Riven


 
 
 
 
 
 
 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
 
 
 
 
 
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 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