Dance of Wings (Curse of the Guardians #7)

Prologue

SCARLET

ONE YEAR AGO

S carlet looked at the letter, the words blurring together. In the recent chaos that was her life, she’d forgotten she’d applied to the academy, expecting not to be accepted.

But there it was, in black and white.

Scar took a moment, barely holding back the tears that had begun to leave a burning trail down her cheeks. The wind whipped at her, as if eager to understand what had brought her to her knees in the dirt and ash.

A female of her rank being accepted into the warrior curricula was unheard of. Not because she wasn’t capable, she was far more efficient than the males she grew up with, but because her particular level of Sage was rare. She held memories and knowledge inherited through generations of Sages before her. Memories only she had, now that she was the last of her bloodline.

The acceptance was bitter, the absence of her brother leaving a cold, hollow space inside her chest. They were supposed to do this together. It had all been planned since they were young, both wanting to live a life of adventure and spontaneity. Not expectance and routine.

The idea she would choose to become anything but a healer was blasphemous, and if her family were still alive they would’ve stopped her. Well, tried to have stopped her. Scarlet had never been one to follow expectations, and neither had her brother.

It was probably the reason why he was nothing but dust, while she was left painfully alone.

Swallowing her tears she pressed the paper against her heart, her wings poised perfectly above her shoulders just as she’d been taught as a child. She wanted nothing more than to collapse against the earth, and dirty her wings exactly where Silas was cremated at his pyre.

To give into the intense grief she carried. But she didn’t, not allowing herself to wallow when she has just been accepted into the most prestigious training academy in all of Aetherna. Something that had taken her blood, sweat and tears to achieve. The training went against the system, and in the eyes of the Archangels, seditious. All because she didn’t want to follow the path they’d chosen for her.

And now, even that acceptance was bitter sweet.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the wind rustling through each of her feathers. It felt like a caress, and she smiled as if it was, welcoming the touch. Her brother was taken in the cruellest way possible, but now, with her letter, she was one step closer to achieving what they both wanted. Freedom.

And she knew exactly what to do with her newfound sovereignty.

The best part, the person she was hunting didn’t even know she was coming.