Ascendant sneak peeks

Sneak Peek

Chapter 1

Grace hates the dungeons. They're dark and cold and, worst of all, underground. Her wings bristle, and she tries not to imagine what would happen if the mountain collapsed on them. It has stood for centuries. It will not fall now.

She has been to the dungeons many times before. She should be used to it by now, but they remain oppressive and intimidating. Ahead of her, Father walks with the same easy pace as always, as though he has all the time in the world to get where he is going.

She all but jogs to keep up with him. She has to take two strides to match each one of his, even with his leisurely pace. The warden is waiting for them outside of the room, a thin woman with the pale skin and sleek wings of Mountain Clan. She offers Father a bow but ignores Grace.

Father waves away the gesture. "You have information."

"Yes," the warden replies. "This one was captured by a patrol several weeks ago." She gestures to the door behind her.

Grace feels her heart skip at the thought of what waits beyond

it. She bites her tongue and focuses on Father's conversation. He will ask her about this later to be sure that she learned what she was supposed to. She isn't sure what, exactly, the lesson is meant to be this time, there are many things she might learn here.

"What did he know?" Father is asking.

"Nothing particularly useful," the warden says. "He was only a border guard, said a few things about troops moving to the east."

"They always speak of troop movements," Father says. He doesn't seem interested, but Grace's mind is racing.

"But—" Grace begins, and then cuts herself off, too late.

Father and the warden both turn to look at her.

Father's face is blank as she bites her lip. He doesn't like it when she interrupts. She is meant to be silent and learn, not interject her own thoughts, but this is important.

"Sorry," she says.

"What do you think is so important?" Father asks. His voice is neutral, but she knows she has disappointed him. She swallows hard and tries to speak without her voice trembling.

"A report came across your desk just this morning," she says. Father lets her read all of his reports so she can see the right way to write her own and judge the importance of others. "Allegiance is planning an attack on the eastern border in a few weeks' time."

The Black-Wings should have no way to know what Allegiance is planning, and no way to know they need to shore up their eastern defenses.