Novels by Darian

The future version of Cassian Divinor didn’t just look like a man who had seen the end of the world; he looked like a man who had personally signed for its delivery. He held Cassian by the collar, his grip like a vice of cold iron, while the sky above Oakhaven continued to weep arterial red.“Okay, first of all,” Cassian squeaked, his feet dangling inches above the observatory floor. “Personal space. We might be the same guy, but I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet, and you’re already ruining the vibe.”“The vibe is dead, Cassian,” the older man growled, his voice a gravelly echo of his own. “Along with everything else if you don’t listen. The Aegis isn’t a shield. It’s an invitation. If you touch it, you’re not saving the kingdom—you’re opening the front door for the King of Thorns.”Saphielle stepped forward, her staff trembling but held high. “Who are you? Truly? You claim to be him, but the resonance you’re putting off is... it’s wrong. It’s corrupted.”The future Cassia

The blue lightning from Dorian’s rod didn’t just strike the ground; it detonated, sending a shockwave of ionized air and pulverized stone through the mist."Get your head down, Cassian! Move!" Saphielle’s voice was a jagged scream over the roar of the impact."I am moving! My legs are moving, my heart is moving out of my chest—everything is moving!" Cassian scrambled through the dirt, clutching the bronze cylinder to his ribs as if it were his own child."The intern! Where’s the kid?" Saphielle shouted, her staff spinning in a blur of white light to deflect a follow-up volley of magical darts."I’m right here, Mistress Saphielle!" Elsinore chirped, though he was currently curled into a ball behind a glowing rock, his eyes still milky and vacant. "The probability of us surviving the next thirty seconds is dropping faster than the King’s popularity during a famine! It’s fascinating!""Don’t give me statistics, Elsinore! Give me a way out!"Cassian felt a tug on his sleeve. It was the cy

The carriage hadn’t even fully groaned to a halt at the edge of the Whispering Ravine before the door was practically ripped off its hinges. Cassian, still basking in the lingering, awkward warmth of Saphielle’s hand, nearly tumbled onto the gravel.“Master Divinor! Oh, stars above, it really is you! The man who saw the sky fall and lived to tell the tale!”A young man, barely twenty and dressed in robes three sizes too large for his lanky frame, was vibrating with such intensity he looked like he might actually undergo spontaneous combustion. His hair was a frantic nest of blonde curls, and his eyes were wide, unblinking, and terrifyingly earnest.Cassian blinked, smoothing his rumpled blue suit. “Uh, yeah. I’m the guy. Do I know you? Are you here to serve me with another audit, or do you have a sandwich? I’d prefer the sandwich.”“I’m Elsinore! Elsinore Portent!” the boy squeaked, dropping into a bow so deep his forehead hit the carriage step with a resonant thwack. “The Guild sent

The darkness of the temple swallowed them as they dove behind the massive statue of the forgotten god, the bronze cylinder tucked under Cassian’s arm like a stolen ham. Behind them, the air sizzled with the ozone scent of Dorian’s missed lightning bolt.“Through the drainage grate! Go, go, go!” Saphielle’s voice was a frantic whisper, her hand shoving Cassian toward a rusted iron lattice in the floor.“A sewer? Again? Saph, my dry-cleaning bill is going to be higher than the national debt!” Cassian grunted as he kicked the grate loose.“Just move your feet, Cassian!”They dropped into the muck, sliding through the cold, damp dark of the Iron Sink’s underground arteries. By the time they emerged two miles away near the edge of the merchant district, the sun was beginning to bleed over the horizon. But the dawn didn’t bring peace. It brought the morning edition of The Oracle’s Eye, delivered by a fluttering mechanical owl that dropped a scroll directly onto Cassian’s head.Cassian unfur

The yellow eyes in the darkness didn’t blink. They multiplied.“Move, Cassian! Unless you want to find out what those eyes belong to!” Saphielle hissed, grabbing his sleeve and yanking him toward a towering, jagged silhouette of a building that leaned over the street like a broken tooth.“I’m moving! I’m moving!” Cassian scrambled over a pile of rusted gears, his breath hitching in his chest. “But for the record, I’m much better at running away from people who want to audit me than things that want to eat me!”“Just get inside that gate!”They lunged through a set of heavy, verdigris-coated bronze doors just as a low, wet growl vibrated through the air behind them. Cassian slammed the doors shut, fumbling for a sliding bolt that looked like it hadn't been moved since the last era. With a desperate groan, he shoved it home.Thump.Something heavy hit the other side of the door. Then silence.“Okay,” Cassian wheezed, leaning his forehead against the cold metal. “Okay. We’re safe. Mostly

“Well,” Cassian whispered to the empty room, his fingers tracing the cold, glowing edge of the sapphire. “At least the suit is a rental.”He didn't have long to mourn his status as a sacrificial lamb. Saphielle didn't give him the luxury of a breakdown. She grabbed him by the collar of his expensive, pinching tunic and dragged him toward a side exit, far from the prying eyes of the High Chancellor’s lingering party guests.“Where are we going?” Cassian hissed, stumbling over a loose cobblestone as they hit the damp air of the Academy’s back alleys. “I thought we had until dawn! I need to pack! I need to write a will! I need to find a way to forge a death certificate!”“We’re going to get an edge,” Saphielle snapped, her eyes scanning the shadows of the street. “If Lucien thinks he’s going to use a Bureau asset as a meat shield without me having a say in it, he’s even more arrogant than I thought.”“Asset? You were calling me a fraud ten minutes ago!”“You’re my fraud now, Cassian. Kee