Pray for Us

Molly O’Dowd

Description

“The world is nothing but fire, and I am burning for it.”
In a world where everyone has an ability, Helia Keres has a curse.
As the leading assassin of Callantesha, Helia thinks she has her life pretty planned out. That is, until an investigation into Kingsland goes awry. Suddenly she is forced to bend to the will of a regent she loathes, duty-bound to hunt and eliminate the Violet Cloaks- an ancient rebel group notoriously power hungry, posing a threat to the city’s very existence.
As friendships are formed and love interests bloom, Helia’s ability to keep her curse a secret becomes strained, torn between her instinct to hide and the overwhelming emotions that come with first love- and first heartbreak.
When her friends she has sworn to protect are put further into harms way, will her efforts be enough to save the city from ruin? Even the friends she thought she knew begin to breed fresh doubt.
When loyalties are divided and emotions wracked with complications, Helia must search within herself to save her kingdom from the Violet Revolt.

Sujets

• Imaginaire
• Fantasy
• Romance
• Adventure
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Young Adult Fiction
• Young Adult

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse UK
• Date de parution: 10 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781728375915
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PRAY FOR US
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Molly O’Dowd
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK)
UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 ([phone] from outside the UK)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2022 Molly O’Dowd. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  11/09/2022
 
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7590-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7589-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7591-5 (e)
 
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

 
To those who search for a home within the pages of books,
I hope you can find a place for yourselves here; I know I did.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1       The End
Chapter 2       An-other day
Chapter 3       Friends on the Other Side
Chapter 4       Under the shadows
Chapter 5       Destructive Tendencies
Chapter 6       Ruby Red
Chapter 7       The Blue Moon
Chapter 8       The Birdcage
Chapter 9       Court Jester
Chapter 10     Paradise in Prison
Chapter 11     Hang Fire
Chapter 12     Mirror Image
Chapter 13     A Word of Advice
Chapter 14     A Life for a Life
Chapter 15     Crystal Unclear
Chapter 16     Hometown Rodeo
Chapter 17     It’s About the Journey
Chapter 18     Message Received
Chapter 19     Black and Blue
Chapter 20     A Taste of Freedom
Chapter 21     Two Penguins and a Cat
Chapter 22     A Violet Crime
Chapter 23     Rose Tinted
Chapter 24     The Other Side
Chapter 25     The Cut that Always Bleeds.
Chapter 26     In the Stars
Chapter 27     The Day Before
Chapter 28     Dancing Queen
Chapter 29     These Violet Delights
Chapter 30     Mana oh Mana
Chapter 31     Consequences
Chapter 32     Hellfire
Chapter 33     Unadulterated Faith
Chapter 34     Grabbing the Rose Thorns
Chapter 35     Hidden Agenda
Chapter 36     Queens Gambit
Chapter 37     Fictus Faciem
Chapter 38     Conduit
Chapter 39     The Unveiling
Chapter 40     Falling Like the Stars
Chapter 41     Grow as we Go
Chapter 42     A Butterfly’s Wing
 
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1
THE END

H e was going to kill me.
Wind whips me sideways with the force of a thousand men, slamming my body back to earth, wings burnt and crumpled beneath me. Debris flies past my body, slicing into my shoulder and it takes everything in me to swallow the anguished cry that burns in my throat.
Blue and purple glowing beings of every shape and size scream around me, cutting into guards like hands through water. Their bodies folding to the ground like puppets from strings, only to be taken up by new hands.
From the top of the Watchtower, I grip the tiled edges, my knuckles white as I watch the chaos ensue around and below me; searching for my friends amid the bloodshed.
Everything I had done to protect them, everything I had sacrificed to get to this point was for nothing. And all because I had let him in. Trusted him. The watchtower trembles under added weight, and I turn my head slowly.
He stands tall, his face distorted by smoke and ashes as he stalks towards me, a hunter finally catching up with his prey.
I make to leap off, but his boot cracks down on the bone of my wing, and I can’t stop the scream that pours from my lips, the pain jarring through my shoulder. He twists his ankle, the pain searing to an unbearable crescendo, and I am helpless to stop him. His smile, the one I used to know so well, is now twisted grotesquely as he rejoices in my agony.
I shift over, my wing be damned, as I claw at his leg, raking my nails through skin, blood sticky beneath my fingers. He yells as his sword comes spiking through the air, spearing through the material of my sleeve and glueing me to the roof. Keeping his foot planted into my wing, he leans down, sending another dagger through my trouser leg.
I kick out, knocking him sideways in the jaw. He careens close to the edge, catching himself at the last moment and spitting blood onto the chaos below. No border this time, all hope of order was lost.
His eyes lock with mine, no remnant of the person I cared for stares back at me, his gaze cold and calculated as he drives the third dagger directly through my Achilles heel and into the roof.
I fight to remain conscious through the stars that appear in my vision, the pain unbearable.
“Please!” I scream at him, “Why? Why are you doing this?” I beg, all pride gone, all façades dropped. I am scared, irrefutable terrified as he covers my body flush with his.
Blood from his mouth splashes onto my face and merges with my own, his teeth bared and bloody. He holds my only free arm in a vice-like grip to my side, the other hand pressing a dagger to my throat.
History is told by the victors, guess my version of the truth will die with me.
“What did I do to you?” I plead, even as the blade nicks at my throat, I’m bleeding from so many places now I can’t pinpoint one point on my body that isn’t soaked in it.
“This was never supposed to be about you,” He grinds out through gritted teeth, spittle flying through the air, “It still isn’t, but you never did know when to leave well enough alone!”
He smiles, and I cast my mind back, trying to work out how I missed this. How I didn’t see this creature before me for what he was. Bearing his teeth, he launches forwards, ripping into my collarbone with his canines and I scream. I was so done with screaming, but my body was in more control than I was, and I couldn’t help but loose the pain somehow, howling into the wind, tendrils of blue smoke slithering through my vision, even as it blurs.
He retracts his teeth, pressing his mouth to my ear.
“I was never who you thought I was.” He murmurs, and pulls away, his eyes glistening differently in the blue light.
Glowing in a way that I knew by heart, the smoke seeming to part as I finally see it.
CHAPTER 2
AN-OTHER DAY

T here’s nothing worse than an abundance of free time, with nothing to do with it- especially for an assassin.
I dangle my legs from my attic-room apartment window, my ankles bouncing off the side of the house with little taps. The city bustles beneath me in a cacophony of rows and general busy-bodies of every creed and creation.
Callantesha never felt smaller than on a Monday morning.
Not that it was small in reality, our city spanning the centre of the island, expanding slowly in every direction. The mountains of Kantara in the north, the sea bordering all sides and the forests beyond Kingsland off to the south, we are a dense population.
I stretch my shoulders behind me, allowing my wings to spread out from my back before descending into the flurry of people. I land in a crouch and quickly dart into the stream. I hate crowds, but flying all the time kind of ruined the novelty of it, and it’s not like I was going far.
Back home I could soar for days, over oceans and fields and never get bored. Back home I was a scandalous princess with morals that went against the very foundations of Callantesha. There are many Lords and Ladys all over the Kingdom, protecting different regions under the ultimate reign of the King, It is only Sarriayah, the island off the coast of Callantesha, that is owned by a different regent. Hence, I now live in the city itself away from home, somewhere where no one knew me or my background, a place where I could choose to be whoever I wanted, whichever day suited me.
As it turns out, the assassin life suits me fairly well.
The right people knew the wrong people, and consequently got in contact with me. I earn enough to live at least, which is more than could be said for the majority of the city.
I pass by the countless market stalls and upper-class businessmen, spotting Ana outside of her shop. I pull my wings back into my back until they fold into my skin, the feathers disintegrating and reemerging as ink on my shoulder blades and down my back.
I wave to Ana, the head of the Inscribers, who winks and takes a drag from her pipe. I dread to think what was in it today. Inscribers are somewhat few and hard to come by, but Ana’s was my poison of choice.
Every being in creation has some sort of ability or power. From low standing telekinesis for home chores, to invisibility and shapeshifting. Those with the highest standing abilities are members of the King’s guard, or executed for rebelling. There isn’t a great deal of tolerance, at least not in my lifetime. Everyone was powerful from the day they are born, gifted with a power beyond understanding or prediction.
Unless you’re me.
I don’t possess any ability like the rest, mine being more of a curse. So instead I procure small gifts and tricks from Inscribers. They sew magic into your veins in the shape of things or abilities, in my case I have my wings, designed in the likeness of a magpie’s, and my needle-point dagger, Lanza, lining my left forearm.
Ana was not a kind seamstress. Wit