“I take it you’ve already cleaned up the street cams?” Butch asks.

  “Yes,” Conrad interjects. “And I checked Lowtun’s house for evidence.” He glances in the general direction of the woman. “The car’s handled too.”

  Butch lets out a low chuckle.

  “I told the girls that they should leave the killing to the professionals, and you’re proving me right. You’re good at what you do. Are you going to tell them you know?”

  “No.” Conrad shakes his head. “Roxanna needs to focus on the Calling. We only have one more year, and I don’t have time to reprimand her for this.”

  Butch nods, glancing into the shadows.

  “No,” the woman responds. “Ru is already destructive enough. The last thing I need is her thinking Mommy will cover up all her crimes.” A cigar falls to the ground and a booted foot emerges from the shadows to stamp it out.

  Butch returns to mutilating the body. “I know I don’t have kids or anything, but maybe I can offer my two cents.”

  “And what would that be?” The woman sounds amused.

  “Maybe if they weren’t surrounded by killers, they’d be a little less likely to do it themselves. I mean, I know you’re training Roxanna for a competition where the literal goal is to murder your opponents, and Ru plans on going into the family business. But maybe those girls need a little normalcy.” The sound of the saw buzzing through the man’s ankle emanates through the air, followed by a thunk as Butch throws his foot into the bin.

  EPILOGUE 2: ROX

  One week later…

  “Fuck, you’re really leaving today, aren’t you?” Ru’s solemn voice draws my attention, and I turn to find her standing in my doorway, her arms folded over her chest as she looks around my boxed-up room.

  “Yeah.” I sigh.

  This room, this place: it was always temporary, a refuge from Caelumine. Still, it’s hard to think that I’m leaving. I’m going home, for better or worse.

  “Damn.” Ru rubs the toe of her shoe against the carpet, her gaze lowered. “I thought I was prepared for this, but…” She shrugs, finally lifting her gaze to mine. “I guess not.” She swipes at her eyes, but I don’t miss the tears lingering there. I feel my own eyes start to burn. For the second time in my life, I’m losing a sister.

  I take a deep breath, and for the millionth time this week, I think back to Chamille’s advice at the bar. It’s time for me to be a warrior. Letting go is the first step, at least until I’ve taken back my family’s throne.

  I must stay focused and eliminate all entanglements.

  “You’ll come back after it’s all done,” Ru says with absolute certainty in her voice. “Once you’re queen, you’ll come back to check on us.”

  “Of course,” I agree. “And if I don’t make it—”

  “Don’t say that, Rox.” Ru takes a few steps into the room and wraps me in a hug. “You can’t have any doubt.”

  I let out a breath, returning her hug and soaking in the warmth. “Okay.”

  She steps back, her eyes wet again despite her stoic expression, and I can’t help but smile at her refusal to show vulnerability.

  “And you’ll stay out of trouble while I’m gone, right?” I ask her, already knowing the answer.

  A small smirk touches her lips. “You know me: trouble finds me no matter what I do.”

  “But will you promise me that you won’t go starting anything? Let your mother handle the vengeance.” She opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “Maybe if you show her you’re becoming more responsible, she’ll actually let you near the den.”

  She rolls her eyes, but she finally gives me a true smile. “Maybe.”

  “Roxanna, it’s time to go.” Conrad pokes his head into the room, his face serious as ever. We haven’t spoken about my meltdown last week, and I suspect that we never will.

  “I’m coming.”

  He nods and retreats silently.

  I turn to Ru and pull her in for one more hug, possibly our last. “I’m going to miss you, Ruthie.”

  “I’m going to miss you too, Rox. When you’re out there kicking ass and taking names, don’t forget about me, okay?”

  I pull back, giving her a wide smile. “How could I? We’re orphan sisters, remember?”

  ♛

  “We’re here.” Conrad pulls to a stop in front of an abandoned building. I squint, feeling the tug of a memory.

  “It was in slightly better shape the first time,” I say, thinking back to the night we came to the mortal realm. The walls have crumbled, and the beams have rusted and collected graffiti decorations, but I can still feel the magic emanating from the portal inside.

  “As long as it looks like nothing special, most people will stay away,” Conrad responds.

  Most portals that lead to Caelumine are protected, but this is a rogue entrance: highly unstable, unguarded, and illegal. Without it, we wouldn’t have gotten out of Caelumine in the first place. We surely wouldn’t be getting back in.

  I pull my one and only bag closer to my body, taking a step toward the building.

  Conrad grabs my arm before I can move any closer. “Wait.”

  I raise a brow, stopping.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? If you’ve changed your mind and want to back out, now is the time to tell me.” There’s no judgment in his tone. His brow is slightly wrinkled in concern.

  I reach for his hand and squeeze it. A week ago I may have been unsure, but now I’m confident. I know what I need to do, what I want to do.

  “I’m sure.” I grin. “Let’s go steal back my throne.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thanks for reading the prequel to both Ru and Rox’s stories! Rox’s first full-length novel, Stealing the Throne, will be out toward the end of the summer or early fall. If you’d like a sneak peek, keep reading. You can find more of Ru in the “Blue Devil” series, and her own series will be coming toward the end of the year.

  -Quirah

  Newsletter: http://bit.ly/QUIRAHNEWSLETTER

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  Stay Tuned...

  ALSO BY QUIRAH CASEY

  By Her Hand (Blue Devil Short Story)

  The Butcher (The Butcher’s Tale Short Story)

  The Blue Devil (The Blue Devil, Book One)

  Stealing the Throne (Chronicles of the Throne, Book One)—Coming Soon

  Disclaimer: This is only a semi edited draft.

  PROLOGUE

  I couldn’t see anything through the flames. No, I couldn’t see, but I could hear. I could hear the screams of everyone in the castle: the servants, the maids, my sister, my parents.

  “Mama! Daddy!” I cried out, trying to spot them through the flames that threatened to choke the life from my six-year-old lungs.

  But beyond the screams, no response came.

  And none ever would.

  It was useless.

  I’d sunk to the ground, waiting for the flames to engulf me, when a strong arm wrapped around me, picking me up. I screamed, knowing that the enemy had found me. Somehow, being captured was going to be much worse than burning. I just knew it.

  “Amelia!” I instantly recognized the voice, but I didn’t relax. No, I couldn’t relax, not when everyone I loved was suffering around me. The castle I grew up in was quickly turning to ash, and it was only a matter of time before the flames consumed my family with it.

  “Amelia, we have to go!” yelled Conrad, our family’s champion and head of security, as he carried me out of the castle. Even as I kicked and screamed for my parents, tears rolling down my face, Conrad didn’t let me go.

  He threw me in the backseat of his car, turning the child locks on. He knew I wanted to go back for my family. I wanted run into the blaze, find them, and bring them with us. We’d start planning our revenge, find a way to rebuild the castle and the throne. The thing was, my parents and sister were as good as dead, and Conrad and I both knew it. He was ready to face it, but I wasn’t.

  I cried while Conrad drove away from the castle, away from my dying parents, away from my life as Princess Amelia Deightyn.

  When the car finally stopped some time later, behind a thicket of bushes, I still had tears pouring down my face. In the dark of the night, the mouth of the cave was nearly invisible. Conrad dragged me out of the car and pulled me underground.

  “They knew it,” he hissed as he grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “They knew that something like this would happen, that one of their friends would betray them. They were warned.” The moonlight streaming into the cave illuminated Conrad’s face. I’d never seen Conrad cry, but that night I saw unshed tears well against his lashes. His eyes were bloodshot and watery, but he didn’t let a tear fall. He refused. Over the next twelve years, I would never see him allow a single tear to run down his cheek.

  “They thought they would be prepared for the betrayal, but they weren’t.” His eyes bore into mine, unblinking. “You listen to me, and you listen good, Amelia. You stop crying right now, and you never shed a tear again. It’s a sign of weakness, and we are not weak. We are angry, and we are going to get our revenge. Do you hear me?” Before I could answer, he was swiping at my tears with his big thumbs. “Those were your last tears. You are no longer Princess Amelia. You are Roxanna the warrior. My warrior, your parents’ warrior, your sister’s warrior.”

  He stepped away from me, grabbing something from behind a boulder. The thing gleamed in the moonlight, and when Conrad stood in front of me again, I realized it was a sword. He shoved the gleaming hilt into my hand. “You are Roxanna the warrior,” he said sharply. “Say it, now.”

  As I stood in front of him with that sword in my hands, I wanted to cry. I wanted to run into my mother’s arms and weep as she held me. But I couldn't cry anymore, Conrad had made that clear, and my parents were dead. So I held back my tears, met his eyes, and with all the conviction I could muster, I said, “I am Roxanna the warrior.”

  Conrad nodded in approval. “You are Roxanna the warrior, and we’re going to get revenge on the people who took away your castle, your throne, your parents. Your life.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  Present

  When you train for something for the majority of your life, you better be damn good at it. Especially when that something is killing people.

  I’ve dedicated my life to becoming the woman I am today: a woman who can end the royals, a woman who can avenge her family.

  My childhood should have been filled with luxuries befitting a princess. I should have had people waiting on me hand and foot as I took etiquette classes and played with other children of royal blood. Instead, I spent my youth hidden away from others, training my body, becoming a weapon. My only friend’s life was just as fucked up as mine.

  And now it’s all coming to a head. I’m finally going to put my training to use. I’m finally going to kill the people who robbed me of my rightful life.

  Or I’m going to fail.

  It doesn’t matter, though, because even if I don’t accomplish my goal, I’ll still make sure my enemies never forget me. I’ll go down in a blaze, taking as many royals with me as I can.

  A warm hand brushes my arm, and I know who it is without turning. “Roxanna, you have nothing to worry about.” Conrad’s deep voice is soft today; he’s playing the caring father rather than the harsh trainer. “Everything is going to be fine. We’re prepared.”

  I nod, ignoring the fear, anger, and regret that try to fight to the surface and push me under on their way. “I just can’t believe it’s finally happening,” I say.

  “It is.” Silence hangs between us for a moment. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  My spine stiffens, and I turn to meet his warm, brown eyes. “I’m positive I can do this. I’m ready.” He doesn’t need to know about the sickening way my stomach twists every time I think about tomorrow. That I’m worried I won’t survive the next twenty-four hours. The guilt I feel knowing that if I die tomorrow, my entire existence will have been for nothing.

  He continues to watch me closely, looking for any sign of weakness in my posture. He opens his mouth, but I shake my head, cutting him off. “I’m not worried,” I lie, “and neither should you be.” I make my way past him. “I’m going to head to bed.” I need to seclude myself in my room, get away from him. I can’t let Conrad hear my sliver of doubt. If I do, he’ll pull me from the mission before it’s even started. We both want to make the royals pay, but he’ll never send me in if he thinks there might be a chance I’m not ready.

  Conrad’s hand grabs me again, and I wait for him to call me on my bullshit; instead, I’m pulled into his strong arms. I listen to the steady beat of his heart as he presses my head against his hard chest.

  For a second that’s all there is: me, him, and our heartbeats. It almost chokes me up. If I fail, I’ll be letting down my family, but I’ll also be failing Conrad, the man who didn’t even have to save me, let alone take care of me all these years. His love and loyalty for my family was so strong that abandoning me never even crossed his mind. He might not always be the warmest man, but I’ve always known how much he cared for me, and for the past twelve years, he’s treated me like the daughter he never had.

  “I’m proud of you, Roxanna, and your parents would be, too. You bring honor to the Deightyn name, and I know that you’ll restore your family’s throne.”

  Despite Conrad’s reassurance, I lie awake for hours, thinking of everything that might go wrong. My last thought before I fall asleep, though, is that starting tomorrow, the people who burned up my old life will regret walking through those ashes.

  ♕

  At the competitor check-in desk, the hard line of the man’s lips says it all before he does. “Ma’am, I think you are in the wrong area.”

  “Nope, I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be, actually,” I tell him calmly, pointing to the words printed on the banner in front of me. “Competitor check-in. And I’m a competitor, here to check in,” I say slowly. “So, if you could get things moving along, that’d be great.”

  Someone lets a chuckle out behind me, the sound cutting over the noisy preparations being made for today’s event. I turn my head to find a man with pale skin, orange hair, and chocolate puppy-dog eyes watching the exchange in amusement. I raise a brow at him, and his smile widens. Ignoring him, I turn back to the man in charge of check-in and watch his cheeks redden. Obviously, being put in his place by a woman isn’t something he enjoys.

  What a surprise.

  “Ma’am, women are not allowed to compete.”

  I’ve traveled to the mortal realm before, and while it’s extremely different from Caelumine, they have a similar attachment to the misguided idea that women are physically inferior to men. I thought Caelumine would be better, but I’m coming to realize that misogyny is more universal than I thought. I came prepared for the bullshit, though.

  “Actually, there’s nothing in the rules that says a woman can’t compete. It only says that competitors have to be seventeen or older to enter the Calling, and, well, I’m eighteen, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

  He puffs out a deep breath. “Ma—”

  “Hand me my fucking papers before I show you how much I belong in this fucking competition by slitting your throat and watching you die, slowly.”

  The man’s face grows even redder as another snort comes from the orange-haired man behind me. For a second, I think the worker is going to continue the argument, but then he lowers his gaze and starts to assemble the paperwork, glancing up at me every few seconds with a scowl. I make a gesture for him to hurry up. Finally, he passes over the papers, but not without an effort to get the last word in.

  “You are running the risk of being escorted off the premises. Mocking the sanctity of the Calling and the royal family of Caelumine is grounds for execution.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” I give him a mock salute before flashing a grin at the orange-haired man.

  I push past the people crowding the competitor sign-in area, fighting off the jitters that come whenever I’m surrounded by people. Besides a few arena employees, there are no women in sight, and whispers start to flood my ears as the other competitors realize I’m signing up for the Calling. I ignore them, following a gravel trail away from the chaos.

  I sit on a stone bench and begin filling out the paperwork. I know I have to maintain a perfect front of composure and confidence, but on the inside, I can’t get it together. My nerves are shot, and it feels like there are bats flying around in my stomach.

  I have prepared for this day for most of my life. The second the flames began to engulf my parents’ castle, everything was set into motion. That was when I gave up any hope of having a normal childhood; child’s play would not get me closer to revenge. Why play with Barbie dolls when I could play with swords? Why make friends when I could improve my powers?

  Today I will learn if it was all worth it. If I’m worthy to walk in my parents’ shadows, or if I should have died alongside them.

  I inhale deeply and push all my worries out on the exhale. There’s nothing I can do to change what happens next, except get a grip on my mental state. I’ve spent a decade preparing, and now I’m either ready or I’m not.

  I finish filling out the form and bring it back to the chauvinistic employee, whose scowl remains etched on his face. I don’t linger, instead heading to the training arena, where the competitor briefing will take place. It’s a small, battered stadium, and it’s a good distance from the main arena where the actual competition will take place. The noise coming from the main arena is already off the charts as spectators pile in, eager for a bloodbath.