Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

Beside me, Xander grew tense. “More like devastated,” he said scowling. “You nearly killed her.”

She laughed once, as if she got a kick out of him. “Yeah, well that is the point, isn’t it? These sisters shall not rest until one destroys the other.” She quoted the script written on the stone tablet.

“You know about the curse.”

She nodded, biting her lower lip. “Shame, isn’t it?”

Persephone’s Cure flooded back into my mind, and it hit me. Maybe Riley coming to Arcadia wasn’t such a bad thing after all. “I might have found a way to break it,” I said, stepping around Xander.

“Break it? What for?”

She had to be joking. “How about, to keep us from killing each other?”

“No, sis.” She shook her head. “There’s no point in doing that. One of us was bound to destroy the other anyway.”

That hot, fiery feeling began to buzz out from my core. I stretched out of Xander’s grip. “Sheridan,” he warned softly.

She wasn’t taking the curse seriously, and it was pissing me off. After everything I’d gone through, after almost dying on the Curse Breaker’s table just to try and stop myself from killing her—how dare she act like this wasn’t a big deal!

“This isn’t one of your foul little games, Riley. This doesn’t end with you stealing my boyfriend or hurting my feelings. This ends with one of us dying. Don’t you get that?”

“I do.” She lifted her gaze to mine, all of the playfulness gone. “I understood it the moment you shoved those scissors into my shoulder.”

I sucked in a breath. “Riley, I’m sorr—”

“Save it. I’m not interested in your fake apology.” Her eyes burned into me like hot coals. “And I fully understand how this ends. I haven’t come to Arcadia just to learn magic. I’ve come to take my rightful place as an Ares descendant, and I’ve come to win. The only way this story ends is with my knife in your heart. Believe me, I’m looking forward to that moment.”

All the rage and animosity I’d been holding back went out the door. I didn’t care anymore. I wanted to hurt her—physically hurt her. I raised my arm, but Xander’s hand struck out first. His grip was like iron around my wrist.

“Xander, let me go.”

I looked over at him. His arm trembled. Sweat beaded along his brow—he was fighting it. He looked at me, his eyes full of remorse. He didn’t want to stop me, but he had no choice.

“Oh my God.” We both realized what it meant at the same time.

I was never the sister he was bound to protect. He never made the Silver Oath to my mother.

Riley was too smart not to notice. “What a unique situation,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Careful, little sis. I might just have to relieve you of your current man candy. He seems rather…useful.”

I lowered my arm, stepping away from Xander. He looked at his hand, turning it back and forth, stretching out his fingers, like he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

All of those times he protected me, he never had to.

Riley laughed, seeing our matching looks of devastation. “This oughta be an interesting year,” she said, turning to leave. “See you later, Sher Bear.”

Hearing my own heartbeat thudding in my ears, I tried to calm myself down. Where was the balance and inner clarity I’d worked so hard to achieve?

Small hiccup, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut.

I could handle this.

Just a tiny, minuscule hiccup.

End of Book One

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed living in Sheridan’s world for a while.

As an author, my goal is to make you feel something, to put a dreamy smile on your face, to make you laugh, cry, or just to escape life for a little while. I hope I have done that.

Reviews are deeply appreciated. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review.

Oh, and don’t forget to preorder Book Two:

Deviant Descendants

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OTHER BOOKS:

THE TWELFTH KEEPER

CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 2)

OCEAN OF STARS (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 3)

INFINITE NIGHT (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 4)

ELECTRIC SKIES (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 5)

WANDERLOVE

FORETELL

Coming Soon:

Deviant Descendants (Descendants Academy Book Two)