[ONGOING: New Chapters Every Sunday]
Kingsblade. Rise of the Raven Queen.
Her kingdom is in ashes.
She's supposed to save it, but there's one problem.
She doesn't remember she's the queen.
She doesn't remember anything at all.
With war looming on...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Captain Liliana, you and your house must turn back. It isn't safe here."
She lifted her fist to signal to the others of House Eagle behind her to slow their advance across the glen. Whose voice was that? Liliana looked up to see one of the wingmen from House Raven sprinting toward them. Tendrils of shadow followed him.
"He'll never reach us in time." Coco. It was Coco's voice beside her. Her apprentice. Her Fledgling. Liliana tried to turn her head toward the cadet but couldn't. Every muscle in her body froze.
Her stomach churned. No. No. No. But why? Why did she dread the memory that filled her vision?
Liliana forced her eyes shut, feeling herself returning to the Council chambers. Her chest heaved out a breath; she was thankful it wasn't a sob. Where was this coming from? She knew that man's face. Why couldn't she think of his name? She leaned forward to steady herself on the table, trying to anchor herself in the inlaid gold lines that wove in and out of each other, but her vision swam again as the memory returned.
"The village is overrun."
Ash floated toward her like leaves in the autumn breeze. Liliana lifted her hand and watched as a flake landed on her palm and disintegrated into dust. Even as it had happened the first time, Liliana had felt so distant.
"This isn't real," she whispered as her own words from the memory echoed in the back of her mind.
She heard his screams next. The Fallen One's sword plunging through his chest. His eyes going dark then empty. As he tumbled forward, his name rang in her ears like a dirge: Edgar.
Coco's brother.
How could I forget your name? Liliana held in a sob.
Then, it was Coco who grabbed her hand, whispering, "Master Liliana? We should warn the others." There was a grief that swelled in her sweet, song-like voice like a wave racing toward the shore.
Inevitable, but...
Painfully slow.
Why didn't I look at you? Why didn't I hold you? Do you remember his name? Do you remember him at all? Liliana willed herself to turn to her apprentice, but she was frozen. Memory had made her its prisoner.
"From dust, we are made. To dust we will return," someone murmured from the shadows.
No, not someone.
Someone she knew.
How do I know you? Liliana whispered into the darkness of her own mind. How could I?
There they were: icy blue eyes staring at her from behind the Fallen One. He knelt beside the fallen warrior and turned him over, pushing the dark hair away from his face. From Edgar's face. "Do not weep," he called out to her. His face. She knew his face, his curly hair that stuck out in all directions. "He is only sleeping."
