Blurb:
In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power—brutally transforming their subjects’ lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:
Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.
Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed
Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.
Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed
Like the sound of Falling Kingdoms. Read the prologue below:
She’d never killed before tonight.
“Stay back,” her sister hissed.
Jana pressed against the stone wall of the villa. She searched
the shadows that surrounded them, briefly looking up at the stars,
bright as diamonds against the black sky.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed to the ancient sorceress.
Please, Eva, give me the magic I need tonight to find her.
When she opened her eyes, fear shot through her. On the
branch of a tree a dozen paces away sat a golden hawk.
“They’re watching us,” she whispered. “They know what we’ve
done.”
Sabina flicked a glance at the hawk. “We need to move. Now.
There’s no time to waste.”
Keeping her face turned away from the hawk, Jana pushed
away from the safety of the wall to follow her sister to the heavy
oak and iron door of the villa. Sabina pressed her hands against
it, channeling the magic that had been strengthened by the blood
they’d spilled earlier. Jana noticed that Sabina’s fingernails still
bore traces of red in the cuticles, and she shuddered, remembering.
Sabina’s hands began to glow with amber light. A moment
later, the door disintegrated into sawdust. Wood was no barricade
against earth magic.
Sabina sent a victorious smile over her shoulder. Blood now
trickled from her nose.
At her sister’s gasp, Sabina’s grin faded. She wiped it away and
entered the large home. “It’s nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. Using too much of this temporarily enhanced
magic could harm them. Could kill them if they weren’t careful.
But Sabina Mallius was not known to be the cautious one. She
hadn’t paused earlier tonight in using her beauty to lead the unsuspecting
man from the tavern to his fate, while Jana had hesitated
far too long before her sharp blade finally found its mark in
his heart.
Sabina was strong, passionate, and completely fearless. Heart
in throat as she followed Sabina inside, Jana wished she could be
more like her older sister. But she’d always been the careful one.
The planner. The one who’d seen the signs in the stars because
she’d studied the night skies all her life.
The prophesied child had been born and she was here in this
large and luxurious villa—built of sturdy stone and wood compared
to the small, poorer straw and mud cottages in the village
nearby.
Jana was certain this was the right place.
She was knowledge. Sabina was action. Together they were
unstoppable.
Sabina cried out as she turned the corner of the hallway up
ahead. Jana quickened her pace, her heart pounding. In the dark
hallway, lit only by wall-set torches that flickered their meager
light on the stone walls, a guard had her sister by her throat.
Jana didn’t think. She acted.
Thrusting out her hands, she summoned air magic. The guard
lost his grip and flew back from Sabina, slamming into the wall
behind her hard enough to crush his bones. He crumpled to the
ground in a heap.
Sharp pain sliced through Jana’s head, agonizing enough to
make her whimper. She wiped at the warm, thick blood that now
gushed from under her nose. Her hand trembled.
Sabina gingerly touched her injured throat. “Thank you, sister.”
This fresh blood magic helped speed their steps and clear their
vision in the darkness of the unfamiliar, narrow stone hallways.
But it wouldn’t last long.
“Where is she?” Sabina demanded.
“Close.”
“I’m trusting you.”
“The child is here. I know she is.” They proceeded a few steps
more down the dark hallway.
“Here.” Jana stopped outside an unlocked door.
She pushed it open and the sisters moved toward the ornately
carved wooden cradle inside the room. They looked down at the
baby, swaddled in a soft rabbit’s fur coverlet. Her skin was pale
white with a healthy, rosy glow to her chubby cheeks.
Jana adored her instantly. The first smile she’d been capable
of for days blossomed on her face. “Beautiful girl,” she whispered,
reaching into the cradle to gently pick up the newborn.
“You’re certain it’s her.”
“Yes.” More than anything else in her seventeen years of life,
Jana was positive of this. The child she held in her arms, this small,
beautiful baby with sky-blue eyes and a fuzz of hair that would
one day be black as a raven’s wing, was the one prophesied to possess
the magic necessary to find the Kindred—four objects that
contained the source of all elementia, elemental magic. Earth and
water, fire and air.
The child’s magic would be that of a sorceress, not a common
witch like Jana and her sister. The first in a thousand years, since
Eva herself had lived and breathed. There would be no need for
blood or death to play any part in this child’s magic.
Jana had seen her birth in the stars. Finding this child was her
destiny.
“Put my daughter down,” a voice snarled from the shadows.
“Don’t hurt her.”
Jana spun around, clutching the infant to her chest. Her eyes
fell on the dagger the woman pointed toward them. Its sharp edge
glinted in the candlelight. Her heart sank. This was the moment
she’d been dreading, had prayed wouldn’t come to pass.
Sabina’s eyes flashed. “Hurt her? That’s not what we plan to do
at all. You don’t even know what she is, do you?”
The woman’s brows drew together with confusion, but fury
hardened her gaze. “I’ll kill you before I allow you to leave this
room with her.”
“No”—Sabina raised her hands—“you won’t.”
The mother’s eyes grew wide and her mouth opened, gasping.
She couldn’t breathe—Sabina was blocking the flow of air to her
lungs. Jana turned away, face screwed up in misery. It was over in a
moment. The woman’s body fell to the ground, still twitching but
lifeless, as the sisters sidestepped her and fled the room.
Jana gathered her loose cloak around the baby to hide her as they
left the villa and ran into the forest. Sabina’s nose bled profusely
now from using so much destructive magic. Blood dripped to the
snow-covered ground.
“Too much,” Jana whispered as their steps finally slowed. “Too
much death tonight. I hate it.”
“She wouldn’t have let us take her any other way. Let me see her.”
Feeling oddly reluctant, Jana held the baby out.
Sabina took her and studied the child’s face in the darkness.
Her gaze flicked to Jana and she gave her sister a wicked grin. “We
did it.”
Jana felt a sudden rush of excitement, despite the difficulties
they’d faced. “We did.”
“You were incredible. I wish I could have visions like you do.”
“Only with great effort and sacrifice can I have them.”
“It’s all a great effort and sacrifice.” Sabina’s voice twisted with
sudden disdain. “Too much of it. But for this child, one day magic
will be so easy. I envy her.”
“We’ll raise her together. We’ll tutor her and be there for her
and when the time comes for her to fulfill her destiny, we’ll stand
by her side every step of the way.”
Sabina shook her head. “You won’t. I’ll take her from here.”
Jana frowned. “What? Sabina, I thought we agreed to make all
decisions together.”
“Not this one. I have other plans for the child.” Her expression
hardened. “And apologies, sister, but they don’t include you.”
Staring into Sabina’s suddenly cold eyes, Jana at first didn’t feel
the sharp tip of the dagger sink into her chest. She gasped as the
pain began to penetrate.
They’d shared every day, every dream . . . every secret.
However, it would appear, not every secret. This was not something
Jana would have ever thought to try to foresee.
“Why would you betray me like this?” she managed. “You’re
my sister.”
Sabina wiped away the blood that still trickled from her nose.
“For love.”
When she yanked out the blade, Jana collapsed to her knees on
the frozen ground.
Without a backward glance, Sabina swiftly walked away with
the child and was soon swallowed by the dark forest.
Jana’s vision dimmed and her heart slowed. She watched as the
hawk she’d seen earlier flew away . . . leaving her to die alone.
She’d never killed before tonight.
“Stay back,” her sister hissed.
Jana pressed against the stone wall of the villa. She searched
the shadows that surrounded them, briefly looking up at the stars,
bright as diamonds against the black sky.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed to the ancient sorceress.
Please, Eva, give me the magic I need tonight to find her.
When she opened her eyes, fear shot through her. On the
branch of a tree a dozen paces away sat a golden hawk.
“They’re watching us,” she whispered. “They know what we’ve
done.”
Sabina flicked a glance at the hawk. “We need to move. Now.
There’s no time to waste.”
Keeping her face turned away from the hawk, Jana pushed
away from the safety of the wall to follow her sister to the heavy
oak and iron door of the villa. Sabina pressed her hands against
it, channeling the magic that had been strengthened by the blood
they’d spilled earlier. Jana noticed that Sabina’s fingernails still
bore traces of red in the cuticles, and she shuddered, remembering.
Sabina’s hands began to glow with amber light. A moment
later, the door disintegrated into sawdust. Wood was no barricade
against earth magic.
Sabina sent a victorious smile over her shoulder. Blood now
trickled from her nose.
At her sister’s gasp, Sabina’s grin faded. She wiped it away and
entered the large home. “It’s nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. Using too much of this temporarily enhanced
magic could harm them. Could kill them if they weren’t careful.
But Sabina Mallius was not known to be the cautious one. She
hadn’t paused earlier tonight in using her beauty to lead the unsuspecting
man from the tavern to his fate, while Jana had hesitated
far too long before her sharp blade finally found its mark in
his heart.
Sabina was strong, passionate, and completely fearless. Heart
in throat as she followed Sabina inside, Jana wished she could be
more like her older sister. But she’d always been the careful one.
The planner. The one who’d seen the signs in the stars because
she’d studied the night skies all her life.
The prophesied child had been born and she was here in this
large and luxurious villa—built of sturdy stone and wood compared
to the small, poorer straw and mud cottages in the village
nearby.
Jana was certain this was the right place.
She was knowledge. Sabina was action. Together they were
unstoppable.
Sabina cried out as she turned the corner of the hallway up
ahead. Jana quickened her pace, her heart pounding. In the dark
hallway, lit only by wall-set torches that flickered their meager
light on the stone walls, a guard had her sister by her throat.
Jana didn’t think. She acted.
Thrusting out her hands, she summoned air magic. The guard
lost his grip and flew back from Sabina, slamming into the wall
behind her hard enough to crush his bones. He crumpled to the
ground in a heap.
Sharp pain sliced through Jana’s head, agonizing enough to
make her whimper. She wiped at the warm, thick blood that now
gushed from under her nose. Her hand trembled.
Sabina gingerly touched her injured throat. “Thank you, sister.”
This fresh blood magic helped speed their steps and clear their
vision in the darkness of the unfamiliar, narrow stone hallways.
But it wouldn’t last long.
“Where is she?” Sabina demanded.
“Close.”
“I’m trusting you.”
“The child is here. I know she is.” They proceeded a few steps
more down the dark hallway.
“Here.” Jana stopped outside an unlocked door.
She pushed it open and the sisters moved toward the ornately
carved wooden cradle inside the room. They looked down at the
baby, swaddled in a soft rabbit’s fur coverlet. Her skin was pale
white with a healthy, rosy glow to her chubby cheeks.
Jana adored her instantly. The first smile she’d been capable
of for days blossomed on her face. “Beautiful girl,” she whispered,
reaching into the cradle to gently pick up the newborn.
“You’re certain it’s her.”
“Yes.” More than anything else in her seventeen years of life,
Jana was positive of this. The child she held in her arms, this small,
beautiful baby with sky-blue eyes and a fuzz of hair that would
one day be black as a raven’s wing, was the one prophesied to possess
the magic necessary to find the Kindred—four objects that
contained the source of all elementia, elemental magic. Earth and
water, fire and air.
The child’s magic would be that of a sorceress, not a common
witch like Jana and her sister. The first in a thousand years, since
Eva herself had lived and breathed. There would be no need for
blood or death to play any part in this child’s magic.
Jana had seen her birth in the stars. Finding this child was her
destiny.
“Put my daughter down,” a voice snarled from the shadows.
“Don’t hurt her.”
Jana spun around, clutching the infant to her chest. Her eyes
fell on the dagger the woman pointed toward them. Its sharp edge
glinted in the candlelight. Her heart sank. This was the moment
she’d been dreading, had prayed wouldn’t come to pass.
Sabina’s eyes flashed. “Hurt her? That’s not what we plan to do
at all. You don’t even know what she is, do you?”
The woman’s brows drew together with confusion, but fury
hardened her gaze. “I’ll kill you before I allow you to leave this
room with her.”
“No”—Sabina raised her hands—“you won’t.”
The mother’s eyes grew wide and her mouth opened, gasping.
She couldn’t breathe—Sabina was blocking the flow of air to her
lungs. Jana turned away, face screwed up in misery. It was over in a
moment. The woman’s body fell to the ground, still twitching but
lifeless, as the sisters sidestepped her and fled the room.
Jana gathered her loose cloak around the baby to hide her as they
left the villa and ran into the forest. Sabina’s nose bled profusely
now from using so much destructive magic. Blood dripped to the
snow-covered ground.
“Too much,” Jana whispered as their steps finally slowed. “Too
much death tonight. I hate it.”
“She wouldn’t have let us take her any other way. Let me see her.”
Feeling oddly reluctant, Jana held the baby out.
Sabina took her and studied the child’s face in the darkness.
Her gaze flicked to Jana and she gave her sister a wicked grin. “We
did it.”
Jana felt a sudden rush of excitement, despite the difficulties
they’d faced. “We did.”
“You were incredible. I wish I could have visions like you do.”
“Only with great effort and sacrifice can I have them.”
“It’s all a great effort and sacrifice.” Sabina’s voice twisted with
sudden disdain. “Too much of it. But for this child, one day magic
will be so easy. I envy her.”
“We’ll raise her together. We’ll tutor her and be there for her
and when the time comes for her to fulfill her destiny, we’ll stand
by her side every step of the way.”
Sabina shook her head. “You won’t. I’ll take her from here.”
Jana frowned. “What? Sabina, I thought we agreed to make all
decisions together.”
“Not this one. I have other plans for the child.” Her expression
hardened. “And apologies, sister, but they don’t include you.”
Staring into Sabina’s suddenly cold eyes, Jana at first didn’t feel
the sharp tip of the dagger sink into her chest. She gasped as the
pain began to penetrate.
They’d shared every day, every dream . . . every secret.
However, it would appear, not every secret. This was not something
Jana would have ever thought to try to foresee.
“Why would you betray me like this?” she managed. “You’re
my sister.”
Sabina wiped away the blood that still trickled from her nose.
“For love.”
When she yanked out the blade, Jana collapsed to her knees on
the frozen ground.
Without a backward glance, Sabina swiftly walked away with
the child and was soon swallowed by the dark forest.
Jana’s vision dimmed and her heart slowed. She watched as the
hawk she’d seen earlier flew away . . . leaving her to die alone.
Prologue from Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) by Morgan Rhodes
Add to Goodreads
Falling Kingdoms is available in Print on 3rd January 2013: Buy from Amazon.co.uk here
Available in E-Copy from 11th December: Buy from Amazon.co.uk here
Falling Kingdoms is available in Print on 3rd January 2013: Buy from Amazon.co.uk here
Available in E-Copy from 11th December: Buy from Amazon.co.uk here
Loved this book so hard, everyone needs to buy it like NOW.
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