The king returned to his throne and bellowed his next words so that they reverberated off the walls of the cavernous hall.
“Stand and accept what you were born to be, my son.”
“Never.”
“Like I said, it’s not a choice.”
Carden
reached toward him and clenched his hand into a fist. Braeden’s stomach
tightened, as if his father had reached into his gut and squeezed. He
curled over himself, stifling the agonizing yell in his throat.
The
king twisted his hand and opened his palm, where sparks snapped and
fizzled. Braeden’s muscles tore at the movement. Popping noises surged
along his biceps and neck. His veins chilled and slowed. He
unconsciously stood at a twitch of Carden’s finger. Braeden’s grip on
his form was slipping. Smoke escaped his pores. Organs shifted. He
screamed in pain until a heavy weight fell on his chest and closed his
throat.
“Screams are for the weak,” Carden said.
The
weight eased off Braeden’s lungs, letting him sink back to the floor as
the internal tearing and popping stopped. The staggering numbness
returned. His cuffs twisted as he moved, and searing fire coursed
through his veins. Tremors pulsed through him.
Carden
scowled from his chair, and the green lizard from earlier peered from
the shadows beside the throne. Its outline blurred for a moment, but
returned to normal so quickly that Braeden questioned what he’d seen.
It flickered again, more prominently this time.
Dark
lines melted around its face. It grew taller, its skin stretching and
pouring into the space around it. In a matter of seconds, the lizard
filled the massive hall as it transformed into a dragon.
Braeden’s mouth went dry.
The
dragon reared its head above the stunned hall and roared. The
creature’s tail landed squarely on Carden’s chest, sending him flying
into a support column by the main entry. The pillar crumbled on top of
the king, burying him, and the dome it supported shattered. The dragon
thrashed its wings against the walls by the thrones. Chunks of black
marble pummeled downward, cracking the polished floor. Glass rained down
on the cloaked subjects. A stampede began for the door.
A
new, shriller roar echoed through the great hall, shooting chills
through Braeden’s body. A red dragon with a long black stripe down its
spine stood over Kara, baring its thick teeth. One dragon was bad
enough, but two would be unstoppable. He tried to stand, to run, to
possibly escape and at minimum find cover, but one of the spikes shifted
and lodged into his bone. The pain buckled his knees.
Another
patch in the ceiling crumbled. Pebbles and thick shards of painted
glass showered to the floor. What yakona remained fled. Braeden grit his
teeth, forced himself to his feet, and staggered to the edge of the
hall.
Two
thick claws engulfed him, pulling him into the air and pressing the
spikes deeper into his hands with a single, deft motion. He cried out as
the throbbing agony pulsed through his arms. Shimmering green scales
blotted out the sky. The red dragon appeared in the air beside them,
Kara tucked away in its claws.
The
familiar weight of his father’s control returned on Braeden’s chest.
Hatred coursed through his mind like a fever. He turned to the floor.
Carden lay trapped beneath the rubble, a shredded look of fury consuming
his gray face, and Braeden lost himself to the final ounces of his
father’s remaining energy.
Kill the dragon, he was told. Rip it apart. Return.
He
writhed, consumed by his father’s commands, but the green dragon
clutched him tighter until the pain of the poisoned cuffs outweighed
even his father’s will. He dangled in the dragon’s claws and watched the
Stele recede from sight.
“The
writing is flawless. The kingdoms and surrounding landscapes
breathtaking. The Grimoire is a piece of imaginative genius that
bedazzles from the moment Kara falls into the land of Ourea. – Nikki
Jefford, author of the Spellbound Trilogy
Spring 2013 Rankings
#6 Kindle Store | #1 Science Fiction & Fantasy | #1 Epic Fantasy | #1 Sword & Sorcery | #1 Teens
Now an international Amazon bestseller. Fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Eragon will enjoy this contemporary remix of the classic epic fantasy genre.
—————-
Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things: Ourea.
Kara,
a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no
idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her
in a sunken library. With nothing to do, she opens an ancient book of
magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which
means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by
Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old
conflict – a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling
creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being
hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a
native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though
she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her
undoing.
For
twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one
chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes
into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is
something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.
Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.
—————-
Novels in the Grimoire Saga:
Lichgates (#1)
Treason (#2)
Heritage (#3) – Available Fall 2013
Illusion (#4) – Available Fall 2014
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – Fantasy
Rating – PG13
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