Cryos & Jade: Bound: Cryos & Jade, #5

By Luke T Barnett

An ancient rite, an eternal curse.

 

Beverly's gargoyle servant has been revealed. Her father, the king, forbids her to keep him, ordering his removal from the castle and from Beverly's life. In angered desperation, Beverly invokes an ancient rite of her ancestors to prevent her father's command.

 

But her rash behavior could be her downfall.

 

What terrible secret does the rite hold? Beverly must find a way to undo it before it consumes her. But is it already too late? And to what lengths will Cryos go to protect his master?

 

Death is coming for them both in the fifth tale of the Cryos and Jade Saga, Bound.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luke T Barnett
• Release date: Jul 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393385240

Luke T Barnett

Luke T. Barnett grew up playing RPGs (both pen & paper and video game) and watching any fantasy movies he could get his hands on. All those sessions inspired him to write a series based on his gargoyle character Cryos and his favorite RPG class, the rogue. Writing since childhood, he has grown his craft over the years and continues to do so even to this day. He is kept very busy living on the shores of Lake Erie with his awesome, beautiful writer wife, his two story-loving sons, and his dragon-slaying, princess-loving daughter.

Book preview

Bound

A gargoyle!

Beverly stood before her father, the king, her mouth clamped shut, every muscle in her body taut, her hands clasped together and resting on her dark green dress. Her face stared at the floor. She couldn’t even look at him.

"A living gargoyle! Have you lost your senses?"

Beverly didn’t answer.

Look at me when I am speaking to you!

Fighting herself, Beverly raised her head and assumed the proper posture of a princess of the Greys. She brought this on herself. She would face the consequences of her actions with all the integrity her title and her heritage demanded of her.

Her father stood before her dressed in a simple tunic of blue and breeches and boots of black. The silver crest of their house sat on each shoulder, which shook every time he shouted. His face was aged beyond his years, and the color of his hair and beard reflected that. Beverly felt a slight pang of guilt that she may have just caused more of it to turn gray. But she had to tell him. He’d a right to know.

Where did you find this creature? His voice lowered, but not by much.

Beverly took a breath. This was sure to anger him further.

In the keep of Ixtus the Black, she replied, doing her best to keep all shaking from her voice.

Her father’s eyes widened.

You—

He looked away, running a shaking hand through his hair. When he spoke again, his anger was more contained, but barely.

You sent servants to the keep of the necromancer?

She took another breath. The lies had to end.

No, Father. I went there myself.

You what? he shouted at her.

Her impatience getting the better of her, she did not wait for him to ask another question.

I went there myself, she repeated in hard tones. "It’s abandoned. Ixtus died over a hundred years ago, slain by a woman of jade. You know