0 March Secret Agent #27

TITLE: Court of Dark and Light
GENRE: YA Fantasy

Odelia dreamt a river of blood. She stood in the middle of it, the blood gushing over her feet and soaking her white robe to the knees, turning it a sickly red. She doubled over, gripping her stomach, crying out as a sharp, burning pain ripped through her. Blood oozed over her hands as she gasped for breath.

“You will die like your mother,” a woman snarled.

Odelia’s head shot up. Her Aunt Tabitha stood in the distance, a dagger dripping with fresh blood in her hand. The river flowed from a mountain of dead bodies behind her, and atop them was Odelia’s father, the king. A strangled cry escaped Odelia’s lips, her eyes widening. Black feathers rained from the sky and Odelia tilted her head back to see a winged man hovering above the bodies. His cold, pitiless smile sent a chill through her, bone deep.

“We are coming,” he warned. “And your people will fall.”

#

The chamber filled with a thick haze. The Dark Prince emerged from within it, stepping up to the dreaming princess. He pressed his fingers against her forehead, reading her dream. He frowned; why were young females always chosen? Did He honestly think this one could defeat him when all others had failed?

The princess lurched under his fingers as he drew the dream from her mind, her eyes fluttering open and rolling back into her head.

He removed his hand and she stilled, her eyes falling shut.

He slid back into the haze and vanished.