CHAPTER 1

Azgul

Present Day

In her dream, Jessop wore a linen cloak, identical to one she had first donned in the Blade’s mystical pool. He wore dark funerary robes, and he moved quickly, disappearing around corners, catching her eyes in the shadows. She followed him through the maze, wondering where he went, what he thought. She quickened her step, trotting after him, chasing through the dark corridors. She spun around the wall’s end, and felt a sudden ache in her abdomen. His arm was around her instantly, holding her close to his body. She looked down, over the sheer linen, and saw between her breasts the hilt of his dagger, his gloved hand still tight around the weapon. Blood soaked the robe, slick and crimson, sticking to her form. She wasn’t angry with him; it hadn’t hurt that badly. She rested her hand against his chest, and blood leached through her fingers. She looked up into his dark eyes. A tear ran over the star-shaped scar.

“You’re bleeding,” she whispered, pressing firmly against his chest, ignoring her own wound.

He smiled at her, shrugging casually. “It’s only my heart.”

Jessop woke to the sound of crying, lurching up in her bed. It had been the same dream, for the hundredth time. Her hair snaked around her neck with sweat, her brow damp and hands clammy. Again, the small cry called to her. She glanced over the large, dark bed where Falco slept, motionless and silent. She rolled off, her feet finding the cool ground, and crossed the room, her eyes navigating the dark with their usual ease. Jeco was sitting up in his bed, his damp dark hair standing on end, his large gray eyes

brimming with tears.

She looped her hands under his shoulders and pulled him to her body. “I couldn’t sleep either, love.” He clung to her tightly, burying his small face under her chin. He didn’t care that she was slick with sweat or weary with exhaustion; she was his mother, his protector.

In the darkness, large arms wrapped around her, and she leaned back into Falco, finding the safety in his arms that their son found in hers. Falco was silent in the night, a predatory creature whose abilities amazed her as much in that moment as they had a decade before.

His lips kissed the space where her neck met her shoulder. “Nightmares again?”

“Both of us, it seems,” she whispered, her breath travelling over Jeco’s short hair.

“What should I do when my family cannot find peace?”

Jessop breathed heavily at her husband’s question. It had been a month since Kohl had escaped the Blade, nearly killing her in the process. The Blade had been his home for most of his life. It had been more than a home. It had been his training facility, where he had lived with his Hunter brethren, patrolling the Daharian galaxy on behalf of Hydo Jesuin. The same Blade she had infiltrated and handed over to her husband, Falco. Jessop pushed the thought back, blinking away the image of Kohl O’Hanlon’s face. “Find the one who torments me,” she ordered.