Ravage (Royal Fae Academy #1) - Lacey Carter Andersen Page 0,38

wall. I swear my heart stops. I swear I’m drawn to that blood like a moth to a flame, and I’m reaching for it even though every instinct within me is screaming to stop. My fingertips graze the dark mark, and suddenly I know deep within myself that this is Rayne’s blood.

I’m shocked when I crumble to my knees. I’m shocked when tears fill my eyes. Somehow seeing his blood makes it hit me that this is truly the path my brother took as he died, and the meaning of that changes within me. I’m not just following in his footsteps to find his killer, I’m reliving what my brother saw as he fought for his life. I press a hand to my chest, panting, tears streaming. I see flashes of him that night on my bedroom floor, his gut ripped open. He was attacked here. He staggered down this very tunnel.

The blade that delivered his death blow was here. Here in this very place.

He must have been so afraid. My brave brother knew that his wound meant the end for him.

“Blood of my blood,” I whisper, curling over my chest, pressing my fist harder against my chest. “May I avenge each spilled drop of scarlet with a thousand of my own.”

The words burn within me, and my anger uncoils. Around me I sense a dozen hungry minds. How many of them could I kill with a single thought? How many last screams of death could echo through these halls?

I’m trembling. I want to lash out. I want to kill all of them more than I’ve wanted anything in my life. So why do I fight it? Why am I shaking instead of just releasing my anger?

My father wouldn’t hesitate.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Abigail whispers, kneeling down beside me, her ghostly hand sending a chill through my body when it brushes my arm.

I shake my head, commanding myself to get a grip, to fight this overwhelming feeling of anger and horror at the way my brother was killed. “No.” The word sounds pained, and I swallow before continuing, “This is what I need.”

“But soon we’ll go through the hidden wall. We’ll drop lower through the trick passages, and we’ll find the rooms of forbidden items. Once we go there, there’s no going back. The people who want these secrets to stay dead will know, and you’ll be in more danger than you can imagine.”

“No one knows I’m here,” I counter. “No one knows I’m not just here for schooling.”

She frowns, looking unconvinced. “The Society of the Ravens is dangerous, Emseray. Believe me.”

The Society of the Ravens? The name sounds familiar…somehow. Had I heard about them? Read about them?

Suddenly, she goes rigid. Her mouth opens, but no words come out.

“Abigail!” I don’t care that I shout her name as I stand. Something is wrong. Very wrong.

And then she begins to scream and scream. It only takes a second for her translucent body to catch fire, but then she’s a ghostly shape, burning, the flames lighting the tunnel. Fear chokes my throat. Someone…someone is burning her bones. If she dies this way, she can never cross over. She’ll simply cease to exist.

I shout, “Hellhound, show yourself!”

It only takes a second for the beast to creep out of the shadows. Surprise flashes over the massive dog's face, but its lips curls back to reveal sharp teeth. It tries to leap for me, but with a thought I send its knees buckling. Then, before me, the huge, shaggy black beast, with eyes that burn, kneels before me. My subject, even if he didn’t know it until now.

“I am a dark fae queen, and you shall do my bidding or return to the fires of your world.”

It tries to attack me again. Again it crumbles to the ground.

“You shall take this soul to the world that smells of sunshine. And you shall do it now.”

And then it stops fighting my control. I release it, but the beast continues kneeling before me, and I see on its face the awareness that I am of his kind. That I am a creature of the monsters and the night.

He moves to where Abigail screams and burns, and his teeth grasp her leg with teeth that can even touch the undead. He drags her ghostly form from the tunnels, and I chase after them both, heart in my throat. My senses are overwhelmed with Abigail’s terror, and her screams I know will remain in my memories