In less than a week, the final book in the Destined series will be out!
I am so excited to share this story with you that I can’t even wait that long. So here is a short excerpt. 😉 I hope you enjoy a small taste of Cursed: Briar Rose’s Story!
xo
The morning sun had shifted behind a wall of billowy, gray clouds by the time school let out. I walked from the Mage Academy to the Sentinels recruitment meeting several blocks away, cool wind biting at my face and promising another spring storm before the day ended.
The Sentinels’ new compound in the Royal Precinct was large but the buildings were old, a collection of defunct government warehouses. The area was a relic from the early days of trade growth, when the government had to store the flood of imports while the merchants built their own spaces.
I’d heard the Sentinel teams were outgrowing the palace basement and planning to find a larger facility since the Masters attacked Asylia. The actual move must’ve happened while I was out in the Badlands.
I shoved my hands in my sweater pockets as I approached the compound gate, my shoulders tight. The move was yet another reminder that life had continued for everyone else while my own had fallen apart.
I entered the gate with my head down. I didn’t want to see Dad if I didn’t have to.
“Here for the recruiting meeting?”
My head jerked up of its own accord. A skinny, golden-haired boy fell in step beside me. In front of us, a red-haired boy with gangly limbs ducked through the main door without pausing to greet either of us.
“Yes.” My voice was dry and hard.
“Me, too.” The boy grinned, apparently unperturbed by my coldness, his brown eyes crinkling as he looked me over. “I can’t wait to be a Sentinel.”
Good for you, the curse said with a mocking laugh. You will do nicely, silly thing.
I swallowed, my tight shoulders inching up as I tried not to show my disquiet. What did Elektra’s curse have planned for the Sentinels?
The golden-haired boy kept up a steady stream of confident chatter as we followed the other boy through the door.
“New recruits, in here!” A woman’s voice echoed down the hallway. “Hustle, please. Sign in and find a seat. We have a lot to cover before the test.”
The meeting room was large and open but slightly dusty, like some Sentinel had only had time to give it a half-hearted wipe down before the meeting. Weak light from the stormy sky outside came in from several tall windows along one wall. A smattering of chairs, mostly taken, faced Raven and another man, who stood at a scuffed lectern. Around twenty youths my age and older sat in the chairs, passing a sheet of paper and pencil from one person to the next. I sat in the back row.
Raven glanced at me, her expression inscrutable, then tapped the lectern and addressed the group. “As you know, due to recent events involving mages attacking our city, our teams are expanding. We need a pipeline of qualified candidates coming up to try out when they come of age. The best of the best.” Raven speared us with a hard, narrow-eyed look, as though she could take measure of all of us at once with a single glare. Perhaps she could. “That’s not any of you, of course. Not yet. But if you pass today’s test and begin our recruitment program, one day, you will be the best. And then we’ll see if you’re good enough to be a Sentinel. Got it?”
The older, bearded man beside her nodded. “You’ll meet here daily after your regular classes. We’ll work with you on physical training, skills, and more. You won’t slack. You won’t complain. You won’t skip a day. Give us your all, surpass the standard at every point, and you’ll have a chance.” He lowered his bushy eyebrows. “Fall short in any way, and we’ll cut you from the program for good.”
Raven crossed her arms. “Any questions?”
The room bristled with a near-tangible thrill. If anything, the recruits seemed even more excited than before their harsh speech.
The friendly, golden-haired boy who’d entered with me raised his hand. “I have a question.” Nervous humor tinged his tone. “When can we start the test?”
Idiot creature. The curse fluttered happily in my chest, strangely delighted by the recruits. They will make good messengers. Foolish, obedient. Good messengers, indeed. We will only need to keep one or two alive to fetch Zel.
I pressed a hand to my mouth. So that was the curse’s plan—to bring innocent Sentinels with me to the crater, then use them as messengers to make sure Mom came for me.
I couldn’t let that happen. I shot to my feet and tried to run, but the curse was too fast. It spiked pain into my heart so viciously I slammed to my knees on the warehouse floor. OBEY!
“—you well?” A blurry face appeared in my watery vision. A broad-knuckled hand gripped mine and helped me to my feet. You WILL obey, the curse shrieked.Another jolt of pain shot through me. OBEY, OBEY, OBEY.
“I’m fine,” I rasped, amazed I could speak over the pain. “Th-th-thanks.” My fingers were clutching his sleeve, so I made myself let go.
The red-haired boy had helped me. He nodded slowly. “You’re welcome,” he mumbled, the words thickly accented.
Other recruits wove around us as they moved to the other side of the room for what I guessed was the test. I must have missed the announcement.
He jerked his head toward the cleared area and the crowd of recruits gathering there. “You trying out? Or leaving?”
Another jolt of pain. Obey now, the curse said flatly. Or I’ll kill you.
“Trying out,” I somehow managed to answer, my words clipped. “Of course I’m trying out.”
The boy stepped back, his tentatively open expression now shuttered. “Good luck.”
I followed his stiff, broad shoulders to the other side of the room, wondering what was so different about him.
Lower than the dust, the curse whispered dismissively, sounding almost bored. Worthless. The West is nothing.
I rubbed my sore, throbbing chest. The tall, red-haired boy was a Westerner. He must have recently moved to Asylia from the settlement of Westerners that Ruby Contos found in the Gold Hills.
Perhaps Elektra knew how fully their plague had decimated the West, and the curse held her same victor’s view of the plague’s Western survivors.
“There will be a short, written test first. Then a test of strength and reflexes.” Raven handed a sheaf of paper and a pencil to each recruit. “Write fast. Don’t cheat. If you’re not done by the time I blow my whistle, you’re out.”
I sat at the table with the other recruits and started the test as rain pounded the tall windows, pouring down the glass in rapidly-branching rivers. My pencil flew across the page, my body so motivated by fear of the curse’s threat that my hand seemed to leap ahead of my thoughts.
How long had I dreamed of this moment? Training to become a Sentinel, a hero—the best of the best. And here I was. Now, thanks to the curse, instead of serving the Sentinels, I’d betray them instead.
How heroic.
Cursed will be out on April 29, 2020. Pre-order it here.
