Extraits

CHAPTER 1

VISITORS.

“I’m bored Astri, bored … bored … bored. We never do anything fun around this place anymore,” Lenin complains, rolling himself around on my pillow, while Jetli’s contemplating joining him or not.

I bite my lip and look around the chamber, thinking he’s right to some extent. It’s been two weeks since the duke of Rivenna appointed me as his assistant, and nothing’s happened since. We haven’t even had a chance to meet in order to discuss my new duties and responsibilities. Not to mention, I haven’t seen Thayer around much lately, so it’s been frustrating to say the least.

Today I officially reached a new level of boredom, so much so that I started helping the maids in the castle do the folding and ironing. This was supposed to be my new start in life; the duke was meant to be my mentor, and he was supposed to teach me everything he knows about developing my magical abilities. Instead, I’ve been staying in my chamber all day long with nothing to do. It was much more fun working with Emilia–at least I could always find something to do there.

Jorgen’s been avoiding everyone in the castle–his family and even his loyal advisor, Thayer. He doesn’t eat in the main dining room anymore; he has his food brought to him on regular basis.

“How about we go for a walk? And see if we can track another bear in the forest,” I suggest, wondering why I’ve been feeling so depressed since I left my old life behind. At the end of the day, I got what I wanted; I’m not living in that hell hole of a basement with my aunt and uncle…

I became the duke’s assistant after I participated in a strength and magical challenge, competing against other shifters in the city. Over the span of a few weeks I needed to prove I had the necessary skills in order to show the duke I could not only fit in, but was strong enough to accomplish any task he set before me. In the last final task I returned as a hero, rescuing him from a bunch of wild shifters who were keeping him hostage in the Decaying Mountains. The contest was dangerous, and I nearly died, battling another shifter who went after me with a knife and magic. He had been charmed to kill the “Wyvern creature”. To this day, I’m not positive who placed the deadly spell on Elijah. Sebastian claimed it was Jorgen–now I know differently. It was probably Sebastian’s cheating arse. Too bad beetle nut took away his memory–if only he didn’t try to kill me.

Unfortunately, nothing that day went according to plan. Jorgen let himself get captured by the leader of wild shifters, Bratlav. He was certain one of the contestants would come to his rescue, regardless of what was going to happen in the meantime. Jorgen lost his ability to shift, lost his magic, while I stood hidden in the mountains–I didn’t even attempt to help him when Bratlav performed the “cutting of the mage” ritual.

I only entered the contest because I was convinced Jorgen III was the mage who killed my parents. My plan was perfect; I meant to get close to him, then stab him in the back when he least expected it. And that’s exactly what happened–except revenge isn’t as sweet as they say, especially when you exact it against a perceivably innocent person. All you feel is overwhelming guilt and the need to make things right again. If only I knew then what I know now. I still need answers, but getting them is another matter altogether.

Everything happened as planned; the leader of the wild shifters did all the dirty work for me and I eventually rescued the duke after he was locked in a cage–powerless–once the ritual was complete. Once we returned to the castle, I was crowned the true winner. I celebrated, but deep down I didn’t feel the burning satisfaction of victory. The final nail in my coffin was a conversation I overheard between two guards just outside my chamber.