Shadowborn Royals - G. Bailey Page 0,43

attention.”

I freeze at her words, wanting to believe she is making it up, but fragments of my life that long confused me click into place. Eva seems to register this from my expression alone.

“Dear sister, you look…shocked.”

“NO!” my mother screams, running out from behind Eva. Before she reaches me, Eva turns swiftly and slams her sword into my mother’s stomach.

A strangled cry tears from my throat and Ronan chuckles before releasing me. I run over to my mother as she falls on her side, the sword still embedded in her flesh. All I can hear is Eva’s laugh as I numbly pick up my mother’s head and rest her on my knees. I can’t heal her, not in here.

“What do I do?” Tears leak from my eyes as I whisper the question. They splash onto my hand that is cupping my mother’s cheek. “Mum…”

She takes a struggling breath before parting her lips. “You are a princess… Izora Dawn… created on a night of light and born at first dawn. Your father wanted you safe so… so he forced me to hide you.” She coughs, blood splattering from her mouth, and I can’t help the sob that escapes from me.

“I don’t care who I am,” I whisper brokenly, my vision clouded with tears. “I only care that I’m losing you.”

Even in spite of everything she did, I don’t want my mother to die.

“You are everything the light fae kingdom needs. Everything, Izora, my sweet girl.” She lifts her hand, covering my own on her cheek. “I’m sorry I lied, but I am not sorry for your creation. You will do the most amazing things…I love yo-u-u.”

My choked back sobs burst into screams when her hand falls from my own and her head rolls to the side. I scream even as Ronan locks my hands in cuffs and pulls me to Eva’s side. I only stop when we are right in front of the portal and my throat is so sore that it hurts to breathe let alone swallow.

Eva tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and then tilts my head, forcing me to look at it. “Are you ready to see our father, little princess?”

I yank my head away from her and peel my lips back into a snarl. “By Selena, you will pay for this, Eva. You will die for this!”

Her laugh is all I hear as she drags me through the portal and into the world of the light fae I’ve been hidden from my entire life.

The first thing I see is more light. Thousands of crystals gleam and shimmer around me, dazzling my line of sight. I squint my eyes against them and sweep my gaze around the hall.

Light fae guards, covered in blood-stained gold armor, litter the floor around me like dolls in a dollhouse. But this isn’t some game. Their blood trickles down a set of double doors made entirely of glass and as the light reflects through them, the room is almost smothered in pretty shades of pink light.

I can’t see through the doors from the amount of blood splatters that decorates them and nothing but fear chokes me.

Eva tightens her grip and I thrash in her arms, her painful touch dragging me from my stupor as her nails dig into my skin, no doubt making me bleed.

“Let me go, you crazy bitch!”

“Ronan, be a dear and restrain my sister,” Eva commands, her fingernails slicing into my shoulder deeper.

Ronan shifts to my side and handcuffs me in two impossibly swift movements.

I yank myself from Eva’s hold, causing my metal handcuffs to clang together. The most terrifying thing is that I can’t move my wings. It’s like the handcuffs are suppressing them.

Anger flares through me in waves. “I’m not your fucking sister,” I scream at her, my voice bouncing off the crystal walls. “And if you’ve brought me here to play happy family with you, you’re even more psychotic than I thought.”

An amused smile slides over her lips. “Happy family? Why in the name of Danica would I wish to do that?” She steps closer, bringing her nose inches from mine, and holds up a blood-stained dagger. “You mean nothing to me because you are nothing. Yes, we may share the same father, but I, unlike you, am the future ruler of this kingdom. A pureblood royal destined for greatness while you are merely destined for weakness. So be a good little girl, Izora, and keep that pretty mouth of yours shut or I will