When Darkness Fell: An Elemental Enchanters Story Read Online Free PDF

you leave,” Veronica said.
    Colden scoffed. “What are you talking about?”
    “You must side with us or leave.”
    “Leave? This is our home.”
    Corbin’s eyes softened. “Let us not be so hasty, Veronica.”
    She lifted an eyebrow. “Two minutes ago they were contemplating killing you.”
    “I am afraid there has been a miscommunication. I ask you, my children, to side with me in this war. Join my army.”
    “There does not need to be a war, Corbin,” I said. “They have done no wrong.”
    Veronica moved closer to me and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “They took my baby. Tied a ball and chain around her.”
    “Veronica,” Corbin warned.
    “Threw her off a cliff and let her fall into the river. Said if she could not escape, she was innocent. She drowned.” I searched her eyes, but there was no pain. Her voice held no emotion. Certainly, a mother would show something if her daughter had died.
    “You are lying.”
    Veronica backhanded me in the face. “How dare you?”
    Corbin held her back. “Enough! I am trying to help you both.” He released Veronica, but she kept her glare on me. “I am preventing these fools from killing you, and yet you still protect them. They control us. They burn those who are different. Hang them. Throw them in a river tied to a ball and chain to see if they survive. And they call us the insane ones.”
    “You know not all of them are bad.”
    He scrutinized my face. “Why are you so protective of them?”
    I could not tell him I was still seeing George. I looked away.
    “She is still seeing him.”
    Corbin balled his hands into fists. “I forbade you, Savina!”
    “I did what you asked. I do not contact him.”
    “She is lying,” Veronica said.
    “Father, what does it matter?” Colden asked. “You were happy for her once.”
    “I forbade her to see him again.”
    “Father, this ends now. We will not stand by you if you continue down this path.”
    “I cannot believe you stand by this naivety.” He shook his head and let out a long sigh. “If you decide to be against me, I will not kill you. But if you ever try to stop us, I cannot protect you from death.”
    “Father, please!”
    “You have already sent me to my death.” Tears blurred my vision. I could not believe we were having this conversation.
    “Savina, I had not planned to let them kill you, and they will not succeed. I had planned to give you and Veronica a touch of the illness so they would not suspect you any longer. But I have a better plan. Let them come for you. Let them banish you to death.”
    I exchanged a worried look with Colden. How could Corbin do this to me? I thought he loved me.
    “And when they lock you up in a cell, I will come after them. I will have my army of Enchanters ready to destroy this place.”
    A sinister grin spread on Veronica’s face. I froze and Colden gripped my hand.
    “I will give you tonight to think about joining us.”
    “But you have given no reason why we should.”
    “Ephemerals are evil, Colden,” Veronica said. “They continue to destroy our family and kill our kind. But we are fighting back. We will take over and no longer will we be at their mercy.”
    “You are wrong,” I cried.
    She turned to me once more. “Do you know how your father died, Savina?”
    “Veronica, please stop,” Corbin said.
    “He died in a war.”
    She scoffed. “Ephemerals hanged your father for witchcraft.”
    I gasped. “Stop lying to me!”
    “Veronica, enough.” Corbin seized her arm and they left the room.
    I collapsed into Colden’s arms and wept. My father died in a war. My mother told me. How would Veronica know?
    “This is incredulous,” Colden said as he stroked my hair.
    “She is lying. They are only telling us these things to convince us to join them.”
    “I know, sister.”
    “She has shown no sympathy for Mary. She has grown hungry for power. I saw it in her eyes when she explained learning from her uncle. And she is manipulating