Author/Uploaded by Mindee Arnett
Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Contents Prologue Part One: Mercenary One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Part Two: Kith Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eigh...
Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Contents Prologue Part One: Mercenary One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Part Two: Kith Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty-One Twenty-Two Twenty-Three Part Three: Adept Twenty-Four Twenty-Five Twenty-Six Twenty-Seven Twenty-Eight Twenty-Nine Thirty Thirty-One Thirty-Two Thirty-Three Thirty-Four About the Author Books by Mindee Arnett Back Ad Copyright About the Publisher iii v vi vii 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 Dedication For Jordan This story would never have been without you. Epigraph “For the life of every creature—its blood is its life.” —Leviticus 17:14 Prologue The knight and the initiate stood together and watched the world end. Neither of them had known what was coming when they ascended the stairs of the White Keep’s western tower. They arrived separately, Malena, the initiate, furtively glancing over her shoulder every few steps to make sure no one was watching her, while the knight, Finn, had climbed the same path an hour before, walking with the confidence that his position conferred upon him. Reaching the top, Malena drew a breath to steady herself, torn between her desire to see Finn once more and her fear of discovery. Only they wouldn’t be discovered. Not today, when every other soul in the White Keep was focused on the ritual unfolding below. Finn smiled when Malena’s gaze met his. Anticipating her arrival, he’d removed his helm and gauntlets already. The rest of the starsteel armor encasing his body glistened like scales. “You made it.” A blush warmed her cheeks. “It was easy with everyone else so preoccupied.” “Shall we watch?” Finn held out his hand, and Malena took it, their fingers entwining. The intimacy came naturally to them now, although the illicit nature of the touch remained thrilling. Relationships of any kind, romantic or otherwise, were forbidden between Consortium adepts and the Rivna Knights, who served as both guardians and judges of the adepts. And although Malena was only an initiate, the strength of her kull, the lifeblood that fueled her magic, meant she would achieve the rank of adept soon enough. That is, if the ritual today succeeded. If it failed . . . then all the magic of Riven would fail with it. For years now it had been weakening, draining away like a river going dry. Today’s ritual might not be their last hope, but if it was not successful, their options were few. Together, Finn and Malena walked to the edge of the tower. A crowd thronged the courtyard below, encircling a vast pool filled with a crystalline liquid—the Rift. Curved white pillars of hollowed bone framed the edge of the Rift pool, creating a canopy over its surface. In the spaces between each pillar stood a gray-robed adept, waiting for the ritual to begin. Rivna Knights flanked the pool, keeping the observers at bay. “I’m glad you weren’t assigned that duty.” Malena indicated the knights below, whose names she didn’t know but whose faces