Kyra Valorian and Sebastian Sayre have finally remembered their pasts as the former Felserpent Queen and King, and now it’s time for them to change the future—by reuniting the realms and bringing peace to Astrals and Daevals. But tensions between Aeles and Nocens have never been higher, and those of silver and gold blood are more divided than ever.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Katie Keridan’s Blood Divided, which is the second book in The Felserpent Chronicles and it’s out October 3rd!
In addition to improving her recovrancy abilities and completing internship, Kyra is determined to uncover her father’s role in the evil Astral experimentation program, no matter the danger. As Sebastian learns to be in a relationship, he finds himself facing the traumas of two very different pasts, forcing him to make tough decisions about his chosen profession and who he wants to be. Meanwhile, Tallus, arch-enemy to the Felserpent monarchy, has also returned—and it will take help from Cyphers, as well as friends both old and new, to find and stop him.
As Kyra and Sebastian struggle to navigate the differences between their past and current relationship, one thing’s clear: part of fulfilling their destiny means accepting their fate. The choices they make will reach all the way into Death in this thrilling found family sequel to Reign Returned.
Opening my eyes, I focused on the familiar lighting fixture overhead, the bronze rods and crystal pendants just visible in the early morning light peeking through the curtains. I wasn’t in an old farmhouse in Nocens. I was in my bedroom, in my apartment, safe in the Aelian capital of Celenia. I focused on taking deep breaths, steadying my pulse as the fear thrumming through me began to dissipate.
What kind of dream was that?
Sebastian and I had shared dreams before, but they had ultimately turned out to be memories of our past life together as Kareth and Schatten. Was what I’d just experienced also a memory, one that belonged exclusively to Sebastian?
Sebastian hadn’t shared much about his parents, other than they were dead and he was convinced his mother had died before her time—a conviction that turned out to be correct—but if the dream portrayal of his father was to be believed, no wonder Sebastian hadn’t spoken about him. Forcing Sebastian to comply with his wishes, threatening those he should have been protecting, physically hurting his own wife and child . . . how dare that man get away with such things!
Aurelius’s voice interrupted my rising ire.
“Given that I couldn’t sense your thoughts,” intoned the lynx from the foot of my bed, “I take it you were sharing a dream?”
Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I ran my hands over my face and nodded before meeting the lynx’s gaze. Aurelius’s chin was resting on his oversized paws, and his whiskers were turned down. It still irritated him that the mental connection he enjoyed with me as my Cypher—my assigned lifelong advisor— didn’t extend to seeing the dreams Sebastian and I shared or hearing the conversations we had through our bracelets. While Batty had never mentioned being bothered by such an exclusion, Aurelius directly equated having information with being able to take care of me. When offering advice, he couldn’t stand thinking he’d somehow failed to account for all possibilities, worried his lack of knowledge might somehow negatively impact me.
I told the lynx what I’d witnessed, my voice scratchy with sleep, then fell silent, tucking my hair behind my ears. I could certainly relate to being worried over an upcoming test, but I couldn’t imagine ever being afraid of my father; even when he’d been upset with me, he’d always made it clear he loved me. In fact, he’d spent his last breath telling me he loved me. I pressed a hand against my chest, as if the small act could stop the ever- present ache from spreading. My heart felt like the village of Aravost after the earthquake, torn apart by jagged cracks, but while the destruction caused by the natural disaster had been repaired with hard work and spells, my own devastation wouldn’t be healed so easily . . . if ever.
Had it really been almost a month since my father had died? Some part of me thought if I walked into my childhood home at just the right moment, I would see him, his long black hair tied back with a ribbon as he excitedly showed my mother a handmade gift he’d received from a patient. I would hear him doing an array of character voices while reading a story to my younger siblings, smell the citrus and sandalwood scent he wore on special occasions, and watch him smile with pride as I demonstrated how I’d mastered one of his healing techniques.
I tried to hold on to the happy images, so different from my last moments with my father, but I was powerless to stop the flood of more recent memories from rushing through me. There I was crouching beside him, holding his hand as he struggled to form his final words. His torso—and the wooden beam protruding out of it—was covered with his golden blood, shimmering in the sunlight cutting through the dust-filled air. My sob-laced screams became increasingly hoarse as I tried unsuccessfully to heal him, until I fell silent and curled up near his unmoving body, my life upended and my family broken in a way I’d never imagined possible.
Ironically, it was my father’s death that revealed me to be a Recovrancer, able to enter Vaneklus, the realm of the dead, and recover the shades of those who’d died before their time. While I’d eventually learned my father had died at his appointed time, knowing that didn’t make the loss easier to bear, and I gazed down at my sheets, wishing I could pull the covers over my head, go back to sleep, and wake up in another life where my father still lived.
As always when I thought about my father these days, how- ever, grief wasn’t the only emotion to fill me. I had always viewed the two of us as having an exceptionally close relationship, but discovering he’d visited Nocens, interacted with Daevals, and undertaken the study of silver blood without telling me made me question how well I’d truly known him. How could he have kept such things from me? And even worse to contemplate, what else did I still not know about the man I’d looked up to and tried so hard to emulate? Obviously it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t answer my questions, but why had he left behind questions in need of answering in the first place? I wanted to cherish my memories of my father, but I wouldn’t be able to sort out my feelings for him until I possessed all the available information, regardless of how terrible some of his secrets might turn out to be.
“I’ll reach out to Flavius again today,” offered Aurelius in what I knew was an attempt to be comforting. “Perhaps he’s back in Celenia for reassignment.”
Flavius was a timber wolf who had been my father’s Cypher. When the Astral a Cypher was paired with passed away, the Cypher was given two choices: They could bond with another Astral after a suitable grieving period, or they could choose to forgo another bond, although that meant losing the immortality they gained by serving as lifelong guides. I had so many questions I needed to ask the wolf, but they all revolved around one thing . . . had my father been involved in experimenting on Daevals in Rynstyn?
“You’re certain there was nothing of the facility in Sebastian’s dream?” asked Aurelius, pricking his black tufted ears, his voice hopeful I might have remembered something I’d forgotten to mention earlier.
I shook my head, still hating to think of Sebastian being tortured by my kind. “What I saw must have happened before he was taken to Rynstyn. I didn’t see any of the experimentation facility.”
While most of me was grateful I hadn’t seen what Sebastian had endured in the mountains of Rynstyn, a small part of me wished I had . . . perhaps I might have seen my father and settled the question of his involvement in the Daeval experimentation program once and for all. Of course, even if my father didn’t appear in Sebastian’s dreams, his absence wasn’t proof of his innocence, as he could have started working at the facility after Sebastian’s time there.
“Or it could mean just that,” countered Aurelius, following along with my thoughts. “Your father won’t appear in Sebastian’s memories because he wasn’t involved in that program. I still don’t see how he could have been. He was one of the most compassionate and trustworthy Astrals I ever had the pleasure of knowing.”
While I appreciated Aurelius’s ongoing belief in my father and secretly hoped he was right, I also had to be realistic.
“My father had a suppressor medallion, one of the rarest items in Aeles, purposefully designed to hide silver blood from the Aelian Blood Alarm,” I said, ticking off the facts as I knew them on my fingers. “He was working on a project with Senator Rex involving Daevalic blood. Sebastian is a Daeval who was kept prisoner at an Astral facility and even though it was thirteen years ago, he wore something very similar to a suppressor medal- lion . . . while my kind tortured and studied him.”
I stared directly into Aurelius’s eyes, the same deep blue as my own. “Those can’t all be coincidences. Is it normal to be un- able to reach another Cypher for so long?”
Aurelius twitched his whiskers. “Losing the Astral you’ve been paired with is never easy,” he said gently. “Every Cypher grieves in their own way, and the process cannot be rushed. I suspect Flavius has simply been keeping his own company and hasn’t wanted to be disturbed. When I reach him, I’ll let you know.”
I nodded and smoothed a hand over the sheets, wishing I could soothe my frustration as easily. “Only Flavius knows for certain what Father was doing, but in the meantime, hopefully I’ll learn more by working with Senator Rex.”
Of course, I wasn’t only working with Senator Rex to uncover the truth about my father . . . I also needed to obtain proof of what Astrals were doing to Daevals to shut down the experimentation program, and shame pricked the underside of my chest at my selfishness. Whether or not my father had been involved in the experimentation program wasn’t nearly as important as the fact that the program existed and needed to be stopped. The only reason I knew of it was because Sebastian had been taken there and tortured for two years as a child; to shut it down, I needed evidence beyond the word of a Daeval, evidence no one in my realm would be able to ignore. Acquiring such evidence meant getting Senator Rex to trust me enough to invite me to see the facility for myself, and while everything in me loathed the idea of pretending I was interested in studying silver blood, I would do whatever it took to end the program.
The wide gold bracelet on my wrist suddenly vibrated, and a smile sprang to my face, momentarily pushing all other thoughts from my mind. Aurelius rolled his eyes before hopping off the bed with a huff and stalking out of the room. I pressed my fingertips against the bracelet as a small black dragon appeared, swimming a graceful loop around the cuff before sinking out of sight.
