Bloody Aubade

Son of brimstone. Son of plague. Cassius was a prince once. Borne of sickly yellow hatred and old magic, Cassius was made to serve the throne of Hell. He left it all for Finlo. A year has passed since he abandoned his homeland, and Cassius now lives in the ruin of the life he once created. He wanders through burned houses, still sticky with aching-sweet memory, and sits with Finlo's bones, picked clean by vultures in the tall, dry grass. But the dead need not stay dead for long. When Muninn, the messenger of Hell, comes with news of a bargain from the King—Cassius' return in exchange for the resurrection of the only man who has ever made him feel wanted—Cassius cannot refuse. With Muninn at his side, he wanders the sun-scorched Thranthian wastelands and waits for Finlo's soul to resurface. But what of all the possibilities he cannot see? Those that loom wild, dipped just below the horizon—fear, and doubt, and love. What awaits him in that bloody dawn?