Lauren O'Neill's Works

Family Of Revenge (Book 8)

Description: War is raging in Erilan. Not only are the Castels are split up, but they are now fighting against each other. There's no other choice when all you want is revenge.

Chapter 1

Ayla Castel walked the streets of some foreign country she didn't know, her only possessions a few silver coins, a sword and her stunning white wolf, Nykaia. No one paid her any attention. To the commuters of the day, she was just another filthy street child. They didn't realize, however, that she was the reason that their bags of coins kept going missing.

She used what she stole to buy simple necessities. Food, always her first priority, then information, which was annoyingly pricey, then a place to stay for the night, if at all possible. Information was important. She could figure out a lot from what was told to her on the streets. She knew her father and brother were dead. She had seen that much before she and Nykaia escaped. As far as she knew, her mother and youngest brother, Padrick, were never found by the kingsguard, and weren't killed. Her sister, Safiya, was forced into marriage by the son of the murderer, and her other sister, Kamari, was married to their enemy. Kamari and her husband declared war on the Bardolphus' after the slaughter of Edmund and Michael, and Ayla had heard rumors that her eldest brother, Robert, returned to Erilan and had also declared war, forming his own army from the houses in the north. So it was three of her siblings, fighting brutally against each other. It sickened Ayla.

All she wanted to do was sneak into that godforsaken castle, and assassinate the tyrant that killed her father and brother. It was all because he was worried Edmund would assist Kamari and the Reynoldus' in the war to come. They thought he would band with his eldest daughter rather than his younger one. As if he would choose one to be hurt or killed. Never.

Some commotion at some nearby vendors stalls caused Ayla to snap out of her grim thoughts. People ducked out of the way as a boy came running through the crowd, right towards the stairs she was ascending. Ayla craned her neck to try to see what it was that the boy was running from, but she never found out, because the kid plowed straight into her. She let out a noise that sounded like "oouf", and fell backwards, tumbling down the stairs with the boy close behind.

"Geez, watch where you're going, doofus." She exclaimed once she hit the bottom step, brushing off her clothes and hair from dust and dirt.

The kid got to his feet cautiously, his back to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. Usually people get out of the way." He said.

Ayla gave him a look of complete confusion.

"Um, what?" She said. "Who the hell are you talking to? I'm behind you."

"Oh." The boy said, turning around. It was clear to Ayla now why this boy had been acting so strange. He was blind.

His eyes were bright blue and pupil less, and when he looked at Ayla, his eyes were trained on a spot a little to her left.

"I'm sorry, I–" He started, but she cut him off quickly, horrified at her own rudeness.

"No, no. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." She said.

She was about to walk away, but then turned back. She wasn't quite sure why, either. She hardly thought that this kid would have any useful information for her, but for some reason, she didn't want to just leave.

"Ah," She said awkwardly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm good, thanks." He said. "And again, I'm real sorry. People around here usually know to get out of the way. You aren't from around here, are you?"