Page 54 of Slayer

Back when I was a child, survival was instinct, not something I understood the value of. I didn’t understand the weight of the destiny waiting for me. The prophecy I’m meant to fulfill.

I place a hand gently on Zorren’s shoulder to pull his attention away from the page. “I’m going to be gone for a while, all right?” I say softly.

Zorren turns slowly in his chair, his eyes meeting mine. “Again? For how long?” Betrayal threads through his voice. It hits me square in the chest, and I chastise myself for leaving him here in this strange new place when I’m the closest thing he has to home. I kneel so we’re level, meeting him at eye height where he sits in the chair.

“Only a week. Maybe even less. I’ll be fine, trust me. Just stick to your training. And avoid Korrin if you can. I have a bad feeling about him. If you need anything, or if anything feels wrong, go to Thalos.”

“A week it is,” he says with a defeated sigh. Instant tears sting behind my eyes. I look away. Maddoc would always say those exact words to me, weekly. Gods, it still hurts. So much.

“Right?” Zorren presses, his voice cutting through the memory of the blood swirling away into the saltwater that night.

I clear my throat, forcing every ounce of emotion back down. I’ll have plenty of time to fall apart during the flight.

“Yes, love. A week. I promise.” I look back at him. His eyes are still so innocent, but there’s a fire behind them now.

“Can you do me a favor?” I ask, rising and moving slowly toward the window. My eyes find the same line of trees I used to watch as a child, wondering if there was anything beyond them—anything other than the death that defined my life. The trees are much taller now, becoming skeletal as the autumn wind sweeps their leaves to the ground.

“Yes.”

I turn away from the trees. “Tell Nyra I’m leaving for a week. Tell her I’m sorry, but I had to go urgently. Can you do that?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. A small smile pulls at his mouth. I return it. “I can tell her today if they let me leave here.”

“Don’t worry about that. Thank you, love. Grab a cinnamon bun while you’re there.” I reach into my pocket and pull out a few pieces of silver and a single gold coin. Zorren holds out his hand and I drop the coins into his calloused palm.

“Thank you. I’ll see you soon, then,” he says, already counting the coins in his hand. I smirk.

I reach out and rest a hand briefly on his shoulder. “See you soon, love.”

On the far side of Magda is a stretch of land tucked safely from wandering eyes. I made sure to tell Thalos not to have any slayers follow me this time. I have no other choice than to trust that he obeyed.

The shoreline here is swallowed by lush greenery. Vines coil around tree trunks, leaves layer so densely they filter the light into fractured gold. I crouch low beneath the cover of nature and draw in a steady breath. As much as I love my raven form, it is draining. It’s not something I should use as often as I have been.

The shift takes me the way it always does, sudden and merciless. Power floods my veins, hot and violent, ripping through muscle and bone. The exhaustion follows instantly. It sinks its claws into me before the transformation is even complete. Pain rolls through my body in relentless waves as everything reshapes itself, joints snapping, skin tightening, bones compressing as darkness rises to the surface.

Feathers tear their way through my skin. Talons follow, sharp, lethal things curling out from where my hands once were. The raven claims me piece by piece until nothing human remains.

Every time, I wonder if there’s another shifter out there who knows how to make this easier. Someone who understands how to control the drain, the agony, and the aftermath. Are there many others out there like me, hiding who they truly are from those they love? I shake the thoughts away. Wishing changes nothing.

When the shift is complete, I launch myself into the air. Wings snap open, spreading impossibly wide, and beat against the wind, driving me higher and higher until the island shrinks to nothing beneath me.

A gust surges past, but it’s not strong enough to slow me. Nothing is strong enough to stop what I become once I take to the sky.

Going back to that godsforsaken castle makes my skin crawl. The book of immortal creatures the king keeps in his study is nothing short of monstrous. What kind of psychotic man keeps evidence of lives studied, broken, dismantled?

He worked on them himself, tortured them, mapped their weakest points like a scholar of suffering. And when his research was finished, he discarded them like refuse.

I can’t help but remind myself that there’s still a blank page for him to fill.

Shifter.

He has never gotten his hands on one. I’ll die before I let him.

It will take some time to reach land. No sleep or rest, just mile after mile of endless ocean stretched beneath me.

When Coral Haven finally breaks over the horizon, the castle is the first thing I see. Its silhouette rises from the cliffs, jagged towers scraping the night sky.

Moonlight pours over its stone walls, cascading down the fortress in sheets of molten silver. It gleams cold and flawless, a lie dressed in grandeur. From above, it almost looks peaceful.