When It Reigns (Cursed Reigns, #1)

CHAPTER SIX POINT FIVE

SHADE'S POV 

Aeryn Glastos was going to be the death of me – which was why I had to get to her first. 

"Come back once the morning sun breaches the horizon," I'd told Jett the night before, "and tell me what her weakness is." 

I stared out my bedroom window, drumming my fingers on the sill in absentminded taps as the sun plummeted, night sky enveloping the eerie landscape in a thick blanket of darkness. 

My cousin was twelve hours late. 

He was always the punctual, critically cunning member of the family. He should had been knocking on my door with the knowledge of what could kill the Nyrial princess hours ago. 

Something was wrong. Very wrong. It was unlike Jett to be late for any function, nevermind twelve hours late. 

Lifting the hood of my cloak, I pulled it over my head and tucked the loose strands of blinding white hair inside. Smoke wafted around my ankles as I made my way across the room to the dresser and yanked open the bottom drawer. Removing a small box, I flipped the lid open and clenched my hand around it as I beheld the dull silver ring that lacked its usual ruby red luster. I removed the piece of jewelry and slipped it over my finger, twisting the band around a few times without any luck of warming it. 

"Come on, Jett," I muttered, masking my concern with irritation as I clenched my jaw and shoved the window up. "You better have a good reason for making me go on this trek to bring your late ass home." 

The journey to the Nyrial Empire was no easy feat. If I hadn't been the embodiment of death itself, I would have had qualms about traveling in the middle of the night across the treacherous Forbidden Seas and volcanic eruptions of Azmar to get there. 

Jett had been instructed to stay outside the walls of the empire. Edge had gotten wind of the academy's challenge from a spy within the walls. The Draconian students were going to be in the outermost towns of the empire, outside the confines of safety for the entirety of the night. 

Jett's mission was to find the princess and discover what could take her down. His ability to envision maps of places he had never been before and follow footprints of anyone he desired in the image allowed him to track any target – or victim, considering Jett's time spent fighting in the war for the past twenty years had hardened him into a menacing, lethal weapon. The princess would be fortunate to escape his presence without having to learn just how deadly he could be. 

It was difficult to hide secrets from Jett since it was close to impossible to hide from his tracking power. He could sneak up on anyone without them knowing until it was already too late. 

Once the treaty was complete and the marriage enacted, it was my duty to rid Traeveria of the Draconian princess. A simple touch could end it, but I needed to be about her death and ensure I did not act in such a haste. I did not want to reinstate a war with even more vigor than the one currently raging in the Voltant Isles. 

There was no right or wrong side in this war; only destruction and lies. 

The thoughts accompanied me on my flight to the warm towns just outside the obsidian gates of my enemy's empire. I landed on the red rooftop of one of the larger abandoned farmhouses in Solas. A desolate field of dried and yellowed crops sprawled an acre in each direction, moonlight illuminating just how lifeless the barren town was. I scuffed my boot on the Insignia of a compass with footsteps trailing around the tool that was burnt on the roof from the fire of Jett's dragon. 

This was the exact location my cousin had told me to meet him if he did not arrive back in the kingdom by morning. I waited until the sun had dipped and been replaced by the moon once again before I went searching for him. After all, he was one of the most decorated soldiers our kingdom had ever seen. He didn't need his younger cousin to come to his aid, but the cold, dull ring alarmed me.