Betrayer: (The Cursed Bloodstone Book 1)

The trees stopped swaying two days ago. The flowers stopped growing. The rain stopped regenerating the forest.

My heart stopped with it.

Until Kassandra, I never felt genuine friendship, true acceptance. She was the first person here to befriend me. The first person to accept me as I am. Kyanite. Different.

Now, I must stand next to Gabriel at Kassandra’s burial site, surrounded by the very people who may have picked up rocks and thrown them at my friend. People who stand here with their heads downcast, as if their hands aren’t stained with her blood.

Oh, how her blood fell.

Oh, how the ground wept when it fell.

Kassandra deserved to live, to thrive, to be Luc’s wife. She didn’t deserve the Bloodstone people’s cruelty.

Mind numbing silence echoes over the square as Luc steps forward and lights Kassandra’s funeral pyre on fire. As the flames burst into the air, my heart freezes inside my chest.

I no longer want the Bloodstone people’s acceptance. I will find a way to carry out my plan without it.

Nothing else matters. Nothing else can matter.

If I could avenge Mother and Kassandra, stop the Bloodstone from finding their magic again, and have Gabriel, I would.

But I have no way of marrying all three. No way to have him and my destiny.

It’s not written in the stars. Kassandra’s death made sure of it. I could never stay here with these people and all their prejudices.

Even now, nobody does anything to find out why she was murdered. Nobody even seems to care except Luc.

Poor Luc. He lost the woman he wanted to marry.

He stands in stiff silence, his eyes simmering, his hands clenched into fists, as if he stops himself from destroying the entire city. He probably does.

Alden ordered everyone to attend. Otherwise, nobody would care about the funeral of an outsider. Especially these bitter, hateful, prejudiced people.

My fingers itch to defend her, to slay them all.

The urge dives deep within me, to that place I hide my fire. To that place I stifled when I came here. To that place I almost forgot as I fell for Gabriel.

He doesn’t deserve my vengeance, yet it still smolders inside me. It was never going to fade completely. It just needed kindling. The kindling Kassandra’s death provided.

Numbness encases me as I follow him away from the funeral. Leaving my friend and her cheerfulness. Her kindness. Her compassion.

She was like nobody else I have ever met. She was better than me. So much better.

Gabriel leads me inside our cottage. I collapse into a chair and stare vacantly at the wall. He pours me a goblet of wine and places it in my hands. I take a drink, allowing the heat to warm my chest. If only it would numb my heart.

Maybe someday soon, the trees will sway again. The flowers will bloom. The rain will return.

It makes no difference to me.

I’ll be gone.