Crown of Blood and Ruin: A dark fairy tale romance (The Broken Kingdoms Book 3)

“She is taking too long.” I paced, unsure why I was such a fool and listened to strangers, to thieves, when it came to strategy.

“She is taking the right amount of time.” At my side, the Nightrender picked at a handful of nuts and berries. He no longer wore the dark cowl over his head, and his eyes remained the sharp golden hue. He watched the empty shadows in the forest, awaiting his guild member to return.

Behind us, the rest of his guild remained close, but behaved as if they were as unbothered as him.

I hated it. A constant frenzy rolled in my veins, desperate to attack, to retrieve the King of Etta, shout at him for being so determined to play the hero, then to kiss him until a thousand mornings passed by.

My eyes drifted over the new faces in our refuge. Dozens of Falkyns joined Junius and Niklas, but the Guild of Kryv, there were not even ten. And two were bleeding children.

I questioned the Nightrender’s sanity if he trusted young ones. Herja had taken a liking to the girl, Hanna. She did not use her voice, but her hands to speak. In all her turns as the Silent Valkyrie, Herja had used similar gestures. The boy, taller and skinnier, had spent the time since he’d arrived schooling Laila and young Ellis all about tossing knives. And how to do it well with more skill than a boy his age ought to know.

“Why do you fear for your king so much?” The Nightrender asked, brushing the crumbs on his hands. “I can hardly focus on anything but your fear when I stand beside you. It’s aggravating. So, tell me. Is this husband incapable? A weakling? Does he crumble under torture? What is it, Queen?”

I was going to kill the man.

“Valen Ferus is no weak thing. I fear for him because I love him, Nightrender. An emotion, I’m discovering you, clearly, do not grasp. And if anyone will not crumble it is him. If he were here, he could split open this very earth and swallow you whole.”

“Impressive. I’ve heard a great deal of your Night Folk. From what they say, he is the only true bender of the earth in a thousand turns, yes?”

“Yes. But it is not his fury that makes him great. He has survived curses, brutality, and still remains the gentlest man I’ve known.”

He chuckled. My fists clenched.

How could he be so . . . tranquil when his own guild member took such a great risk today?

“Then stop fearing for him,” he said with a taunt in his voice. “Get angry for him, hate for him, seek blood and bone for him, but hells woman, stop fearing for him. If he is all those things, he’d be ashamed to know you did not think him capable of surviving this.”

“I don’t like you.” Rather childish of me, but I couldn’t help it.

“I’ve been told much worse before.” He deepened his smirk.

I rolled my eyes and returned my gaze to the trees. The Nightrender was younger than I thought. Well, I suppose he could be ancient for all I knew since Alver Folk lived the lifespan of Night Folk. But he seemed young. A few turns older than me, perhaps.

But he had a knack for irritating me.

“I don’t see how this is wise,” I said at long last.

“Elise.” Halvar joined us and I breathed in relief.

What the Nightrender didn’t know was that I was the weak one, not Valen. Without Herja, the Guild of Shade, without Siv, Kari, Ari. Without my friends, I would not be standing here now.

“To send in the Kryv woman was a sound idea. We need the layout of any changes they might’ve made on the inside. And we need to know where they’re keeping him before we make a solid plan of extracting him.”

“Listen, Queen,” the Nightrender said with a new briskness in his tone. “You may not like me, you may not even trust me, but you asked me to bleeding be here, and you will let me do this my way, so my guild will live to see another sunrise.”

“Your guild is not the only thing at stake,” I snapped. “An entire kingdom could fall. Perhaps you do not care, perhaps this is a game to you, but this is our future and freedom.”

The Nightrender paused, a bit of his shadows returning to his eyes. “You’re right. This is a game, but you ought to know—no one plays games as I do.” He crowded my space, but I didn’t cower. I held my stance and met his eye. The Nightrender lowered his voice to a dark rasp. “This is what I do. Scheme. Plot. Thieve. To me, stealing a king is no different than stealing a purse of gold, understand? You plan the battle; we’ll plan the score.”

I parted my mouth to argue Valen was not some score from a wealthy man’s purse but silenced when one of the Kryv shoved between us.

“She’s coming.” He was tall, with tanned skin like Valen’s, and had few cares about knocking me aside.

“I see her,” said another Kryv with scars littering his arms. His fingers twitched at his sides, and from what I’d seen of the man, he rarely stopped moving.

“I heard her first.”

“Wrong, Vali.”

I had no idea what they meant. The trees were empty. I heard and saw nothing but a fading sun.

A snicker drew my attention away. Junius stepped beside me, looking at the arguing men. “Vali and Raum,” she said. “Both called Profetik Alvers. Their mesmer gives them inhuman senses. Vali hears the smallest sound, while Raum can see through the thickest fog. But they also have the most intense need to compete with each other.”

“It is a matter of principle, Junie. Val needs to know I exceed his Talent and always will. Keeps his head the right size.” The one I assumed was Raum said. He rubbed a hand over the scars on his arms, and winked at his fellow Kryv, who frowned and stared forward.

A snap of a twig broke the quiet forest. Another, and another, until through the brambles a woman emerged. Her dark curls were tied off her neck, and those eerie cat-like eyes brightened in the sun. She pointed between her two guild brothers. “Which of you discovered me first?”

“Me,” Vali grumbled.

“Like the hells you did. I saw you, lengths back, Tov,” Raum insisted.

“Tova,” the Nightrender interrupted, almost lazily. “The queen was beginning to doubt you.”

The woman snorted and held out her hand until the Nightrender supplied her with some of his nuts and berries. “I’d be offended, but I’ve lived through the impoliteness of those castle guards. They’re just unnecessarily rude.”

The Nightrender offered a half grin. Ah, he could show amusement. Strange.

In a few quick steps I stood directly in front of the woman, Halvar beside me. “Did you see him?”

“Oh, I saw him.” Tova’s strange eyes gleamed. “He’s quite handsome, Queen. Rather sharp-tongued too.”

“Well?” Halvar grumbled. When it came to Valen, his family, it was unwise to keep him in the dark.

Tova popped a few nuts onto her tongue. “He’s alive, unharmed. For now. They all are. The royals at the castle have kept them in a warm tower room and have hardly touched a hair on their heads.”

They’ve been unharmed? My heart swelled in relief, but also disbelief. What were Calder and Runa planning with them? This distance was driving me to madness.

“Did you clue him in on who you were?” I asked.

“No. I was there to scout out his position. No sense tipping off those bleeding guards to anything amiss. To them I was nothing but a meek serf.”

I rubbed the sides of my head. “I don’t understand what Runa is doing. I thought without a doubt they would be tortured.”

“Things could be changing. I believe your sister’s patience is wearing thin.”

“Then we need to get to him. No more waiting.” I squeezed Halvar’s arm.

“I’d agree.” Tova nodded and picked out a few undesirable things from the food in her palm. “They were given some prophecy that seemed to unsettle everyone, seemed to add a bit of urgency. Never did take much stock in prophecies myself, but there was no time to linger around to see the outcome. All I know is it had something to do with you, Queen.”

“Me?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Any talk among the serfs?” the Nightrender asked.

“A great deal.” Tova untangled her wild curls, letting them fall down her shoulders. “Serfs chatter endlessly in that bleeding place, but the good news is most feel a great deal of loyalty to your husband. The bad news is they are too frightened and spineless to actually free him.”

I hugged my middle and waved the thought away. “What did you hear?”

“Mostly bits of conversations about a tomb of some kind. I am told the wicked king has a great obsession with it. Mean anything?”

Halvar and I both groaned.

“The Black Tomb,” I said. “It’s a terrible, cursed place.”

Tova shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. According to an old kitchen serf, the only way anyone sees the inside is if they are connected to fate or fall into a . . . sort of fae sleep. I don’t know what that is, and frankly, she wasn’t the most reliable source.”

Halvar lifted a brow. “A fury sleep?”

“Yes.” Tova snapped her fingers. “That’s what she called it. Heard her saying the princes ought to sleep, and at last find peace and quiet in the tomb.”

“The tomb is nothing,” I said, looking to Halvar. “There were no actual graves in the place. Right?”

“That we could see,” he said softly. “Elise, if there are sleeping fae there, it could be why it is so heavily protected. Fury sleep is a strategy used long ago. A curse placed upon others, or oneself, as a protection against enemies. Night Folk kings, queens, and warriors would slip into the fury sleep to hide their deepest, most dangerous secrets from enemies. It was a risk, and one not commonly used anymore.”

“Why?” the Nightrender asked.

“There’s a chance the one asleep might never wake. A true eternal sleep.”

“The point is,” Tova went on, “your husband, his brother, and the boy are alive, and by now they’re likely getting tortured. That is my report, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m famished for more than bird feed.”

She turned and left as if she did not knock the breath from my lungs. Each interaction with the Falkyns and Guild of Kryv left me surer they truly had no respect for royalty, or truly had no idea how to interact with them.

Halvar touched my wrist. “This will help. I need to see to Mattis and Brant and adjust our battle lines.”

“Go,” I said.

Alone with the Nightrender drew a somber quiet. With a heavy breath, I stood at his shoulder. The man said nothing as he stared at the distant walls.

“Does her report help you?” I asked after a long pause.

“Too early to know. I have more questions, but there will be plans to make.”

He started to walk away, but I grabbed his arm. His eyes landed on the spot I touched him. Let him glare, I would make myself clear. “I am trusting you with my heart and with the lives of my people. Why did you come? Why do this? Help me understand you, so I may trust you completely.”

His eyes narrowed. “Get used to disappointment, Queen. I owe you no explanations. Trust me or do not, it matters little to me. I have been given a job to do, and I will do it. Now, are you coming to the table? Niklas and your surly warrior friend will want to be updated, no doubt.” He shirked me off. “We are moving forward. Are you with us, or not?”