Hi everyone, I'm MB, and I am so excited to be participating in this Winter Edition of the Wattpad Block Party.  A HUGE thanks to @KellyAnneBlount for putting together another great event and I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am being a part of it!

So, before we go any further, let me tell you a little bit about myself:

.       I love potatoes, especially those that are French fried, covered in gravy and cheese curds.

.       My favorite vegetable is cucumbers.

.       If I was a cookie, I would probably be an Oreo – hard on the outside, sweet in the middle.

.       I also love cookies.

Now that we have that out of the way...

Believe me when I say that only good things can happen when you believe they can, so don't ever doubt yourself!

February marks my one-year anniversary on Wattpad, and my story, TWO THOUSAND YEARS, has become my pride and joy since I wrote it during 2014's NaNoWriMo.  Since posting it to Wattpad a year ago, it has won a Watty award and is now a featured story...

But why stop there?

It is the predecessor to the second book of the Empire Saga series, MARK OF THE EMPRESS, and three novellas -  REYLOR'S LAMENT, TREYAN'S PROMISE, and SARAYNA'S FATE. 

And now, this brings us to BEGINNING'S END, Book Three of the Empire Saga. 

As with my other novels, this was drafted during NaNoWriMo this past November, and I've been very excited to start sharing it on Wattpad, and I thought the Block Party would give me – and you – the perfect opportunity to get a preview of what's to come!

Now, seeing as it is Book Three, it can be assumed there may be some spoilers within this chapter – consider this your warning, and continuing on is completely up to you!  Maybe you don't mind spoilers.  Maybe it might incite you to want to go back and read the other two books and three novellas to what brought everything to this point, and if that's the case—rock on!

So, that all being said, please enjoy Chapter One of the upcoming third book of the Empire Saga, BEGINNING'S END!

Chapter One

The palace grounds near the crypts and tombs of the Empire's departed seemed almost immaculate compared to the destruction that surrounded them.  Even after the Empress' return, the efforts in rebuilding the palace itself had been slow-going - so many people had evacuated towards the outskirts of the Empire's boundary lines out of fear of an attack from the Borderlands and its banished Lord Steward.

The same Lord Steward who now inhabited the Empire's palace once again.

Alexstrayna carefully walked between the tombs and graves until she came upon one of the more-recent markers, closest to the garden wall and surrounded by rose bushes from an Empress long gone.

This was the first time she was able to find enough courage to visit, and even then she wasn't able to do it alone. 

She glanced over her shoulder to where Reylor stood, not at this grave but at another that had captured his attention as of late, his head lowered as if in silent prayer, but they both knew there were no gods to listen to them anymore.

Alex returned her attention to the marker in front of her, her hand gently brushing away unseen debris and dirt from the engraved wording.

"Crown Prince Treyan, the First of his line," she whispered over the grave, and she immediately felt the tears swell in her eyes as she knelt upon the ground that covered her husband's remains.

Swallowing, she folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes - she had wanted to do this.  Since they had buried Treyan, and Sarayna left for the Otherrealm, Alex hadn't been able to set foot near his grave again, but she needed to.  She felt there were so many things that remained unsaid, especially since everything...

Shaking her head, she returned to the task at hand. There would be time to consider everything else later.

"You'd be proud, Treyan," she whispered over the grave so that only she and the wind could hear her words.  "The Empire is rebuilding, and its people are returning.  The lords are congregating and we're rebuilding the Council."

Alex let out a shuddering sigh as she once again glanced over her shoulder, at Reylor where he stood above the nearby grave.

"Reylor has resumed his position as Lord Steward," she continued in her hushed voice.  "That was the hardest part of it all, convincing the new Council to grant it to him, but with everything that happened, and the circumstances surrounding it..." She took a breath.  "I granted him a pardon, and it might have been the hardest thing I've had to do since we buried you."

She looked at her hands, at the wedding ring she still wore-- that she would always wear. "We sent Sarayna preemptively to the Otherrealm.  We know her Emperor is there, and it will be safer for her to remain there until she can find him.  Your mother-" Alex took another breath.  "Saratanya was more than willing to take her in, to keep her safe until the time was right.  That was over a month ago, and we haven't heard anything since..."

Alex felt her lip tremble as the next confession came to the front of her mind, and the tears that lingered in her eyes began to escape down her cheeks.

"I lost the baby, Treyan," she sobbed, her voice barely a whisper.  "When the Councillor - Razen-" she swallowed at the memory.  "When he killed you, I lost control.  The rage and emotions swelled inside of me and there was a magic - this golden power- that just burst from me, as if what happened to you was enough to awake whatever this Mark is and..." She shook her head.  "All I wanted to do was protect those I loved from any more harm, and whatever I did was enough to get us out of the Borderlands without any more casualties. I still don't know exactly what happened afterwards - Reylor and Sara tell me it was a week before I regained consciousness."

Alex's hands were clenched tight, her nails digging into her palms and she rubbed them against the thighs of her leggings, as if wiping away the blood she felt on her hands in memory of her husband's death.

"Razen remains within the Borderlands with Lexan and Crystal.  She's pregnant with their heir, whatever that means, and now that they have the Annals, we're blind as to what else they may have in store.  Reylor wanted to retrieve the book, but the Council is against it, and for the moment, so am I.  As much as he wants to go against their wishes, I don't think he's ready for another chance at banishment."

She chanced another glance behind her, only to startle as she realized Reylor was standing right by her side.

"Gods, don't you ever make any noise?" she cursed him as she slowly stood, returning to her feet.

"I wasn't going to interrupt you," he merely replied, his deep red eyes - the lingering mark of his banishment - falling upon his brother's grave.

"How long were you standing there?" she asked, slightly glaring, genuinely curious as to how much he had heard.

"Long enough," he muttered as he turned to her.  "And you're right- I'm not willing to chance another risk at banishment, especially when the Queen Empress so graciously reinstated me against her Council's wishes."

"I couldn't exactly allow you to remain as an enemy of the Empire, even after everything..." she trailed off.  It was still hard, to this day, to forget what happened between the two of them.  The impact it had on her, and the Empire, still resounded until the day Treyan died.  At that moment, Alex realized, everything was lost, nothing was as it seemed, and what she thought she knew was moot.

And it was in that time, after she awoke, when she realized that all she loved had been taken from her, or soon to be, that she finally forgave him.

It was one of the final requests Treyan had asked of her.  It was the least she could do to honor his memory.

It didn't make it any easier, but she did it.

And now it was the two of them maintaining the Empire as they awaited Sarayna's return with her Emperor, and Alex would finally be able to pass on the legacy that was so reluctantly bestowed upon her, and perhaps finally figure out what it was she was supposed to do with herself.

She sensed eyes on her, and raised her own to meet those of the Lord Steward.  "What?" she asked sharply.

But Reylor's countenance remained the same as she met his stare. It still unnerved her, the way he watched her. She caught him doing so often, and he never once faltered whenever he was caught.  Like he expected he to catch his glance, and he wanted her to wonder why.

It was always a game with him, which was why she merely shook her head when he refused to answer her inquiry and began to walk towards the palace as the suns began their descent over the horizon.

"Will you eat dinner with me tonight?"

Alex paused her steps at the inquiry, refusing to turn as she felt him stop a step away from her.

"We talked about this, Reylor."

"I know," he conceded.  "That doesn't mean that I can't ask."

She clenched and unclenched her fists at her side.  "Just because I granted your title doesn't mean-"

"You also forgave me."

She allowed him a glance over her shoulder as her voice honed its edge.  "I forgave you because Treyan asked it of me.  Otherwise..."

"Otherwise, what?" He took that step, closing the distance between them, and Alex could feel his breath, warm on the back of her neck. A shiver ran down her back, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the proximity of his physical presence, or the presence of the memory of their history. She may have forgiven him for the circumstances surrounding their past, but it didn't change the actuality of what transpired between them.

She turned to him, straightening her spine and meeting his gaze- the face of the Empress.  "I am not having this conversation with you before my husband's grave."

His eyes remained on hers, steadfast, before he nodded once.  "Of course, Empress."

She glared at him slightly, debating whether she should continue, but decided she no longer had the energy to maintain the front she needed whenever she was around him. "Goodnight, Reylor," she muttered as she finally turned and marched towards the palace.

She didn't hear his steps following her this time.

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I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of BEGINNING'S END!  I'm really excited to share it with you, so please be sure to add it to your reading list so you'll know when it goes up next month!

And if you'd love to have Chapter One dedicated to you, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Thanks so much, and enjoy the rest of the Block Party!

-MB

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P.S. Don't forget to enter the 130+ #WattpadBlockParty Giveaways! Clickable links are at the top of my Wattpad profile! :)

GIVEAWAY LINK ONE:

http://kellyanneblountauthor.blogspot.com/2017/01/giveaways-for-wattpad-block-party_31.html

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