The room erupted in golden light. Addy looked down. She gasped when she saw that she was glowing…she was the source of the golden light.
And then, before Addy could even try to process what was going on, time unfroze.
Addy forgot about the shaking ground and golden light as the thief looked from Livy, who was still shuddering and mumbling incoherently, to the bullets on the ground. Addy took advantage of his momentary indecision. She threw herself at the thief.
The man went flying. His hands were tangled in her shirt, and he dragged her with him as he hit the swinging door that separated the living room from the kitchen. Addy and the thief stumbled into the dark kitchen. Golden light flared around her. It was like a lightbulb had been turned on inside her body, and now her skin was radiating light.
Before she had a chance to consider it further, the thief slashed at her with his knife. When he missed, he threw a wild punch, which she ducked. Addy had never been in a fight in her life. She hadn’t even done karate as a little kid. And yet, her body seemed to know what to do before her mind registered what was happening. The thief swung his knife again. Again, she dodged it.
Addy wasn’t scared. She was angry. Her anger at the thief grew until it was a roaring, pulsing thing inside her. She gave herself up to whatever instinct was driving her movements.
When the thief slashed at her again, Addy grabbed his wrist in one of her hands. They struggled for only a moment before she pushed him off balance. He stumbled back into the table.
She used her height advantage and backhanded the man’s face so hard his spine cracked against one of the heavy wooden chairs. The knife went skittering across the floor and disappeared beneath the refrigerator.
Wow. She had no idea where all this power…all this rage…was coming from. It was exhilarating. It was freeing. It was like nothing she’d experienced in her eighteen years of life. The golden light inside her blazed, like it knew what she had just done and approved.
The thief writhed as he tried to regain his breath. Addy kneed him in the groin, and he collapsed on the floor. There was a pair of her mother’s small gardening shears on the counter beside her. She grasped the shears and kneeled over the thief.
“Please,” the thief gasped as Addy loomed over him. “I’ll never come back.”
There was real fear in his eyes. The bag of money had fallen out of his grip, and he made no move to reach for it. Addy felt the broken porcelain of the cookie jar cut into her knees.
The golden light surrounding Addy blazed brighter. Rage, so blinding the man’s face flickered in and out of focus, took hold of Addy. She didn’t fight it. She welcomed it.
“Please let me go,” the thief begged.
Addy lifted the garden shears over her head. “I don’t think so.”
She let out a scream as she drove the shears into his chest.
Continue reading….
The Prince’s Chosen
StephanieFazio.com
About the Author
Stephanie Fazio is a fantasy author. She grew up in Syracuse, New York, and prior to writing full time, she worked in the fields of journalism, secondary education, and higher education. She has an undergraduate degree in English from Colgate University and a Master’s degree in Reading, Writing, and Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. Stephanie lives in Austin with her husband and crazy rescue dog. When she isn’t writing, she’s getting lost in parks, hosting taco nights, or ironically and miserably losing word games, but having fun while she does it.
Connect with Stephanie Fazio
Visit her Website: https://www.stephaniefazio.com
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Acknowledgements
I am so grateful to all of the people who helped bring this series together.
To Andrew Brodsky, Keith Tarrier, and Ellen Schaeffer. Thank you for being part of the team that made this series so much more than it would have been without you. You all are so talented at what you do!
To my amazing ARC team. Thank you so much for your time, encouragement, and advice.
To the friends and family who have been there with me every step of the way.
To my fantastic readers, who are the inspiration behind these books.
To all the incredible musicians who got me through this series…one song at a time. Two Steps from Hell, Tones and I, and Walter Bergmann…I owe you much.
To my amazing husband, Andrew Brodsky, for being my biggest champion.
Discover other books by Stephanie Fazio
The Fount Series
The Prince’s Chosen
The Forsaken’s Choice
The Chosen Union
Opal Contagion Series
Opal Smoke
Opal Slayer
Opal Storm
Bisecter Series
Bisecter
Halve Human
Dusker Dark
Captain Harkibel
Mags & Nats Series
The Nat Makes 7
Mag Subject 6
Steel for 5
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 109
