Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) Read Online Free

the southerly territories had fall en into disorder .  Now they were just a lawless haven for criminals, pirates and outcasts .
    “It doesn’t look good,” Jade said.  Kane hadn’t even seen her disembark from the vessel, but suddenly she stood on the ground right next to him. Ronan was behind her . 
    Jade walked across the cold sand with sandaled feet .  Kane’s skin went cold at the presence of her spirit . 
    “Well?” Ronan asked.  Only his eyes were visible beneath his shemagh .
    “Give her a second,” Kane said.  “You got a hot date, or something?”
    “Blow me,” Ronan growled.
    “That’s between you and your date,” Kane nodded.
    “ Grow up, ” Jade groaned. 
    She walked past Kane and up to the nearest obelisk , which stood some eight-feet-tall and three-feet across even after it had been broken .  The obelisks were partially submerged in the sand .  There was roughly fifty feet between the individual stones, and they’d been linked together with a thin iron chain that had snapped and fallen on to the ground . 
    “There are trace s of foreign magic here, ” Jade said. “ Something used it to shatter the barrier.”  She concentrated a moment.  “ Ebon Cities magic .   Chattel sorcery. ”
    “ Shocker, ” Kane said. 
    “That’s terrific,” Ronan said with a shake of his head.  “What now…‘Chief’?”
    Kane tried to ignore the comment.  Ronan was upset that Black had put Kane in charge while she stayed behind in Blacksand, but Kane liked it even less . 
    I shouldn’t be in charge , he thought.  The only reason it’s me is because Black knows Ronan is two steps shy of being a complete nutcase, but she does n’t just want us to take orders from Vago’s flunkies.  God, this sucks! 
    “This is the third breach we’ve found,” Kane said, mostly to himself, and then he turned to Jade, “but this is the first time you’re been able to get a read for what might have caused the damage, right?”
    “Yes,” she nodded.
    “Then we should go through here , and check it out.”
    She gave him an annoyed look.  
    “So you’re an expert on magic now?” she asked sardonically.
    “Don’t get your panties wrinkled,” Kane said.  “Do you disagree?”
    “No,” Jade said after a moment. “But maybe you should let the mage ma k e the call on things related to magic .”  Her smile went cold .  “ Got it ?”
    Kane glowered, but he clenched his teeth and bit back about fifty insulting comments that came to mind .  He heard Ronan laugh behind him.
    We wouldn’t be in this mess if not for the f riggin’ Revengers .  He and Cross had always kno w n it wouldn’t be easy for Danica to walk away from Black Scar , especially with as much a s she seemed to know about T he Revengers .  But we didn’t expect them to track her down here, in the middle of N owhere S quared .  They were basically out of money and short on all of their other supplies, and they really had no easy way to escape.  Working with Vago was the only way they’d managed to stay out of Black Scar’s clutches, and every day they had to hide and rely on his protection they just fell deeper into his pocket.
    Jade looked at the barrier again .  Her attention was lost in the shifting sands. 
    “What is it ?” Kane asked.
    “I don’t know…” she said . “Something’s here …s omething is tied to this land.” 
    Her voice was dreamy and distant, and she stared straight ahead.  Kane cautiously stepped around to look at her face.  Her eyes glowed .  They were locked in some arcane realm, trapped in a vision of magical trace lines or spectral pulses or some other damn thing Kane only barely understood.  Even with as much as he’d learned about magic in the two years he’d spent with Cross and Danica, very little of it actually made sense to him. 
    “ ‘Something’ is…kind of vague, ” he said .
    “Something old ,” she said.  “ S omething powerful .”  Her eyes blinked,