Shadowblade academy 2 da.., p.31
Shadowblade Academy 2: Darkness Rising, page 31
With that, we ran through the trees, snaking around the darkness until we reached the edge of the Forbidden Orchard.
Outside, I staggered and inhaled deeply, thanking the spirits for clean air. Quentin’s hands moved in arcane gestures as we crowded around him.
A jagged rip tore into the air. A portal opened in front of him, shimmering.
Damn the bastards for negating our powers. Who had been responsible for that? Who had the wherewithal?
Could it be another shadowblade?
There were still too many unanswered questions.
Before stepping into the portal, I swallowed hard and scanned the swarm of Leatherwings flying around in the meadow—one last desperate search for Coralia. Begging for a sign.
But I found nothing.
The demons had won this time.
We’ll be back to rescue you, princess. Even if I have to do it alone.
I just prayed she wasn’t dead already.
That my onslaught wouldn’t come too late.
Epilogue
Coralia
I PLUMMETED THROUGH a hole in the ground, plunging through a black tunnel of soil and roots for at least twenty feet.
Then I landed on something vaguely soft—a bed of leaves or a pile of shit.
Groaning, I rolled off the pile, onto my hands and knees, and coughed.
I looked up. Pitch blackness greeted me—even darker down here than up on land.
My heart beat erratically in my chest. I felt forward blindly, until my fingertips touched something cold.
I recoiled from the metal chill, gasping. And that’s when I noticed the unmistakable slats of bars holding me back. Keeping me confined. Imprisoned.
I grabbed the bars with both hands and screamed my head off, shaking, trying to dislodge the metal.
But it was useless. They wouldn’t budge. I was in a fucking underground prison cell.
Footsteps approached. I abruptly stopped my shrieking to listen.
A cold voice washed over me—just on the other side of the bars. “Hello, Coralia.”
My brain short-circuited. That voice, so damn familiar.
Gaping, I put my forehead to the bars. I could practically feel the breath of the person on the other side, in the blackness, their presence looming.
I played the two words over again in my head: “Hello, Coralia.” Then I went dizzy, my vision swimming as tears bubbled up.
“M-Myria?”
“Yes,” came the cold response. Her voice sounded different.
My heart soared. “Oh my God, thank the spirits! I’ve been looking for you! Mom came to me and—”
“Well, you found me.”
My words tumbled out. “I went to Asberald City to find you. Did you see me? I saw you. I was hoping to snatch you, but those bastard Leatherwings pulled you into a portal. Are you in a cell also?”
“Not exactly, sis.”
Quietness settled into the darkness. Why was her tone so strange? Why did she not sound happy to see me?
“Um, okay . . .” I trailed off. “I never thought I’d find you here, but now that I have we can escape and find the Glovemates. You remember Sunny and Venn and Dax and Quentin, right?” I had to hope she didn’t have amnesia like the others who had been imprisoned by the Leatherwings.
More silence.
“Sis?”
“Oh, baby sis.” My sister’s voice wafted toward me like a gentle spell. “Silly, silly Coralia.”
Goosebumps sprouted up my skin. She sounded . . . pleased? At ease? Why wasn’t she frightened like me?
“Myria, what’s going on? You don’t sound like yourself. You’re scaring me.”
“I didn’t need help escaping Asberald City, and I don’t need help escaping here either.”
“What . . . what do you mean? You’re not making any sense.”
“Master wanted you. Did you know that? He was hoping for the power of a Hargrave, and he got me. Guess he got the wrong sister. But I’ve served my purpose well. And now I have you.”
A sharp pain wrenched up my spine. “Now you have me?”
“Yes. I’ve brought you to him on a silver platter. I’m not sure what Master sees in you, but it’s not my job to question his brilliance.”
“Myria, what the fuck is going on? What is this damn place?”
“Your new home, Cor. For now.”
My heart fractured the more she spoke. I had come so far to try and rescue Myria, my sister . . .
And now this? I was her captive?
“Explain yourself, Myria,” I demanded. “What are you doing here? What were you doing in Asberald City?”
“I thought the dryad would have been evidence enough. Did we screw up? Did she not have the child? Those creations gestate very, very fast.”
Air whistled out of my stuffed-up nostrils. “The c-child? You mean the demon baby?”
“Don’t slur Master’s creations like that, Coralia. He’d be angry. That child will reinforce his army, just as he wished.”
“His army? What army?”
“His army of hybrid supernaturals, of course. Can’t you connect the dots, sis?”
The dots? I supposed I could, once I got my brain back online and tried to make sense of it all.
Hybrids? Does she mean . . . cross-breeds?
It came to me like a smack in the face. Of course. Dryad and demon. A forest nymph—a rarity in the supernatural world. And the result? A demon-tree-spirit baby.
Desmona was right. The Asberald City prison had been a fucking demon breeding facility.
“He’s been working toward this for years,” Myria said, “and you’ll be the perfect vessel to deliver. He only wants the strongest, after all.”
My stomach sank to my boots. “The perfect vessel to deliver . . .” I trailed off, but didn’t need more to understand what she was saying. It baffled me, frightened me. “. . . babies?”
“Exactly.” She clapped, the sound startling. “Now you’re getting it. Don’t ‘shadow demons’ have a nice ring to it?”
My sister sounded unhinged, to say the least. Definitely not herself. I wouldn’t believe—couldn’t believe—that she was doing this on her own volition.
“Myria, what the fuck are you doing helping some evil mastermind create cross-breeds of supernaturals? What’s in it for you?”
“A place at the top.”
“The top of what?”
“The army, silly! Aren’t you listening?”
Now she sounded childishly pissed, like she was about to throw a tantrum. And this was my older sister I was talking to.
The kind one. The gentle one.
Now a puppet for an evil presence she called “Master.”
It was all too much.
The tears came flooding out.
“Oh, don’t cry, sis. It won’t be that bad. Well, I can’t guarantee that, because I’ve never been infused myself.”
“Infused?”
“Impregnated, sis. Fertilized. Keep up.”
My face contorted with disgust.
Myria was going to let demons have their way with me and impregnate me with their hellish spawn?
Was this really happening? How was this real life?
“Why are you doing this, sister?” I moaned, resting my forehead on the jail bars as I started to hyperventilate.
“Because Master demands it. Supernaturals are not treated well by humans, sis. You know this. We deserve to be the apex predators at the top of the food chain, and what better way than to build an army of unstoppable, multi-powered soldiers?”
She had completely lost the plot. “Myr, I understand the need for supernaturals to be treated better. Believe me. But there has to be a better way than this! This isn’t the answer!”
“Yes it is.”
“Please, help me escape. I can help you too!”
“Enough, Cor. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
I pouted, coughing out a sob.
“Your powers of shadow manipulation won’t work here, sis. I’ve made sure of it.” I could hear her smile—chapped lips cracking. “In case you’ve forgotten, I was once a shadowblade-in-training too.”
I cried as she started walking away. Her footsteps receded, but then stopped.
“Oh, and don’t bother screaming. No one can hear you.”
I EVENTUALLY FELL ASLEEP from exhaustion. I had no idea how much time passed.
Sometime later, I awoke. I hesitated to open my eyes, praying all this would be a horrifying nightmare and I’d wake up in my bed at Shadowblade Academy, surrounded by the fluffy love of Bruce Kittenson and Charli Fairfax.
But then I found myself staring into darkness. It was just as dark with my eyes open as it was with them closed.
I forced out a sob, but my tears had dried. My face felt sticky and I smelled like literal shit.
Then a voice spoke up to my left, sounding like it was coming through the walls, and I jolted upright where I sat.
“Don’t worry, girl.”
It was a woman’s voice, husky and broody.
“Who’s there?” I eked out.
“A fellow shadowblade. A friend.”
“I don’t recognize your voice.”
“Makes sense. But it’s funny, because you’ve been looking for me the whole time you’ve been here.”
“What do you mean?”
Before she could answer, everything flashed through me: the hooded figure from the alchemical storage closet; the dainty gloved hand that caused disruption in the meeting with Cyrus and Luciano.
The slight build of that person.
Of course—the shadowblade we’ve been searching for is a woman.
“Are you imprisoned also?” I asked.
“Yes. In the cell next to yours.”
I leaned my head against the wall. “Did you kill Kalul?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
“The Waicheean smuggler? Yes.”
My throat hitched. Here she was—the killer of Dax’s childhood friend—and I couldn’t even see her to try and strangle her.
“Why?” I asked, rage blooming inside me.
“Because Jace Hudson ordered it. I don’t ask questions, girl.”
“I have a name, you know. It’s Coralia.”
“I know. I heard your sister babbling all about it.”
I waited for a moment. “And I don’t suppose you want to tell me yours, do you?”
She chuckled. “I don’t give a fuck. Name’s Finley.”
My mouth fell open. “Finley Winston?”
“Guilty.”
“The Shadowball player missing from Hawkins’ Glove?”
“One and the same.”
“Your team lost the final because you were missing, you know. To us.”
“I know. A bummer, that. But there’s always next year.”
I scratched my chin. “I saw you leaving the storage closet at Shadowblade Academy with the Umbralmera. You’re not as sneaky as you think.”
“Clearly, or I wouldn’t be in here. But you’re wrong about one thing: I wasn’t leaving. I was coming. Putting it back”
“Ah. That crossed my mind.”
So the deed had already been carried out when I caught a glimpse of her. That made sense, timeline-wise.
For a moment, we wallowed in each other’s silence. It was not quite so end-of-the-world feeling when you had someone to commiserate with.
Then she said, “We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a pickle, haven’t we, Coralia?”
“Yeah. I don’t really want to think about it.”
“Well you better start.”
“Thinking about demon dicks impregnating me is not high on my wishlist. Why would I want to think about my imminent doom?”
“Because we aren’t getting brainwashed in here, Coralia. And we aren’t getting violated or becoming breeding sows. We’re going to get the fuck out. Together. And then we’re going to make all these motherfuckers pay.”
The brooding intensity of her voice scared me. She sounded like she meant business.
“We are?” I croaked.
“You bet your ass we are.”
To Be Continued!
Can Coralia escape her demonic imprisonment? Will her Glovemates find and rescue her? Find out in:
Shadowblade Academy 3: Darkness Falls!
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About the Author
KC KINGMAKER LIVES in San Diego and has been writing and reading fantasy and romance for years.
Briarwitch Academy was KC’s first foray into paranormal romance, trying to bridge the genres to make something steamy, funny, mysterious, action-packed, and most of all, fun!
Dragon Shifter Dominion came after, trying to meld that same steaminess with traditional fantasy, to create a romantic fantasy explosion!
Shadowblade Academy, KC’s third series, is technically a spin-off of Briarwitch Academy, though it can be read as a standalone series. It has just as much intrigue and mystery and steam as the others, but things get a bit darker...
KC Kingmaker, Shadowblade Academy 2: Darkness Rising
