Page 210 of The Blood Rites

I aim it at Ruin and unleash. The blast is not a shield, but a howl—a denial of everything this thing wants from me. The world turns gold, then black, then shatters.

Ruin stands in the middle of it, laughing. They absorb the hit without flinching.

“Not yet,” Ruin says.

They turn to Kael. “Perhaps in time.” Their voice is softer now. “You are his, after all.”

Kael recoils as if struck.

I go still.

“What does that mean?” I say, but my voice is not my own. It sounds like something dragged out of a wound.

Ruin bows.

“Ask the sea.”

The wind lashes Kael’s hair to his face as he steps towards me, taking me in. For once, I am not afraid to be seen.

Ruin raises a hand in farewell. “Until we meet again, Crown of Light.”

Then, with a smile to Kael that is a thousand years old:

“Crown of Shadow.”

Ruin snaps their fingers, and the world cracks.

Kael grabs my wrist. Hard. Desperate. As though the world might take me from him.

Maybe it will.

His mouth opens. He looks like he wants to say a hundred things.

Instead, he says my name.

"Luceris."

Just that. My name.

I think that's enough.

I hold on to him as the world comes apart around us.

Neither of us lets go.

Then everything goes white.

The end of The Blood Rites.

Turn the page for a preview of Book Two:

One

I’m standing before two enormous, gilded doors, semi-blind as white glare fades from my vision. I taste smoke and blood on my tongue, but when I lift my hand to wipe it away, I find nothing there. I don’t know how I got here. The last thing I remember is the snap of Ruin’s fingers, the shudder of a world cracking down the middle, the heat of Kael’s hand closing over mine. Then—nothing.

My presence here feels impossible and yet, absolute.

Two Guardians flank the entrance, motionless as statues. One looks to have a broken nose, gripping a spear in both hands with waxy, bloodless knuckles. The other looks ready to cry as he stares at me in silent awe.