Daughter of Aria

SNEAK PEEK OF BOOK #2: SON OF PYRE

"I miss them," she whispered, so quietly that not even her own ears heard. It had been months since Rya last saw the Estate, and Rya had been searching for a way to contact them to no avail. Only half a year ago she met Gavin, and yet he had become such an important part of her life already. She kept him tightly locked away inside her heart along with all the others she left behind.

The hairs on the back of her neck instantly went alert as she turned, a dark male peeling from the shadows.

"Those are dangerous words... I dare say, who is it that you miss? Is it someone in the castle?"

His midnight clothes were unusual for court attire, but that's not what had Rya reaching for her sword.

"Put that sword away, child."

"You will address me as Princess, or Your Highness," Rya said, the tips of her fangs exposing. Everything about this male infuriated her, the belittling pet name still echoing in the stables. She drew her sword and swung.

Rya was always hostile towards those who thought of her as weak—had to prove that she belonged. He merely laughed.

"You may be the heir, bastard princess, but I have centuries on you, child—that counters whatever blood is running in your inexperienced veins."

His other favorite pet name.

"That just makes us even, then," she hissed. While Drakon may have more practice with a blade, Rya had more magic—age didn't matter when it came to her. Her gifts had been growing at a steep rate ever since she crossed the Arian border, and her magic had increased to a staggering depth that she hadn't dared tell anyone about. It left her breathless at times if she didn't use it.

And right now, she was itching to unleash it.

Ice coated the floor faster than Rya could blink, snaking its way up to his neck within seconds. His raging winds ripped at her hair in fury—then split around her like a boulder as she walked through his magic.

"Next time you threaten me," she said venomously, "I'll freeze the blood in your veins," and left him half frozen as she mounted Octavia and rode out of the cobblestone stables, into the brisk evening air.

Drakon was the eldest child of the most powerful border lord, and by all accounts, was the unnamed heir before Rya came along. His presence was her daily reminder that she couldn't trust anyone, and that while many of the residents within the castle played the court games, his cruelty was real. If Drakon discovered what a faerie cared about, he used it against them.

The more time Rya spent in the castle, the more she felt like she was losing herself, and conforming into what she loathed. Rya didn't enjoy the cruelty that others bathed in, and it frustrated her to see others hide their emotions in fear that it would be used against them.

She wanted to change that. She wanted to eradicate the evil in the kingdom that had taken over long before she ever arrived. Something that would require a plan—and had started the moment Rya showed up at the Festival of Winds.

Something dark dwelled inside of her, and what scared Rya most was that she had started to rely on it—to depend on it for survival.

Rya feared that before this plan was over... she would turn into the monster she sought to destroy.