Runaway Crown (Infernal Reign #1)

Prologue

SAMARA

My mother liked to tell me that idle hands make idle minds. I wasn’t sure I one hundred percent believed that, but on a night like tonight, I needed something to do.

I held the soap in my left hand and slowly worked the small carving knife through the buttery smooth bar with my right. It curled beneath my blade in pale ribbons, falling onto the floor like snow.

Not that I’d ever seen snow. I’d only imagined it from the books I snuck from my father’s library about a fantastical world where the sky was blue with a blazing star.

My hobby started as a joke from my older brother, Taylor, who said I should find something to do instead of annoying him on his time off from boarding school.

I finished the intricate scrollwork on one arm of what my throne would look like if I were the queen of Inferna. Father would disapprove of the frivolity when I should have been focusing on my upcoming nuptials.

“They would kill you before you even had the crown upon your head.”

While my father’s words were most likely true, they hurt me to my core. My father was much too traditional for my taste. He refused to let me go away to boarding school, picked my suitor, and thought I’d make a horrible queen.

Not that I ever had a chance at it with two older brothers.

I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance and stood up from my desk with my soap and knife.

The air shifted, growing thick and electric the way it did before a storm rolled in.

My skin prickled with awareness, and I moved toward the window, pulling back the heavy curtain to peer out into the courtyard below.

Empty.

The guards who normally patrolled this section must have been called elsewhere. I frowned, unease settling in my stomach.

Thunder rumbled again, and several seconds later, a purple crack of lightning reached from the sky for whatever target it was after. I shuddered at the thought of being stuck out in the storm.

It was beautiful but deadlier than a vampire with bloodlust.

My door swung open suddenly with so much force that it hit the wall. I jumped and messed up one arm of my throne.

“What the hell, Reve? Haven’t you heard of knocking? What if I’d been naked?” I pointed the knife at him.

Reve stood in the doorway, breathing hard.

His normally immaculate appearance was disheveled, with his shirt untucked, jacket missing, and a wild look in his eyes that I’d never seen before.

Dirt and debris covered his clothes, and a smear of blood ran across his left cheek, though I couldn’t tell if it was his or someone else’s.

“What’s happening?” I took a step back, and he entered and shut the door.

He crossed the room in three long strides and snatched the knife and soap out of my hands, throwing them on my bed. He was one of the mellowest demons I knew, and my heart nearly beat out of my chest as he took my hands in his. “You need to run. Now.”

He was frantic, which was unusual for him—he was calm under pressure, easily keeping his emotions in check. He had to be since he was heir to the throne.

“What? Why?” I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened.

“There’s no time to explain. Someone’s coming, someone powerful enough to—” He cut himself off, his jaw clenching. “They’re going to kill us all, Sammy. Run and go to Taylor.”

He finally let me go and rushed to my closet, disappearing inside. A bag came flying out and landed at my feet. Next, a pair of boots, several pairs of pants, and some shirts flew at me.

“But what about you? And Mother and Father?” I bent down and started shoving the items into the bag. I didn’t understand what was happening, but if Reve was freaking out, I should take it seriously.

He was at the doorway of the closet. Tears lined his face, more spilling out as he shook his head. He choked back a sob and brought his fist to his mouth as if biting down on it would stop the strained sound.

“You’re scaring me.”

A scream erupted from somewhere deep in the castle, high-pitched and abruptly cut off. Then another, closer this time. Running feet echoed through the corridors, along with shouts I couldn’t make out.

This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare, the kind where you woke up gasping and grateful for the mundane safety of your bedroom.

Reve shoved my desk chair under the handle of my door. He came back toward me and took the bag out of my shaking hands, tying it closed.

“I’m out of time. You’ll sneak out the window, go to the stables, and take Buttercup.” He went to the window and opened it, throwing the bag.

I looked down at my nightgown and my bare feet. “Come with me.” I grabbed his shirt, desperate. If I were leaving, he had to come too. We could escape together, find somewhere safe to regroup and plan. “We can both—”

“Then we’ll both die.” He pulled me toward the window.

I tried to protest, but I wouldn’t have put it past him to shove me out of it if I refused to go. I threw my arms around him, squeezing tightly. He hugged me back and then turned me toward the window.

The drop wasn’t far for a demon with powers. They could slow their fall, manipulate the surrounding air, and land gracefully. For me, it would mean broken bones at best.

“I can’t make that jump.”

“You can.” His voice was fierce, commanding in a way it had never been with me before. “Use the vine on the wall. It’ll hold.”

I looked down and spotted the thick vine snaking up the castle wall. It was sturdy enough, anchored into the mortar between stones.

Another scream came from somewhere down the hall, and my eyes went wide as Reve rushed to the door, removing the chair.

Father’s voice rose above the chaos, bellowing in rage.

The sound was so wrong that my blood turned to ice.

Father didn’t sound like that. He was unshakeable, powerful, and had ruled Inferna for longer than I’d been alive.

“Ride fast and don’t look back. I’m sorry and know that I love you.” Before I could return the sentiment, he was at the door and rushed into the hall.

I bit my lip and considered my options. I could defy my brother, or I could climb out the window and do as he asked. I heard my father shouting and my mother screaming, and my decision was made.

I threw my leg over the windowsill and grabbed the vine. My hands shook so badly that I nearly lost my grip twice. The rough texture bit into my palms, drawing blood, but I couldn’t stop. Not with those screams echoing from above, not with my brother’s frantic eyes burned into my brain.

My feet hit the ground, and I grabbed the bag Reve had thrown, slung it over my shoulder, and sprinted toward the stables. Rocks and sticks dug into my bare feet, but I didn’t stop until I was inside.

No one was there. What the fuck was going on?

I approached Buttercup’s stall and pulled open the door. He let out a puff of smoke and moved his giant hoof on the dirt floor.

“Hey there, Buttercup. Reve told me to take you.” My voice shook as I spoke, but if I didn’t tell him Reve had given me permission, he’d shoot flames at me faster than I could high-tail it out of there.

I went to grab his saddle, but then I heard the stable doors creak open. As if knowing what was going on, Buttercup got down on his front legs to allow me to get on. I climbed on quickly, and he took off out of the stall.

Two guards waited with their swords drawn. They were familiar, but they didn’t seem to be on our side as they stepped into our path.

Buttercup put his head down and barreled straight for them. As we got closer, flames shot out of his nostrils and sent the men scrambling. We burst out of the stable and took off toward the eastern gate and the forest beyond.

I had no weapons, no powers, nothing but a horse and desperation. If they caught me, if they dragged me back to whoever had attacked the castle, I’d be dead.

I held onto the horse’s mane as tightly as possible. I had ridden bareback before, but not on a hell horse and not at such speeds. He at least seemed to limit the heat he emitted because the warmth was tolerable.

We needed to go to my brother’s boarding school, but I didn’t have reins. Reve might have been able to control Buttercup, but he wasn’t my horse.

My chest ached as my hair whipped across my face. My brother didn’t have his full capabilities at his age, and I wasn’t reassured that he could protect our parents.

The gate that vendors and servants used was open, swinging on its hinges as if someone had left in a hurry. We charged through it and onto the road that led away from the castle—away from the only home I’d ever known.

Behind us, two guards on horses burst through the gate. “Halt! By order of—”

I didn’t hear the rest. Buttercup was already galloping at full speed, his powerful legs eating up the distance between us and safety. The guards were gaining on us, their horses larger and faster.

Buttercup veered to the right, taking us toward the storm.

“Not this way. Left!” I dug in with my heels and pulled his mane in the direction I wanted him to go. My brother’s stupid horse was going to get us killed.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw the guards turning around, heading back toward the castle as if they’d never given chase at all.

Guards didn’t just give up. They were smart enough to know not to go into a storm. The damn horse wasn’t.

The storm loomed before us now, massive and churning, purple lightning striking out in violent bursts. Any sane person would seek shelter and wait for it to pass. But Buttercup charged forward, his hooves pounding against the dirt and carrying us directly toward our demise.

“Whoa!” I pulled back on his neck, trying to get him to stop.

He continued to run for another minute and then stopped abruptly, a sound of pure terror ripping from his throat as he reared up on his hind legs. My fingers tangled in his mane, but my grip was slick from fear and blood from the climb down the castle wall.

I fell backward off him as lightning struck right in front of us.

Pain shot up my spine as I hit the ground. I lay flat on my back, staring up at the black leaves of the trees, the moon barely visible where we were.

Buttercup took off into the trees and left me lying on the ground. I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. Everything hurt, a dull ache that radiated from every point of impact. As soon as the shock of being thrown off ebbed, I brought myself onto my forearms.

The sky above me split open with purple light.

Time slowed, and I watched in horror as the tendril of lightning snaked down toward me. It seemed like it was taking its sweet time, and I should have moved out of the way. But my body was frozen.

The bolt hit me square in the chest.

A silent scream escaped my lips as heat ripped through me. My mind flashed with light, and then I knew nothing at all.