CHAPTER 1THE GHOST OF HOUSE VANE The undercity of Nyxara had no sun, no moon, and obviously no mercy.Rylan Vane pressed his back against the damp stone wall, feeling the slow, cold pulse of his own blood. The stone was slick with moisture and something else, something darker that had seeped into these tunnels over centuries of death and decay. He didn’t think about it. Thinking was a luxury Crimsons could not afford.Who would be able to think after being unable to feed for four days?Hunger gnawed at his insides like a trapped animal clawing at the walls of his stomach. But hunger was an old friend. He had learned to live with it a century ago, when his uncle Cassian had stripped him of his blood-right and thrown him into the gutters like a broken toy. Without warning, the memory surfaced again and it was like it was happening all over again. His father's head rolled across the marble floors, his mother's dream cut short when her heart was ripped out of her chest. And Cassian’s s

CHAPTER 3A MADMAN AND A DYING WOMANThe staircase behind Rylan sealed itself shut, flesh knitting over stone until no trace of the entrance remained.He stood in the familiar darkness of the undercity tunnels, breathing air that no longer tasted of iron and rot. His body felt strange, it was like he was in a new skin. The Seal of Flesh pulsed gently within him, a second heart waiting to be awakened.But Rylan could only think of hiding this new found power. He had survived a century by being invisible, this was no different. He pulled his tattered shirt tighter, covered his hands, and forced his expression back to the hollow, defeated look that had kept him alive all these years.Then he walked toward the hollow corner at the entrance of the corner where he usually hid.Mira was there when he arrived, sitting with her back against the curved stone. Her dark hair was matted, her eyes were glassy and a dark stain spread across her side."You're alive," she breathed before she coughed

CHAPTER 5 THE COURT OF SHADOWS The district of Silent Ash was a graveyard of old nobility.Once, these streets had been lined with the estates of powerful houses. Now the mansions stood empty, their windows like hollow eyes while their gardens were choked with black ivy. The only inhabitants were the Shadow Court who were spies and information brokers that had claimed the ruins as their own.Rylan moved through the shadows, Mira close behind him. For some reason, she had offered to follow him when he met her standing right outside Kaelos’ library. Something about the court of shadows rules that she wouldn't tell him.Rylan's fangs ached, a dull, familiar hunger he had learned to ignore. Four days since his last feed, and the Seal of Flesh demanded more than what vermin blood could satisfy. But he kept the hunger leashed. Here, in the heart of enemy territory, control mattered more than feeding.“The court’s headquarters is in the old Vancor Manor,” Mira whispered. Her own hunger wa

CHAPTER 7BLOOD IN THE STREETSRylan stepped out of Shadow Manor with the Seal of Shadows settled deep within him.The night air was cold against his skin, but he barely felt it. The shadows themselves seemed to greet him, bending toward him like loyal hounds. Every pool of darkness whispered possibilities of paths to step through, spaces to hide and places no living eye could follow.Rylan had a satisfied smile in his face. He felt normal, completely different from what Kaelos said would happen if he bonded with more than one seal. “Maybe they were words to scare me, he thought.”The echoes in his head began to become clearer. The Seal of Flesh pulsed in rhythm with the Seal of Shadows, two hearts beating in tandem. They were not comfortable together, they strained against each other, ancient consciousnesses that remembered being one and resented being separate.But Rylan didn't feel it yet.Rylan pushed his thoughts aside and moved through the abandoned streets of Silent Ash. Mira

CHAPTER 9MADNESS AND MEMORYThe gates groaned shut behind them, sealing Rylan and Mira in darkness.The voice that had spoken had not revealed itself. Rylan's senses strained, but he could not tell where it came from. The darkness was thicker than the one in Silent Ash.Mira pressed close to his side, her breathing shallow. "I don't like this, Rylan. This place feels wrong.""It is wrong." He could feel the weight of the fortress pressing against his skull, foreign memories already trying to push through the cracks of his own. "That's why you're not coming any further."She turned to him sharply with protest on her face. "What?"Rylan faced her, his grey eyes steady despite the pressure building in his mind. "The Seal of Memory doesn't just guard itself, it consumes. The further I go, the more of his memories will try to replace mine. I can barely hold my own thoughts together. You won't survive it.""I survived the undercity for a hundred years," Mira said, her voice hard. "I surviv