Daughter of Strife- Part 1 Read online

  Daughter of Strife: Part 1

  The Nightfall Chronicles

  Karpov Kinrade

  Daring Books

  http://KarpovKinrade.com

  Copyright © 2018 Karpov Kinrade

  Cover Art Copyright © 2018 Karpov Kinrade

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  Published by Daring Books

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  First Edition

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  eBook License Notes

  You may not use, reproduce or transmit in any manner, any part of this book without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews, or in accordance with federal Fair Use laws. All rights are reserved.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to your eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.

  Created with Vellum

  To our Nightfall fans, who keep asking when the next book will be out. <3

  Contents

  Important Message to Readers

  1. Part 1 LUXOR

  About the Author

  Also by Karpov Kinrade

  Important Message to Readers

  Dear reader,

  You are the reason this book exists. You and your passion for the Nightfall Chronicles. We know you've waited SO LONG to get the next part of Scarlett's story, and we want you to be totally happy with it. So here's a warning.

  Book 4, Daughter of Strife, is going to be published as a serial before we release it as a complete book. This means they will be novella/novelette length stories published in rapid succession until the book is done. (The first two installments might be extra short, but we plan to lengthen them after that.) We bounced this idea off our KK Coven group (which you should totally join if you haven't) and there was enough enthusiasm for the idea that we decided to go for it.

  Here's our reasoning. The nature of the publishing industry right now is such that we need rapid releases to keep momentum up. We can't do rapid releases of books the length of most of the Nightfall books. They take far too long. We've been wanting to work on Daughter of Strife for ages, but just couldn’t justify it from a business perspective. Well, we're tired of waiting. We had a novella planned for launch this month, and another novella for January, and we thought, what if we just start releasing the book everyone actually wants to read?

  I know most of you much prefer the full book, and will not be thrilled with these mini releases. Some of you may balk at the $2.99 price tag. We get it. Here's the deal with that. If we price lower than $2.99, we go from a 70% royalty rate to a 30% royalty rate, which is crippling unless it's for a sale. Also, we generally have underpriced our much longer books because of what the market can bare, so we figure it all washes out in the end. AND, this series is in KU, so you can read all these as part of your membership, which we STRONGLY encourage. We don't want you shelling out the money for each installment if you can't afford it. You're also welcome to wait until it's complete and comes out in full book form, if you prefer. Please know that by doing it this way, those who choose to wait are still getting it faster than if we continued to delay it to launch other books rapidly.

  We hope you enjoy this. Consider it like a tv show you have to wait a bit for if that helps. Or you can save them up and read in big chunks. Either way, we hope you'll join us on this adventure. For those who do read the serials as they come up, keep your eyes peeled. Eventually we will be providing an exclusive link in the back of one of these books that will take you to free digital goodies related to the series JUST FOR YOU! This is our thanks for sticking with us, even as we do things a bit differently.

  Serials are nothing new of course. They've been around about as long as books. But I know it's not everyone's favorite format. Still, for us, this at least allows us to finish this book and move forward in the series, which I think we can all agree is a good thing.

  So thank you for your patience. For your support. For your loyalty to this series and us. We hope you enjoy the continuing adventures of Scarlett and her double life!

  Love and light,

  Lux and Dmytry Karpov Kinrade

  If you haven't yet, be sure to join our email for the latest news on releases.

  Part 1 LUXOR

  I stare at the face of the man who died, the man I love even still, the man I know I will never see again in this world, in this life. But he stands here, before me, smiling his dimpled smile, his purple eyes full of mischief, that one lock of black hair falling into his eyes. He holds out his hand to me. "Will the Lady do me the great honor of a dance?"

  I nod, reaching for his hand, and I can feel him. His skin, warm, pulsing with life, his body solid. Real. He's wearing the formal attire we had custom made for the New Year Ball. Black and gold velvet and silk, looking even more striking than usual. My dress matches the style, dark feathers swaying over golden thread, a wonder of Eden Wearables, made just for this night. The ballroom is lit with candles and an orchestra performs live while we dance. He takes me in his arms, placing his hand at my lower back, and then spins me onto the dance floor. I laugh, throwing my head back as we move faster and faster, spinning over the marble, my dress brushing my ankles as I move.

  When the music stops, he pulls me closer, our faces inches away, our lips so close I can feel his breath on them.

  "Scarlett, there's something I need to tell you," he says.

  But I don't want to talk. Not right now. I want to feel his lips on mine. I want to taste him again. To remember him.

  "There's something you need to know. Scarlett."

  I'm breathless. The room spins. He calls my name again. And again.

  And then the voice changes, and when my eyes peel open, a pair of purple eyes stare back at me. For a moment I think it's him. Kai, come back. Kai, not really gone at all. But my vision focuses my brain registers the truth, and I grunt at my best friend, Corinne. Kai's sister.

  "Scarlett, you overslept. We're going to be late."

  "Crap!" I push away the furs that make their best effort at keeping me warm at night in the desert and try to orient my brain. It's not the day of our Trial, I remember, breathing out in relief. Of all the Trials we have to face, this is my most feared. My Hospitaller marks are the lowest of all my subjects and show no real signs of improvement anytime soon.

  I stand, stretching sore limbs, and rummage through the trunk next to my sleeping mat. "Evie, why didn't you wake me?"

  "You specifically instructed me to not wake you before sunrise unless, and I quote, 'the sky fills with the fires of hell and the oceans come to swallow us all,'" my customized and way too human-like AI says.

  "You know you're not supposed to listen to me when I'm hungry!"

  "You specifically told me to override that command as well," she says, a little defensively.

  Last night was rough. After a grueling day of digging in the desert, Corinne and I returned to our tent to discover we only had one can of LifeForce left. We split the drink in half and prayed the next shipment of supplies would be arriving soon from the nearby city.

  "Hurry up!" Corinne says, who has the highest marks in Hospitaller of anyone ever. And I mean ever. She's gotten praised for being the most accomplished Hospitaller candidate they've ever seen in First Years. She glowed for day
s after that. And I don't mean figuratively. I had to remind her a few times to keep a reign on her Nephilim abilities. She couldn't walk around the Orders literally glowing. That'd be a dead giveaway.

  I check the time and grimace. I'm pretty sure Corinne's making us get up earlier than we need to, for extra work experience.

  I pull on khaki shorts and a beige tank top with the Castle V logo on the chest. Not the warmest choices given the sun has yet to rise and it's still freezing outside, but it'll turn warm soon enough and no one likes having to carry around their extra clothing for the rest of the day. Least of all me. So I endure the cold as I strap Kai's sword to my hip. It's a pain in the ass, but we Initiates are required to keep our weapons on us at all times for the duration of this trip.

  I run a brush through my hair and tie my hair into a braid, then follow Corinne out, shivering in the before-dawn chill.

  Our tents are small, and sleep two of us, with just enough room for mats and a trunk each. This is the epitome of slumming it for most of the highborn nobles here. For me, it's a flashback to the days of camping, hunting and hiking with my dad. Falling asleep under the stars, with the sound of the wild all around, waking up to the fresh cold morning air… it's like a homecoming for me.

  Wytt and Jaden are sharing a tent across from us, so we head there first, just as the guys crawl out, ready for the day. "I never imagined a place with so much dirt everywhere,” says Jaden, brushing at his khakis, staining them further with the burnt orange tones of the dessert. "It will never come out. We will be carrying around pieces of Egypt for the rest of our lives, I fear," the Swedish prince says dramatically, brushing a lock of blond hair out of his face and leaving another streak of dirt across his nose.

  I chuckle. “You know what they say. Do one thing every day that scares you.”

  Wytt runs up beside me, tossing a rock up and down in his hands. “And by they, she means Mary Schmich, who said it first. Or wrote it, that is, in an essay.”

  “Show off,” I say, elbowing him playfully. Wytt can never resist displaying his eidetic memory, which allows him to recall anything he has ever seen. It can be annoying, but most of the time it's just charming.

  Lana and Akio catch up with us and exchange tired hellos as we weave through the camp that's already coming to life with plebeian servants waking and going about their day's work. It's a simple set up that we've been living in for weeks. Enough tents for the ten of us from Castle V, our Grandmaster Marian, the Hospitaller Knights in charge of this dig, and the servants. There are several camp fires scattered throughout for cooking and keeping warm at night. The food is provided by the plebs, who keep live animals such as goats, pigs and chickens nearby, roasted or milked for our meals as needed.

  On the horizon lies a ruin of twisted metal. Skyscrapers riddled with holes. Buildings burned to ash now lost to the wind. Luxor. The city was the first to fall when the Orders invaded Egypt nearly six years ago. They attacked swiftly and effectively, utilizing stealth bombers and para-troops, Teutonic knights clad in metal that rained from the sky like meteors and took the country within a matter of weeks.

  The occupation is still recent in the scope of this war between the Orders and the rest of the world. Cairo, where we first arrived a few weeks ago, still shows signs of the destruction wrought on these lands under the guidance of the Church. Children weak, starving, with bloated stomachs, parents waiting in long lines for scraps of food and rotting wheat, ugly holes in buildings and roads from bombs and bullets. I once thought my childhood was difficult, but it’s a pale shadow compared to what these people must live through. Many countries in the East and Middle East still resist the reign of the Holy Pope as Emperor to all. This is the fate that eventually awaits them.

  We are camped at the edge of a massive dig site. A giant man-made ravine cut into the desert and surrounded by metal walls that will electrocute anyone who tries climbing them. Hospitaller Knights patrol the perimeter, clad in black armor adorned with white crosses, wielding swords and maces and heavy-rifles—more hand cannons than guns. They protect a major archeological discovery that could push medical care forward by leaps and bounds if it reveals new applications for Angel Technology. The Hospitallers will be here for months—maybe even years—exploring these ruins. We will be leaving after our Trial, which is tomorrow.

  I'm not getting a Boon. We got our grades for the Winter quarter last night. I did… okay. As usual, my Hospitaller classes were some of my worst grades. I’m no Emergency Medical Training prodigy, but one might be tempted to think me particularly gifted at it if compared to my performance in Anatomy, Physiology and Diagnostics. Honestly if it weren't for Corinne, I'd be in trouble.

  It was hard jumping back into Order life after our return from England and Kai's memorial. Hard for all of us. Corinne was—and still is—missing her new boyfriend Jace. Though he comes often to visit her. I've been juggling my Scarlett/Nightfall lives and wondering how I'm possibly going to keep this up forever. Because it certainly feels like it's going to take that long to make any real changes in this very rigid world.

  My eGlass bings as we get into a short line near a campfire.

  It's a message from Zorin.

  Sorry I missed you last night. Dealing with Nightfall duties has me very glad I didn't deign to lead myself. TR is driving me nuts, the leaders of the rebel groups you've allied are like squabbling preschoolers fighting over the last toy. You've left me a nursery to manage. Come back soon. Nox misses you.

  I chuckle and reply, typing into my ePad.

  Ah, poor Zorin. Eat a marshmallow and try to ignore TR. Or ask Trix to distract him. Keep her around and you'll be fine. As for the rebels. We need them. Play nice until I get home. Trial is tomorrow. Wish me luck. I don't think I’ll die… probably.

  PS: Please, please, please bring me a giant box of LifeForce. We’re out.

  I send the message, knowing he’ll never show up. It's too much of a risk for something so simple, and we agreed he’d only come if I was in true danger.

  My line moves forward and I take a step as I check my next message. This one is from Jax.

  We are two ships passing in the night, on opposite sides of the world, with opposite schedules.

  My fancy way of saying… Sorry I missed your last call. I'm making real progress with my academy for Zeniths. I can't wait for you to come home and see it. I think you'd be proud. We're finally doing it, Star. We're doing what we've always dreamed. I'm just sorry we've both had to lose so much to get here. Friends forever.

  I'm about to reply to him when Nubia, a local woman who travels with her three children and husband to serve our camp, fills a wooden bowl with bone broth stew and a chunk of dark bread. I smile at her. "Thank you. How are your little ones? Is your daughter over her cold?"

  Nubia grins, her onyx eyes full of light. "Yes, she is well, thank you, Lady Scarlett. Enjoy your day."

  On her back she wears a wrap carrying her youngest child, whose skin is the same shade of early night as his mother's. Her other two girls are likely feeding the animals, while her husband slaughters and prepares the meat for our evening meal.

  We've been served the same stew every meal for weeks—courtesy of the animals penned nearby. While I mostly skip meals—if I can get away with it unnoticed—I too am getting tired of the diet. Not a marshmallow in sight. And I'm really over the smell of blood and shit from the meal-time slaughters.

  Corinne and I take a seat on a log near the fire, and we both pretend to sip at our stew. She winces when it touches her lips. "How do you keep at this?" she asks in disgust.

  "You get used to it," I say, managing a small bit of soup without gagging. We're both desperate for more LifeForce.

  Wytt and Jaden sit near us, and Wytt winks at his twin. "Saw you sneak off last night. Having secret meetings with your new bo, are you?"

  Corinne sneaks a glance at me, then looks back at Wytt. "He didn't come all the way here, if that’s what you mean. He’s quite busy running his company.
But if you must know… Yes. We wanted a few minutes alone on our call, to talk without the entire camp listening."

  "Then why was Scarlett with you?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. I don't know if he suspects something about our other identities, but it's going to be hard keeping our Nephilim secret from Corinne's twin. They’re too close, and every day I worry our covers will be blown. Wytt is a great friend, but I can’t be sure he’ll accept me as Nightfall like Kai and Corinne did. If he turned us in, or even exposed us on accident, we might not be able to escape this camp. And worse, all my work to infiltrate the Orders would be for nothing.

  "I was her lookout," I say casually. “Keeping an eye out for prying twin brothers who should mind their own business.” The lies fall so easily from my lips. It scares me. The truth is we were trying to get some training in. Zorin made us swear we would practice our Nephilim forms every night, come hell or high water.

  The twins get into an animated argument about something completely unrelated to our current conversation, as they are want to do, and I tune them out and study the family who has given up their lives to serve the Orders. Nubia cleans up from breakfast as she hums a song under her breath. Whatever is left of the stew will go to the servants to eat, which is why I feel guilty taking any stew at all when I know I won't eat it. The servants don't get enough as it is, but you wouldn't know that by seeing her work. She fills a basket with a dried fruit that's popular in these parts and passes it around to us.