After learning that her parents had hidden her adoption from her, all Melina Jones wants is to rebel against the life she thought she knew. Robert Thompson just wants to learn why his birth parents left him behind to be raised by a barely there mother who blames him for her own failed marriage. One fateful night the two eighteen-year-olds cross paths, only to discover a life-changing secret: that they are twins who harness rare powers to travel across realms—powers King Roben of Zethia, a land ridden with black magic, desperately wants for himself. Armed with magic from the stones they wear as rings and the revelation of a Zethian rebel group preparing to take down the king, Melina and Robert venture on a quest to learn to control their powers. Throughout their encounters with vicious creatures, bumbling sailors, and an all-knowing Seer, the twins receive an unsettling warning about their fates: one of them will succumb to the allures of black magic, an addiction that will surely drive a person to madness. Melina and Robert are then faced with the ultimate decision—save Zethia, or save themselves.
After learning that her parents had hidden her adoption from her, all Melina Jones wants is to rebel against the life she thought she knew. Robert Thompson just wants to learn why his birth parents left him behind to be raised by a barely there mother who blames him for her own failed marriage. One fateful night the two eighteen-year-olds cross paths, only to discover a life-changing secret: that they are twins who harness rare powers to travel across realms—powers King Roben of Zethia, a land ridden with black magic, desperately wants for himself. Armed with magic from the stones they wear as rings and the revelation of a Zethian rebel group preparing to take down the king, Melina and Robert venture on a quest to learn to control their powers. Throughout their encounters with vicious creatures, bumbling sailors, and an all-knowing Seer, the twins receive an unsettling warning about their fates: one of them will succumb to the allures of black magic, an addiction that will surely drive a person to madness. Melina and Robert are then faced with the ultimate decision—save Zethia, or save themselves.
There were fifteen strokes until midnight when the first warning sign came.
Pain tore through my abdomen like a lighting bolt through the sky, threatening to tear apart every inch of my being. I used one hand to support myself against the smooth stone wall, the other clutching my swollen belly. I breathed deeply while hunched over and waited for the pain to pass. Closing my eyes, I counted—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Slowly, the cramping in my stomach eased away and I rose to my full height.
“This can’t be happening now,” I whispered to whatever god could hear me. “Please don’t let this be happening now. I can still fix this. I can still fix this.”
It didn’t matter how desperate my pleads were. The gods stopped listening to me a long time ago. If I was to rely on anyone, it had to be myself.
I took another deep breath and willed my feet to move. The corridor was empty as I made my way down it, the silence eerie. Only months ago it was filled with maids and servants, running between the north and south ends of the castle carrying out their duties. Guards stood at the end of the hallway ensuring none who passed by meant any harm.
Guards stood here no longer. Almost no one walks through this corridor anymore. And almost everyone these days means harm.
Flames danced in the darkness from the myriad of sconces hanging from the walls, crackling and sputtering in bursts of orange and yellow light. I had never been fond of fire. From the earliest age I was taught that one must meet flames with flames of his own. And I’ve watched everyone around me burn.
Tonight, however, I was grateful for the flames. Illuminating the corridor walls, they guided me through my small journey through the dark. Before, when happiness flowed through these walls as easily as air, I used to request that the torchlights remained unlit, and instead rely on the moonlight that flowed in through the wide windows carved within these stone walls.
The universe gave us moonlight to share a little bit of light in the darkness. Men created fire for their own selfish purposes. With fire came smoke—thick, ugly, and insufferable. Smoke encompassed the kingdom now, casting out the light of the moon so that we are drowned in shadows.
I made it another few steps before the cramping returned with a vengeance. Doubling over, I bit my lip to keep from screaming, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth. I tried to stand back up, but the pain was too much to bear. Instead, I slid to the floor, my back pressed against the cool stone wall.
Tears pricked my eyes and blurred my vision. I could get back up. I had to get back up. He would listen to me—I was his wife after all. I was the queen. I had to have some say. He would listen to me.
Get up, Izzy. Slowly, I attempted to inch my way up the wall—
“Ah!” A burst of sharp pain sent me collapsing back down.
Sweat poured off my forehead and my breathing became more labored. I couldn’t move. This was it. For me. For my unborn children. And for every Zethian that I’ve failed to save.
The tears came silently at first, but soon I allowed the sobs to ring out, desperate and unhinged. No one would hear me, anyway. No one ever did.
“Isabella!” I familiar voice sounded through the southern entrance of the corridor. Soon, blue skirts were swimming in the edge of my vision.
“Isabella!” Lena’s blue eyes were wide with worry as she held my face between her hands.
“It hurts,” I whispered. I was tired, so very tired. If I could just go to sleep…
An abrupt slap to my cheek caused my eyes to fly open.
“Come on,” Lena urged as she pulled me to my feet. The pain was still unbearable, but with support from my lady-in-waiting, I could walk.
Lena wrapped one arm around my waist, her opposite hand clutching mine. I leaned into her as the two of us walked, slowly, through the rest of the corridor.
The doors had barely slammed shut behind us before an explosion sounded in the eastern sect of the castle, shaking the ground at our feet.
It was already happening.
I was too late.
“We need to get you out of here,” Lena said as she supported my weight down a flight of stairs. We both knew that it was too late to save my husband. But the children, I could save them. I had to.
We reached the landing, the corridor lined on both sides with doors. Lena pushed open the third door to our right, revealing another set of stairs. I knew where we were headed.
“Maggie!” Lena shouted. “Maggie, come help!”
Heavy footsteps sounded up the stone steps. Maggie, one of our head cooks (and one of my best friends), came into view. She still wore her dirty apron though the kitchen had long been closed for the night.
“Oh dear,” she frowned, rolling up the green sleeves of her dress. “Everything will be okay, Isabella. Lena and I have both done this before.”
I nodded and threw my other arm around her. Together, the three of us descended down the steps. My friends paused whenever the pain became too much, when I felt like I would never be able to catch my breath again. Though there were only a few steps left, it felt like a thousand. Time moved slowly; the more agonizing the pain became, the longer the seconds lasted.
Finally, we reached the bottom. Maggie pushed bowls and rolling pins off her working table while Lena helped lay me onto it.
“Mommy!” a child’s voice exclaimed. Lena’s four-year-old son, Ink, toddled into the room. He tugged at his mother’s skirts, his dark blue eyes staring up at her.
“Not now, honey, Mommy’s busy,” she told him, gently prying his hand from her skirts.
“Ow!” I winced, clutching my stomach.
“Mommy, what’s wrong with Queen Isabella?
Lena bent down to smooth Ink’s messy black hair. “Honey, Queen Isabella is going to be just fine. You need to do something for me, though, okay? Can you go hide out in the pantry for a few minutes?”
“Teddie! Teddie, come here!” Maggie called. Soon her seven-year-old son came running into the room, a book about Zethia clutched in his hand. He was short and looked just like his mother, with red-blonde hair and round green eyes. Those eyes widened when he saw me laying on the table, breathing heavily.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Everything is fine,” his mother said, though I believed Teddie was smart enough to figure out things weren’t fine. “I just need you to take Ink into the pantry. Stay there until either Lena or I come to get you.”
Teddie nodded. Taking Ink’s hand, the two of them walked into the pantry closet adjacent to the kitchen. Maggie filled a pot of water and grabbed a rag. She dabbed at the sweat on my head, urging me to breath slowly.
“Slow and steady, slow and steady. It will all be over soon,” she repeated, laying the cool cloth on my neck.
It will all be over soon. I repeated the phrase over and over like a prayer and concentrated on my breaths. Lena lifted my skirts above my knees and spread my legs apart.
“You’re ready, Izzy.”
Maggie grabbed my hand, green eyes boring into me. “Listen to me, your Grace. At the next sharp pain, you push. Okay?”
Tears streamed down my face. “I can’t,” I cried. “It hurts too much.”
Maggie squeezed my hand. “I know,” she told me. “Believe me, Lena and I both know how much it hurts. But these babies are coming, whether you’re ready or not. You are their mother. They need you. Don’t let them down.”
I nodded. Another sharp pain struck me, and with all the strength I possessed, I pushed, unleashing a scream that I was sure could be heard all throughout the castle.
“I see the head!” Lena exclaimed as she held me legs steady. “Come on, Izzy, one more big push.”
I squeezed Maggie’s hand as tightly as I could as I pushed again. Seconds later, I heard a tiny wail.
“It’s a girl,” Lena smiled, wrapping the infant in a towel and cradling her. “She looks just like you.”
“She does?” I asked, smiling for the first time that evening. “Let me—ah!”
The pain struck me all over again as the second baby made his way into the world. Maggie moved to my legs, taking over for Lena.
“You can do it, your Grace. Another push, that’s it.”
With an energy I didn’t know I possessed, I pushed with all my might. Soon enough, I heard another wail.
“It’s a boy,” Maggie said. She swaddled the child and handed him to me. I cradled him in one arm as Lena gently placed the girl in my other.
“They have your eyes,” Maggie remarked. It was true. Both children had large, bright blue eyes. The girl’s coloring was similar to mine—golden hair and pale skin. The boy’s hair was a slightly darker, more sandy colored blonde, and his skin was more golden, like his fathers’. I prayed the similarities to Roben ended there.
“What will you call them?” Lena asked.
Roben had wanted to name our son, if we had one, after him. But he no longer had a say in what we named our children. If my plan worked, they would never know who their father was.
“The girl will be called Celine,” I announced. “And the boy, Aelius.”
As if the universe knew they had been named, the air around my children began to shimmer. Two rings materialized—one with a stone deep red that fell onto Celine’s blanket, the other with a dark sapphire stone hat landed on Aelius.
“Their stones,” I breathed. I looked to my friends. “Get your children—we don’t have much time.”
Lena ran to the pantry. Within seconds, she hurried into the room, Ted and Ink by her side.
“The children go first,” I explained. It had been a hundred years since the last Zethian twins opened a portal. I had no idea how it worked, only that the stones had to be connected. I couldn’t be sure how many people I could take through the portals with me, so to be safe I would take the children through first.
“Teddie, Ink, come closer to me my dears,” I said, attempting to sound reassuring even though I was exhausted and terrified.
“Go ahead, Ink,” Lena said, embracing her son once before nudging him towards me. Maggie did the same with Teddie.
“Remember, Izzy. From one I’ve read in history books, portals only stay open for a few minutes. We’ll stay here and keep watch,” Maggie said.
“I’ll be back. I promise. We will keep our children safe.” We were in this together. Teddie’s father had left Maggie shortly after she discovered she was pregnant. Lena’s husband had died. My own husband was past the point of salvation. We needed each other just as much as our children needed us.
I took what seemed like my thousandth deep breath of the night. Taking the rings in each hand, I collided the stones together. Purple light sparked from the jewels as the kitchen began to shake. The light grew bigger and bigger, the sparks swirling and twirling until a black hole formed.
I stared into it, into the unknown that awaited me. I looked to my children, to my friends children. Loosing a breath, I said. “Here goes nothing,”
We landed on a paved road outside a bright building that read Starlington Emergency. Strange boxes on wheels rushed down the roads, loud wails erupting from them.
“Where are we?” Teddie asked.
“Where’s Mommy?” Ink cried, tears dripping down his pale cheeks.
“It’s okay,” I looked at my surroundings. I only had minutes to get back to my friends and bring them through the portal. I didn’t dare take the stones back to Zethia with me.
There was a small alleyway behind the building. That would be a good place for the children to hide while they waited. Quickly, I ripped two of the chains I wore around my neck and fixed the rings around each of them. I put one around Celine’s, the other around Aelius.
A horrible thought occurred to me. If for some reason we didn’t make it back, I didn’t want the children somehow finding their way back to Zethia. If they were to learn of their power, the results would be catastrophic.
“Teddie, do you see that little street over there?” I asked, pointing to the alley. He nodded. “I need to you take Ink and hide. Wait for me as long as you can.”
Teddie’s green eyes shone with fear. “But—“
“I know it’s scary. This is all very scary. I’m a little scared too,” I told him. “But I need you to be brave. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, Queen Isabella,” Teddie said. Taking Ink’s hand, they ran towards the alley.
I glanced at the portal behind me. It had already been a few minutes. How much time did I have left? I had to hurry.
One of the boxes on wheels was stopped on a spot a few feet from me. It seemed abandoned. I walked over to it, easing open a door. Gently I placed Celine down. “I love you,” I whispered, gently kissing her forehead.
Rushing inside the building, I placed Aelius on a tall bed on wheels. Did everything have wheels in this land? I told him I loved him and kissed his forehead. It was only when I turned to leave that I heard a female voice shout, “Hey, what are you doing?”
Picking up my skirts, I ran out of the building, the adrenaline coursing through me numbing the pain I was in having given birth. Squeezing my eyes shut, I rushed through the portal once more.
When I opened my eyes, Maggie and Lena were staring at me, wide-eyed. Knives were held at their throats by phantom hands.
“Isabella,” a voice crooned, sending dread through every ounce of my blood. I stared at the floor, at my husbands boots as they stalked towards me. He gripped my face, tilting it upwards so that I was staring into his dark eyes. “My love. What have you done?”
The Stars Beneath the Shadows is the first in Ashley Jasmin's Realm Riders series, and it is a book that immediately snagged my attention. It's that ideal blend of paranormal romance and fantasy that I just can't get enough of.
How would you react if one day you found out that you had a twin you never knew about? What if that revelation came with a second, potentially bigger secret?
Melina Jones and Robert Thompson are two fairly typical teenagers – or so they thought. Both were struggling with family issues. It wasn't until they accidentally crossed paths that their entire worlds were changed – literally.
Melina and Robert are twins, separated all these years. What's more, they have a rare gift - a gift that could grant them great power or put them in great danger.
"Please don't let this be happening now. I can still fix this. I can still fix this."
Wow. I went into The Stars Beneath the Shadows expecting one thing and was surprised by everything else that I got. It was such a thrilling read, from start to finish. And I really do mean that! If you're looking for an indie fantasy novel with coming of age (a la magical abilities) vibes, this is the perfect read for you.
I love the blending and merging of several different tropes here. Melina and Robert are twins separated at birth – check. They have secret abilities only discovered when they find each other – check. They must learn to control their powers – check. The list goes on. But here's the thing – these tropes exist for a reason. They're good! And they work brilliantly with the world that Ashley Jasmin has created here.
Okay, the addition of rebels, monstrous creatures, and a corrupt king certainly helps flesh out the plot as well. It makes for a full story that moves along at a rapid pace. You know how I love a book that keeps my mind busy!
Ultimately, I found The Stars Beneath the Shadows a fun and compelling read. It was easy to sit right down and read it all in one go. And I'm so happy that this is the first in the series so that there will be more to come! I can't wait.
Thanks to #Reedsy for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.