Page 51 of A Fury Of Shadows

A light snow flurry spiraled down from the overcast sky, mirroring their somber mood.

CHAPTER19

Nikolai was dreaming.He was standing in an amphitheater, at the top of a palace. Marble pillars spanned the vast space around him, pale giants rising to support a domed roof with a ceiling open to a cloudless night sky.

A crowd occupied the arena.

Their chants echoed in his ears, a relentless sound that matched his racing pulse. Though he could not make out the faces of the men and women filling the packed seats, Nikolai knew they hated him.

Alastair trembled on his shoulder. The crow’s claws dug into his flesh as he clung desperately to him. His familiar’s fear and distress resonated inside him.

Nikolai startled. The crow looked young.

No! It’s not just Alastair!

He realized he was in the body of his sixteen-year-old self.

Movement opposite drew his eyes before he could make sense of what was happening to him. Dread squeezed his chest.

Moonlight shone on a young man wrapped in a haze of black magic and wielding a wicked sword dripping with blood. A lynx sat beside him, her eyes aglow with a venomous light.

It was his brother, Oscar. Except he couldn’t recall ever seeing him with that look on his face. A look that said he wanted to rip Nikolai’s heart out of his chest and crush it with his bare hands.

It was then Nikolai realized that he too was covered in blood.

His breath stuttered. He looked down and witnessed the crimson stains on his spear and clothes.What—what is this?!

A whimper had him whirling around. Bile burned the back of his throat.

Bodies covered the south end of the arena. Though he could barely discern their bloodied and battered features where they were piled atop one another, he knew they were his siblings.

A girl no older than ten raised her hand weakly toward him where she lay amidst the gruesome stack, her broken legs askew and the gash in her left temple exposing a smashed skull.

“Help…me…brother!” she mumbled.

Her breath left her lips on a puff of air that misted briefly in front of her face. Her arm flopped limply over the chest of the dead boy she rested upon, her frozen gaze locked on something only she could see.

Nikolai knew that she had just passed from this world.Please! Dear God, no!

He didn’t realize he’d uttered the words out loud until Oscar laughed.

“God?! Are you insane, little brother?!” the sorcerer scoffed. “There is no God here tonight!” His tone hardened with a fury that threatened to scorch the air. “There are only the eyes of our king.” He jutted his chin. “Now, bow before me. I shall grant you the mercy of a swift death if you crawl to me on your hands and knees and lick my boots.”

Riotous guffaws erupted from the rows of onlookers watching the gory ritual.

Nikolai’s gaze found the silent man on the throne at the head of the arena. Flanked by his guards and the concubines who served him in bed, the Sorcerer King observed him with a cold, dispassionate stare. Several of the women were sobbing quietly, their bereft gazes fixed on their dead children.

Guilt paralyzed Nikolai. Even though he couldn’t recall what happened, he knew he was responsible for some of the murders. His heart thumped painfully with his next breath.

Vedran’s right hand was clamped around the wrist of a dark-haired woman sitting beside him. Tears streamed down her beautiful, gaunt face.

Nikolai’s mind went blank.

“Mother?!” he said hoarsely.

Moon Magic flickered weakly in Gabriela Stanisic’s eyes as she watched him, pain rendering her pale. Vedran’s black magic scorched her flesh where he thwarted her attempts to rise from her seat, his powers suppressing her core.

Rage flooded Nikolai’s veins.“Let her go, you bastard!”

---