PROLOGUE
My parents were murdered… because of me.
My aunt told me the truth when I was still too young to understand it.
I was born a TaintedBlood. A VenomBird, to be exact. A creature cursed by blood and destined to crave it.
The PureBloods call it a curse—because when I turned ten, the craving began. Not for food, or warmth, or safety. No, I craved something far more dangerous: PureBlood FaunBird blood.
My parents were FaunBirds themselves. Gentle. Bright. Pure. They should have run from me. Instead, they loved me. And that love sealed their deaths.
The villagers of Avyra saw me as an abomination. My parents’ only crime was loving their cursed child, and it cost them everything.
My aunt, Rose, carried me through the flames of that night. Fled with me across a continent, through shadows and silence, until we found a hidden village called Harmonia. A place where tolerance was uneasy, but real enough. Here, the PureBloods turned their heads instead of sharpening their blades.
A place where murder is forbidden not by mercy, but by fear.
The BlackBloods made sure of that.
Ancient. Predatory. Untouchable.
They enforce the laws with their fangs and their hunger. They feed on our kind, but do not kill us. Not unless we make them want to.
Not without reason. Not without warning.
Still, I hated them.
Arrogant, elegant monsters wrapped in silk and shadow. The kind who smile while pressing a knife to your throat.
And I made a vow—long ago and in silence—that I would never kneel.
Not for them. Not for anyone.
Let them bare their teeth.
I’ll bare mine right back.
