Betrayer: (The Cursed Bloodstone Book 1)

“Sol.”

I blink through the haze of sleep as the voice comes again.

It’s only been one day since the executions. One day since I watched the condemned fall. It’s not nearly long enough.

“Sol, wake up!”

As I open my eyes, Gabriel yanks on my arm, dragging me from the bed.

“Come quickly.” Worry thrums from his tone as he continues. “Astarobane is under attack.”

“W-what?” My words wobble as I try to gain my bearings.

He shakes me. “You must hide along with the other women.”

Alarm rises thick in my veins as I’m carried to another time. Fire threads the floorboards. The walls, the ceiling. Smoke rises thick in my throat. Screams pierce the air. My people’s screams. Mother’s screams.

Gabriel shakes me again. “Sol, I need you to listen to me.”

“I’m listening.” I swallow through the grit, the fear, the worry.

“Here.” He shoves a cloak around my shoulders and pulls me from the cottage. Fire rises in the distance. Cries pierce the night air.

I quicken my pace to match Gabriel’s as he leads me through the city full of panicked people. Most of the women and children scurry toward the palace with fear burning in their wide eyes.

“Gabriel.” I tug on his arms. “I don’t want to go there. Let me stay with you.”

“You can’t.”

The fires grow closer. The screams draw closer.

I shiver and bring myself against Gabriel.

Gabriel pulls me around a tall building. “Sol, I don’t have time to take you the rest of the way. Promise me you’ll stay hidden.”

“Gabriel.” I tighten my fingers around his arm, needing him to stay nearby.

He hunches down beside me and stares into my eyes. “Promise me.”

Everything in me wants to object, to stand beside him, to fight until the invaders go away. Something about the desperation glittering in his eyes keeps me from acting on it.

“I promise.”

He traces my cheek and nods, as if mentally preparing himself. He stands and joins the crowd of people. I hover behind the building and prepare to do exactly as he ordered.

Worry rises thick in my throat. Worry for Gabriel. For Kassandra’s family.

Smoke scorches the air, my lungs. I blink, willing away the watery eyes and the burning nose.

More Malachite invaders, with their blue face paint, pour into Astarobane. Too many to count. Too many to overcome. Surely, the Bloodstone warriors will fall to their might.

I remain where Gabriel left me, crouching behind a building like a coward. It’s what he expects of me. It’s what they all expect.

I am the Kyanite healer.

Humble. Meek. Quiet.

At least to everyone except Gabriel. With him, I’m far bolder than I am with his people.

Loose strands of hair cling to my cheeks as I crouch lower, desperately attempting to meld into the shadows. If these invaders don’t see me, they can’t attack. They cannot take me back to that horrifying day.

An arrow soars through the air, landing with a thud near my feet. I jerk my gaze around, expecting an invader to be nearby. Nobody stands there. Nothing moves other than the smoke thickening the air.

I whip back to face the building and sink further on my heels.

The fight draws closer, Bloodstone against Malachite.

Cries split the air. Blood stains the streets.

Over the throng of fighting warriors, I glimpse Gabriel. He wields his broad sword with deadly accuracy, his movements exact and quick like a viper.

“Father. Father.” The cry pierces my ears and sends slivers of ice down my back.

Adelaide.

She should be hiding.

“Father,” she wails again.

I gasp as I spot her in the opening, not protected. Vulnerable.

Tears trail down her ashen face, mingling with the soot on her cheeks. “Father.”

More arrows come from the left of the city, raining across the hot streets. They slam into warriors. Women. Children. Buildings.

Without thought, I rush from my hiding spot and hurry to Adelaide. Her eyes widen, and her breaths come in quick, jagged puffs as I take her into my arms.

“I want my father,” she says between sobs.

As Olah is my witness, I try to make it back to the spot where Gabriel ordered me to stay at. My legs don’t move fast enough. An invader spots me as I hurry across the square, the child clutched in my arms. Hatred glitters in his brown eyes as he lunges toward us, his sword raised.

Automatically, I lower Adelaide to her feet and duck his first swing. He never has time for a second. I kick his legs out from beneath him, connecting in the precise spot the mercenaries taught me. As he lands, his weapon falls from his hands. I grab the hilt, tighten my fingers around the grip, and drive it deep into his stomach. Surprise flashes across his face as he clutches at his sword.

Another Malachite warrior locks gazes with mine. I clutch that borrowed sword tighter, crouch, and prepare. He attacks much like the first man, driving his blade in a quick swing toward my face. I parry his move and don’t wait for his next before attacking. He blocks and draws a dagger from his weapon belt.

Heat fills my stomach, my veins, my bones as I concentrate on his movements. Avoiding. Blocking. Striking. His attacks keep coming like blades of death, seeking my blood, my hopes, my life.

I avoid the sword as he rips the smaller blade across my side. I grunt, skirt his next move, and the moment he leaves his midsection open, I attack, right for his gut. With force, I shove the blade into his stomach.

Fire sears my side as I reach for Adelaide. Her whimpers spear my heart as I resume my journey to my hiding spot. The harder I run, the slower I seem to move. More arrows hit the streets. Bodies fall around me like trees in a windstorm. I skirt around them and grit my teeth.

Faster.

Faster.

Hurry!

As the Malachite invaders press closer, Bloodstone people rush from their stone cottages with swords, daggers, and spears. I spot Everly fighting, and my heart shudders.

A scream pierces the air as I make it to the edge of the building. Everly’s scream. Tiny prickles of fear race down my back. I don’t turn, though. I cannot afford to turn, to look back, to hesitate.

Shadows embrace us as I hunch behind the building and keep Adelaide close. Trembling takes over her body as her cries soften, and silent tears trace her cheeks. Using the end of my surcoat, I wipe them away, wishing things could be different for her, wishing she never had to see death or feel fear.

She already lost her mother. Now this.

As she nestles in my arms, her shaking eases. I keep my left arm around her, sheltering her.

As Olah is my witness, I’ll kill anyone that comes near this child.

In this moment, this horrible, horrible moment, nothing else matters. Not my mission. Not my insecurities. Nothing matters but this child and protecting her.

“Addie.”

I shift to peer behind me as Luc steps closer. Blood and soot mar his face and clothing, but he’s never looked more relieved. Adelaide’s eyes light up the moment she spots him. I free her, and she runs into his arms.

“Father,” she cries, her joy softening my heart the way nothing has in a very long time.

“Sol.” Luc holds out his hand to me, as if offering to take me away from all of this. To protect me the way he’ll protect Adelaide.

My gaze shifts to that square.

With so many bodies littering the ground, it’s impossible to spot Everly. My heart sinks.

Please, don’t let her die too.

Instead of accepting Luc’s offer, I lurch to my feet and race back to the crush of bodies.

“Sol!” Luc cries out, but I keep running.

A throbbing pain grips my side, followed by a line of fire tracing over the wound. I ignore it and search for Everly.

Unfamiliar words rise above the chaos, words spoken in a tongue I’m not familiar with. As the man chants louder and louder, the smoke shifts, trailing away as a dark cloud develops over the square and roils around us like a thunderstorm.

Rain pours over the city, targeting the Malachites. One by one, the Malachite warriors fall to the ground, clutching at their throats as their eyes widen and their chests heave. With a quick swing, the Bloodstone warriors end them before they ever catch their breath.

Trembling overtakes me as I jerk my gaze around. That was magic. Someone used magic to overcome the Malachite invaders. I rip my stare over the Bloodstone warriors, trying to put a name to the person. Nobody stands out. They all seem as surprised as I am, yet fierceness burns their eyes. Blood stains their skin.

It wasn’t a Bloodstone.

What I saw was water magic, the kind only a Carnelian can cast.

I look again, searching the Bloodstone warriors. Hero stands among them, his eyes burning with ferocity.

It was him.

It had to be.

More Bloodstone people flood the streets, looking over the bodies, tending to their wounded. I stand immobile as the world around me shifts from dark to sunlight. From war to celebration.

“Sol.”

That sweet voice echoes, roars, with the pulse thundering in my ears.

Everly.

She moves from the center of the square, avoiding the fallen. Like everyone else, blood stains her clothing and mars her skin.

I run. Right toward her. Right toward that connection to Kassandra. We embrace as more sunlight lumbers over the square.

“I thought…” The words choke out of me. “I feared…”

She draws back and offers me a genuine smile—one of friendship and acceptance. “I know.”

I search for Gabriel next. Stubbornly, I refuse to search among the fallen. Instead, I concentrate on the warriors standing, breathing, living.

Near the building that hid me in her shadows, I spot Gabriel speaking to Luc. He catches my gaze the moment I step close, a look of relief flooding his features. He smiles, closes the space between us, and pulls me into his arms.

In front of everyone, I clutch his surcoat and pull him closer. He dives his fingers into my hair, lifts my face to his, and kisses me.