Flare of Villainy: The Imdalind Series, Book 10

by Ethington, Rebecca

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  ***

  Keep turning pages to read a sneak peek of The Gauntlet, the first book of IMDALIND ACADEMY.

  Joclyn and Ilyan’s son is taking the reins.

  The Gauntlet

  Imdalind Academy, Book One

  smarturl.it/IAGauntlet

  Chapter One

  Gemma

  Bombs weren't usually made up of fiery green and lavender blasts. Unless they were made of magic.

  Magical blasts of brilliant colors that broke through the walls of banks, jewelry stores, and the occasional clothing store. Whatever we wanted. Today it was a supermarket, one of the fancy ones that the Chosen claimed had healthier food. Healthy, expensive food that they charged twice as much for, while my people, the Undermortals that lived underground, starved.

  We may be nothing more than the dirty Drains that they screamed were destroying their perfect world, but I didn’t see any reason why that meant we couldn't have the better, more expensive food, too.

  Or why we couldn’t take it all away from the Chosen and their “Golden” spawn.

  It was just there, inside the darkened store, tucked into a complex that had closed for the night. Waiting for us.

  I could nearly taste the fresh veg and liquid milk. Cream even. They were all luxuries that would have come from an animal and not from some chemical plant like the rations they would throw at us every week. I had every intention of soaking a bun in the deliciously real, frothy goodness when we got back to the tunnels.

  “Ready babe?” Adrian whispered, pressing his chest against my back as his lips tugged at the line of piercings that encircled my ear. His fingers tickled around the black lines of the tattoo that danced around my hip, the heavy ink exposed thanks to a rip in my shirt from the bank heist of last week.

  Adrian was forever distracting. It would be so easy to push him back down into the sewer, leave him and his wandering fingers in the dark while I had all the fun. But I needed him, so I would have to deal with the awkward tickling.

  Touch was never my favorite, but at least the impending implosion made it more palatable. I could put up with him as long as I got to blow something up.

  “Let’s make their world burn.” A regrettable dimple popped in my smirk as ivy green flame dripped from my fingers, heavy lines of magic splattering over the printed asphalt and eating into it. Boiling it.

  Lifting my hand, the magic shot from my palm, fire breaking through the night in a smear of paint against the stars. The blast ripped the doors from the building, breaking the brick and turning it into a shower of rubble the rained over us, filling the last of the night with dust and smoke.

  I didn’t need the debris to clear in order to know the explosion had worked.

  “Go!” I hollered to the clutch of a makeshift army behind me, not like they needed to be told. My people were already running into the building, flashlights blazing, canvas bags opened in preparation.

  Eddy, one of the few people I actually trusted, stood by the front door, helping everyone in before he too disappeared through the gnarled fissure of glass and stone. A few of the children who had tagged along were already spray painting our mantra on the debris strewn ground. It was the same scene no matter what we hit, what we stole. Magic, mayhem, and a message. I wasn’t even focusing on them anymore. I was already stumbling back into Adrian's waiting arms. The thick corded muscles of his glistening ebony arms wrapped around me, giving me enough support that I wouldn’t collapse.

  I may have magic, but it was poisoned and illegal and every time I used it, I might as well have been hit by the old train we kept in the tunnels. The old thing was only used as our emergency escape for when the Chosen and their Tarn armies, the CCC, raided the tunnels to exterminate us. Now, I could have sworn the blasted thing was sitting on my chest.

  Being the only magic-infected Undermortal may have benefits, destruction and fresh milk above all, but this was not one. Every muscle and bone twisted as though it was going to break, my legs shaking as they attempted to collapse underneath me. Goddamnit. I was better than this, stronger than this. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let this pathetic weakness show.

  "You okay, Gem?" Adrian tried to hold me closer before he instantly set me back on my feet. He must have heard my teeth grind together, the first sign of the coming bitch-pocalypse.

  "Ya." He knew me well enough not to fight me.

  Pushing myself away from him, I tried to ignore the ache that was still pulsing through my knees and threatening to pull me to the ground.

  I was almost done. One more blast. It would be worth it.

  My bad-ass army was now running from the building, laden with bags of food and supplies that they dropped into the sewer drain before vanishing themselves, plunging into the dark that we called home.

  "Hurry!" I yelled to the few stragglers in the store, forcing my magic to my fingertips again. The tainted power coursed through my veins, draining what little energy I had left. Adrian's hand was already against my back, helping me to stand, ready for my next collapse. I should probably be more careful with how much power I used, but I didn't care. I wanted them to know we were here.

  I wanted them to be afraid.

  I wanted them to know what was coming for them.

  The bigger the blasts, the brighter the colors. The more they knew.

  "I'm the last, Gemma," Eddy yelled as he passed me, his arms absolutely full of flour and yeast. He never got the fluffy white bagged loaves that everyone else did, nor had he wasted too much space on sugary jams that needed refrigeration. Wheat and yeast. Cut and dry. Things we could use for months. Even at eighteen, Eddy was the wisest among us. It was probably why I relied on him so much. We may be nothing more than a few teenage revolutionaries, but between my magic and his logic we were golden. Add in Adrian’s brute strength and no one could topple us. I had a few months on the two of them, but even without my magic neither of them would last long if they started treating me like some weak baby.

  I could explode more than banks and supermarkets after all.

  “We are going to eat for a month after this!” Eddy smiled, although he didn’t disappear down the dark sewer drain with everyone else; he turned, eyes smiling as he waited for what was about to happen.

  "Kill it, babe," Adrian whispered in my ear, his hands weaving around my sides, gripping my hips and pressing me against him, his heart was an eager hum against my spine.

  “Burn little Chosen’s, everything will burn,” I snarled, lifting my hand and letting the magic that was pooling through my veins erupt in a blast of color, of light, of destruction. Green and gold magic slammed into the front of the store, sending stone, glass, and bits of metal around us as my power ripped through it, destroying the rest of the pretentious building.

  The inky black sky was swallowed with an explosion of magic as bright as the most distorted dawn.

  Our dawn.

  Our future.

  “On the second day, I destroyed the night.” Screw the Eternals that created this mess. That controlled magic. That blessed and praised the damn Chosen that murdered us.

  They weren’t the only ones in the world, I would remind them of that.

  "Holy hell, Gemma. Don't show off or anything," Eddy snickered as he turned to slip down the drain, Adrian already half-carrying me toward the open manhole. I pushed him away with the force he deserved for trying to coddle me. I could handle a little bit of pain and I could sure as hell walk on my own.

  Each stumbling step at a time.

  Crackling flames and groaning metal blended with the whine of approaching sirens, the sounds becoming the penultimate theme song for our escape. They sang right along with the mantra we left behind, the red spray paint as much of a promise as it was a warning.

  All T
he Glitters Were Never Gold.

  The still wet letters glimmered in the burning dawn, dancing in the night as the lavender of the flames faded, replaced by the spiraling red and blue of their damn cars. The Chosen Council for Community. The CCC.

  Armed with weapons and magic alike, they were supposed to protect all of the citizens. Magic. Non-Magic. Everyone was supposed to be safe. They weren’t supposed to discriminate.

  They did.

  What I wouldn’t give to get a chance to wring those bastards for all they had done to us. To show them what they were really facing.

  I was weak, I was tired, but it would still be worth it. Perhaps I had enough left...

  “Not now, babe.” I didn’t even get a chance to step toward them before Adrian grabbed me, pulling me around and dropping me down the hole to Eddy's waiting arms.

  “Nice, Gem,” Eddy said as he caught me, his usual snicker echoing over the damp stone. “You’re my favorite bad-ass.”

  “I’m the only bad-ass, Ed.” I gave him a wink, and he chuckled, double checking I could stand before setting me into the shallow pools of water that covered the ground.

  Eddy’s laugh turned into a cackle as Adrian dropped beside us with a grunt and a splash. Sirens and lights were right on top of us now.

  "Have enough left?" Red and blue refracted against Adrian’s dark features, his eyes narrowed in question in the flashing lights.

  “What a ridiculous question.” It was also the only way I could get away with not answering him. If I had, the answer would have been a resounding ‘no’.

  I had used too much magic, and I knew I was going to pay for it. But it was worth it. It always was.

  Focusing on the manhole cover, my teeth clamped and ground together as my magic slipped away, pulling it back into place and welding the metal shut. Power dripped from my fingers, everything aching and burning as trickles of blood flowed from my nose.

  "Damn it. That's it. Let’s get back to Last Pyre. I want to go home," I whispered, letting myself collapse into Adrian, his arms lifting me as he whisked me through the dark. Back to the sewers and the forgotten subway tunnels that was home to us. The Undermortals.

  Or as everyone else called us, Drains.

  Drains because of where we lived, because of what we were. Because King Ilyan and his bastard family, the Eternals, had left us to rot.

  Because we lacked magic. Because we were not their precious Chosen. The only ones allowed to have magic, to have power, to have strength.

  Well, not anymore. It may have been nothing more than a twist of fate, but I had broken that. I had been bitten by the Vilỳ, the filthy things that awaken the magic in a mortal. One bite, and I had been blessed with the power that was bringing me closer to making the King pay for what he had done.

  For all the people he killed.

  I would avenge my parents first.

  —-

  Start Reading Imdalind Academy Now…

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  Also by Rebecca Ethington

  For the always up to date list of super awesome books I’ve written, visit here:

  www.rebeccaethington.com/complete-works/

  THE WORLD OF IMDALIND

  The Imdalind Series (complete)

  Kiss of Fire, Imdalind #1

  Eyes of Ember, Imdalind #2

  Scorched Treachery, Imdalind #3

  Soul of Flame, Imdalind #4

  Burnt Devotion, Imdalind #5

  Brand of Betrayal, Imdalind #6

  Dawn of Ash, Imdalind #7

  Crown of Cinders, Imdalind #8

  Spark of Vengeance, Imdalind #9

  Flare of Villainy, Imdalind #10

  Imdalind Academy

  The Gauntlet, Book One

  Rogue Royalty, Book Two

  Broken Renegade, Book Three (Oct 2021)

  Reluctant Seer, Book Four (Jan 2022)

  Imdalind Ruby Collection

  The complete series, told chronologically, with over 200k in new content

  FIND THE FULL BOX SET EDITIONS HERE

  THE EXILED WORLD

  Sexy shifters, Powerful Mates

  House of the Crescent Moon

  Wolf, Shifted, Book One

  Alpha, Chosen, Book Two (Sept 2021)

  Vampire, Bitten, Book Three (Oct 2021)

  Bloodwood Academy (RH)(Complete)

  Shifter Awakened, Semester One

  Shifter’s Claim, Semester Two

  Queen of the Shifter’s, Semester Three

  Shifter Unleashed, Semester Four

  Demon Lost, Semester Five

  Misfit Shifters (RH)(Complete)

  Zero Fox To Give, Book One

  For Fox Sake, Book Two

  Fox Chance in Hell, Book Three

  The Phoenix’s Ashes (RH)(Complete)

  Rise of the Witch, Book One

  Fall of the Dragon, Book Two

  Flight of the King, Book Three

  Flame of the Phoenix, Book Four

  Death of the Demon, Book Five

  THE WORLD OF THE OKIVAN

  Of River and Raynn

  Catalyst

  Requisite

  Sypher

  THE OTHER WORLDS

  The Through Glass Series (Complete)

  Book One: The Dark

  Book Two: The Blue

  Book Three: The Rose

  Book Four: The Cut

  Book Five: The Light

  The Through Glass Box Set

  About the Author

  Rebecca Ethington is an internationally bestselling author with over a million books sold. Her breakout debut, The Imdalind Series, has been featured on bestseller lists since its debut in 2012.

  Born and raised under the lights of a stage, Rebecca has written stories by the ghost light, told them in whispers in dark corridors, and never stopped creating within the pages of a notebook.

  Find me online

  www.rebeccaethington.com

  contact@rebeccaethington.com

  Join me online, win stuff, read stuff. Stuff.

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  THE IMDALIND SERIES

  BOOK ONE: Kiss of Fire

  BOOK TWO: Eyes of Ember

  BOOK THREE: Scorched Treachery

  BOOK FOUR: Soul of Flame

  BOOK FIVE: Burnt Devotion

  BOOK SIX: Brand of Betrayal

  BOOK SEVEN: Dawn of Ash

  BOOK EIGHT: Crown of Cinders

  BOOK NINE: Spark of Vengeance

  BOOK TEN: Flare of Villainy

  THE ACADEMY BOOKS

  The Gauntlet

  Rogue Royalty

  Broken Renegade

  Reluctant Seer

  Introducing The Imdalind Ruby Collection

  The entire Imdalind Series, in chronological order, with over 100k in new content and point of views. Extended Editions aren’t just for Hobbits. <3

  Grab your copies now.