ready. Nei, you will go as well. Can we prepare the school in time?”

  They all snapped into action at his commands. His mom glanced at him one last time before she whisked herself away, jogging toward Nei. Tadeas gave Roque a sad nod, and anger rose its ugly head within Adair as he took in the scene.

  They were preparing for war; in a single moment, his dad had ripped anything Adair thought he knew away.

  What just happened?

  Grinding his teeth, he forced himself to move, following the group back into the Academy. Everything was displaced: the brilliant warmth of the sun, the peacefulness of the forest sprawling behind the Academy. A dark foreboding unraveled within Adair, the pit in his stomach consuming him.

  “Don’t you want more?”

  Whispers cut through the pain, wrapping around him, and Adair shook his head, pushing himself back into the Academy and to a healer. No one stopped to double check that the shadow of a boy was okay. No one stopped to make sure he was holding himself together.

  And like thin ice, a crack split through Adair, reluctant and then all-consuming until there was nothing whole left.

  Chapter Five

  Brokk

  Hope was a dangerous thing. It could consume every dream and make them take flight, becoming wild daydreams in one’s heart and mind. Or hope could incinerate everything you thought you knew, burning you down to your core, leaving you raw and exposed for the world.

  As Brokk walked down the hallway, looking for Memphis, his world was ripped apart in a split second. The hallways were quiet, which should have been his first sign that something was off. Class had just ended for the afternoon, and like every other day, Brokk’s blood was boiling after
seeing Iasan. His teacher had become predatory toward him, trying to push him to his edge but always in ways only noticed to Brokk, putting on the persona for the other teachers.

  Iasan was only trying to ensure a bright future, they said.

  By grooming him into a lethal weapon that would kill on command.

  Swearing under his breath, Brokk was hoping for the blissful distraction that the hallways of the Academy always provided. His fellow classmates had a flair for the dramatics; it was guaranteed he would be swept away in their display, along with his thoughts.

  Instead, his footsteps echoed as he continued on, dread pooling in his stomach and making it churn. Turning the corner, he was about to stop and go back when he saw him. Crumpled in the middle of the hallway, his blond hair splayed out around him and his skin drained of any color, he looked dead. Alby’s appearance flickered as he turned invisible in a panic.

  “What happened?!” Brokk’s voice cracked, as he sprinted, dropping to his best friend’s side in an instant. Alby’s eyes were wide, as he grappled with his words, his mouth opening and closing.

  Brokk urged, “Alby, what happened?”

  The doors at the end of the hallway were thrown open, and Brokk stood, slowly taking in the group rushing toward them. Roque stormed down the hall, Nei and Bresslin at his heels, Tadeas and his entourage flanking them. Roque looked at them, narrowing his eyes to slits.

  “Foster! What are you doing here? I told the teachers to issue a temporary room curfew effective immediately.”

  Roque’s words were just white noise, as Brokk saw Adair filing slowly in at the end of the hallway, looking like he had just been through a war.

  “Foster, I suggest you answer the question,” Roque spoke quietly and slowly, and Brokk flicked his gaze up to the man for a second, truly taking him in. And what Brokk saw, for the first time in years, scared him. Rage contorted their leader’s features into one unrecognizable. One that consumed the man and left a person that had nothing left to lose.

  He took a step back. “I was just looking for Memphis.”