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“Uear up, because really bad stuff is about to go down Like, the-asteroid-is-hitting bad Oh, never mind This will be funto watch”

—Neeka the Unwanted

PROLOGUE

Excerpted from The Book of Stars

Author unknown

They are ancient warriors, evil to the core and loyal only to one another Known as the Astra Planeta, Wandering Stars, the Warlords of the Skies—the beginning of the end—they travel frole battle Drawn to war, they finish even the smallest skirmish with pain and bloodshed

To see these warriors is to know you’ll soon greet your death

With no moral compass, they kill without uilt, all to receive a : five hundred years of victories without ever suffering a loss

If they fail to obtain this blessing, they automatically receive the curse: five hundred years of utter defeat

The ti, each Astra Planeta forced to complete a different task To start, their leader, Commander Alaroc “Roc” Phaethon, Ees, Giant of the Deep, the Blazing One,Thirty days after the vows are spoken, he is to sacrifice this bride on an altar of his own in, even better He and his reatest enemy receives it

The Commander has never wavered in his duty He cannot If one Astra fails to complete his task, all fail

Little wonder Roc will cross any line to succeed

There has never been a woh to teh to overcoh to make him burn beyond reason

Until her

1

Harpina, realm of the harpies

2248 AG (After General)

The night of her ninth birthday, Taliyah Skyhawk stalked through the royal Harpinian gardens a birds She approached a blazing firepit wherethickets with an eerie, cerulean glow, the scent of skullflowers and s her every inhalation