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1
ANARIA
Ihadn’t planned to die on the eve of the grandest ball of the year.
Yet…here I was.
Hiding in the front hall of Ravenshade Castle, craning my neck for a better view of the ballroom, where velvet-draped tables were set with real gold flatware and translucent porcelain plates, cut moonstone glasses glinted in the candlelight, the artful arrangements of plump red roses dripped with fresh dew.
Perfect.
The room was so perfect no one could find fault with it.
Not the Descendants, nor the lesser sons of the High Courts, certainly not the penniless hangers-on, who always arrived first, ate the most, and stayed the latest.
The air buzzed with newly spent magic, wild and vicious and deadly.
My nose stung from the power surrounding the ballroom for tonight’s grand event, more magic than I’d ever seen in my life. Everyone in Varitus would be impressed by the duke’s obscene display and those who were not invited would hear the gossip tomorrow and be doubly jealous.
Inching closer, I paused at the edge of the black and white checkerboard floor, the vast silence of the ballroom waiting to be filled with joyous music and malicious gossip.
I scanned the empty hallway one final time before leaning closer to the magic ward that protected this elegant room. I ached to plunge headfirst into the magic, to gulp down this power like the fine wine that would soon fill those goblets.
Even though the magic would kill me.
My bones hummed along with the ward—its warning clear—I was not worthy to step inside that room.
I didn’t need magic to remind me of my place in this realm, I knew precisely what I was.Nothing.
But I couldn’t stop staring into the glittering room…andwanting.
Wanting to be born into the pampered life of a Descendent, instead of condemned to serve them. Wanting to dance and laugh and drink with utter abandon, like the powerful beings lining up on the front drive.
The duke had spent an unheard-of amount of magic and wealth to impress tonight’s guests. Enough to fund this entire castle for months—even a year.
More money than I would ever see in my lifetime.
But if Ihadn’tbeen born to serve…ifI was a Descendent, I knew what I’d do with that kind of power and money.
I’d free every slave in Varitus.
I’d change this realm forever.
But dreams were for fools and life was too short to waste on such frivolous notions. And right now…
I swayed, closing my eyes to block out the seductive draw of the magic. How that forbidden power beckoned. Iknewthe ward would peel skin from bone, but part of me didn’t care.
Part of me was willing to pay the price, for a taste of pure magic.
I leaned closer, my face tingling.
I drank in the dark power and the tingling turned to pain. Another hairsbreadth and I’d be incinerated, but I was helpless to resist. I couldn’t explain why I was so drawn to this, knowing it be the death of me.
Perhaps death would be preferable to the life I’d been condemned to.
“Anaria. What in the fuck are you doing?” Ember’s hissed warning echoed down the hall as I became keenly aware someone stood directly behind me, their dark, slithering presence making my knees go loose.
The Mistress ruled this castle—all the slaves—with an iron fist, and for a split second I debated stepping straight into the magic and cutting my miserable life short.
