Curse of Shadows and Thorns: A Dark Fantasy Romance (The Broken Kingdoms Book 1)

He held my stare as though no one else but us stood in the Ravenspire kitchens. Fiery pain shot up my arm. A phantom pain from the cut of one of those axes. I’d cowered beneath the bloodlust of this man.

I’d had his mouth on mine.

The Wraith turned to Halvar and Tor. My stomach turned viciously. Not Halvar and Tor, the Guild of Shade. They’d covered their faces in the black masks I’d seen the same night. The two killers who’d ripped Legion—the Blood Wraith—away from slaughtering me.

“Halvar, keep the Agitator with you. We take the briar roads and—”

“I’m not going with them.” The words spilled out in a frenzy, a breathless panic. “I’m not going with you. I’m not.”

I backed away.

The Wraith turned over his shoulder. The terrible red glow of his eyes missing. Legion’s beautiful, glossy black eyes were all I saw. It was a sickening twist of fate. It broke my heart.

“You don’t have a choice.” His voice was low and dark and still belonged to the man who’d held me so sweetly hours before.

“You bonded with him, Elise,” Bevan’s voice added to the suffocating panic in my chest.

“You knew!” I shrieked. “You knew what he was and still you—”

“I know there are things you do not understand,” the steward replied sharply. “Now go. Your life is in his hands tonight, and he will keep it safe.”

“No,” I shook my head, ignoring the tug of whatever fury Bevan had linked between us. An undeniable urge to go with the Blood Wraith, to stand at his side.

Tor, behind his awful mask, groaned. “No time.”

The Wraith wore a weary look. Bevan’s hands gripped my shoulders. “Forgive me, Elise. This is for your own good.”

A harsh taste of burning grass and smoke coated the back of my throat. Beneath my nose an open vial wafted fumes down my throat and into my lungs. My legs buckled. Arms scooped me up. Red. Black. Colors of those moments as the sunset meets the night blurred in my mind. I was inches from the mask, the Blood Wraith’s mask, and hood. He had me in his arms. I ought to fight, ought to scream.

My head curled against the beat of his heart. The steady thud. Legion’s heart. On my next breath, the kitchen, the faces, everything faded into syrupy black.

There were times in my life when I thought I’d never wade through the haunting memories of the night on the beach. Times when it was too much to bear; the feeling of being so lost even the light in the heavens faded into gray. This moment doubled the despair from anything I’d felt before.

Missing pieces of the night made my head throb. I leaned over my knees, massaging my skull, and tried to make sense of what happened.

The taste of fire and smoke. I’d fallen and I think the Wraith caught me. There were moments when the night air had kissed my face, stirring me from sleep. We rode horses. Where did we get horses? I’d breathed in spice, rain. Breathed in leather. My body was pressed to Legion’s chest and . . .

No, the Blood Wraith. I smacked my palm three times on my head. The Blood Wraith. Legion Grey was the Blood Wraith. A liar. A killer. A fiend.

He’d tricked me. Bevan tricked me. Siv tricked me.

The one person I could trust was dead.

I shook away the thought of Mavie’s last breath and stared at my hands. In the haze, I had bits and pieces of being lifted off the horse. The moon had still been high. The reek from ale and unwashed bodies had struck me like a hot wall of filth.

We’d entered an alehouse.

“Get away!” I’d screamed at the Wraith when I stood on my own two feet. He’d complied without protest and turned me over to the Guild of Shade. They weren’t any better.

Silent and stewing.

Tor had slammed a horn of ale under my nose. Halvar tried to breeze about the journey here, laughing, and poking fun at the way Tor rode a horse, as if he were not terrifying.

I’d never admit his laughter beneath the black mask helped slow the race of my heart.

They’d sent me to freshen up if I’d wanted, and now, I sat with hands still shaking, bonded to a man I feared. I’d been duped into it, no doubt. He knew if I learned the truth of him, I’d have turned and ran. Fury was powerful. With this bond between us, I’d never have been able to leave his side even if I wanted to.

The washroom was dingy, and a reek of feet and mildew perfumed the space. Still, the small room had become a sort of refuge from what awaited me beyond the door.

“Did you need to bite me?” I blinked my gaze up at Siv. She rinsed the mark on her hand in the basin of cool water. “I wasn’t going to hurt you; I was helping you walk in here.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And I should just believe you? Agitator.”

Siv sighed. “Elise, I will never stop asking for your forgiveness. You’re right, I lied to you when I first arrived. I was there to get close to the second princess—”

“And who would kill my sister? My parents? Once you finished me off, that is?”

She simply shook her head. “I know I lied, but it changed. And quickly. You befriended me straightaway.” Siv leaned her back on the wall. “I’d spent months training for abuse from Timoran royals, but do you remember the first thing you said to me?”

I didn’t, so I pinched my mouth and turned away.

“You asked me if I liked iced milk cakes.” Siv chuckled, a sad grin on her face. “First thing. You offered me a delicacy off your plate—a royal’s plate—because you didn’t like goat milk.”

“Well,” I began slowly. “It’s too sour.”

Siv’s eyes lifted, and she tried to smile, but it was more a trembling grimace. “Then, you’d laughed with Mavie, teasing about my surprise. I tried all night to get the truth from . . . from Mavs, tried to hear her tell me the brutal stories of your beatings or harsh words. She got so irritated she blurted out that you were . . .” Siv hiccupped a sob. “That you were her truest friend and had been since you were girls. A serf and a royal.”

I wiped away the tears. I wanted Mavie here now. I wanted her to complain about the sticky stains in the washroom, the hint of piss that followed us everywhere. I wanted her to tell me the bright side of this night. But she wasn’t here. She supped with gods tonight.

“You may never forgive me,” Siv went on. “But I swear to you, I have not been an Agitator for months. I’ve been your friend and I hope . . . I hope you will one day be mine again.”

“You knew he was the Blood Wraith.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t. I knew he was dangerous. Saw it when he cornered me. He was not who he said he was, that was all I knew, and I didn’t know how to tell you without—”

“Without giving up your lies, too.”

Siv tucked her russet hair behind her ear and looked to the ground. “Yes. I know you don’t want me, but I will not leave you now.”

“I need to escape.”

“You can’t. I felt the fury bond. He is yours for the night.”

I shot to my feet. He robbed me of my choice by a trick. There had to be rules about that. “If you stand with me, then you’ll help me do this.”

Siv blinked, fought against what she truly wanted to say, then nodded. “All right.”

Convinced Siv wouldn’t stop me, I faced the washbasin. Why did the Wraith want me? Why had he come into my life? Bevan said I could help him—from what? The strange sickness? Was that even real? I nodded to myself. I’d seen the way he’d nearly crumbled in the kitchens. Something ailed him, but I saw no clear way I could help.

Why, then, was I here?

Too many gruesome thoughts pummeled my skull. I hunched over the stained, smelly wash basin afraid I might vomit.

I cupped yellowed water in my hands and scrubbed my cheeks. A tarnished silver platter served as a mirror. There were too many streaks on the surface and my reflection bent and warped. Distorted, but I noted the blood splatters on my face, the dirt and grime from fleeing through the forest. My hair fell in matted tresses around my face. Dirty as the water was, it refreshed my skin once most of the sweat, tears, and blood was washed away.

Siv kept quiet as I curled my fingers around the handle of the door and peeked into the alehouse. My stomach backflipped. Across the room, the Shade huddled around a table with the Wraith, drinking and muttering in low voices.

There were no windows in the washroom, but also no one standing watch. Now was my chance. I whispered to Siv to keep watch then slid through the narrow crack in the door. I lowered to my knees and crept along the wall, below the line of tables. A musty breeze blew in, the door was a mere twenty paces away. A stickiness on the floor caused dust and grime to cling to my palms. The scars on my left hand from my missing fingers throbbed with pressure and being stretched, but I didn’t stop. When I made it out of the ale room into the front of the house, I scrambled to my feet, making a mad dash for the door.

Hands out, inches away. I could taste the outdoors.

A shadow stepped out of nowhere and blocked my escape.

I tumbled backward, landing in a heap on my back. “Cursed hells!”

Halvar had abandoned the signature half mask, his smile wickedly bright and mischievous.

“Now just where do you think you’re going?” He reached beneath my arms and tugged me back to standing. Face close, he said, “You go a step further and it’ll be the worst pain you can imagine.”

“From you?” I croaked.

“I’m hurt, Kvinna,” Halvar said as he dragged me back. “I’d not lay a finger on such a lovely head as yours. Nay, my dear princess, the pain will come from your vow to be loyal until sunrise. I promise at the dawn you may become a thorn in our sides. In fact, I welcome it. Life will be more interesting, but until then—stay, talk. Drink. Whatever you please.”

My knees threatened to give out. The aleman stood behind a long counter, scrubbing foggy glasses. I reached for him. “Please, help me!”

Halvar chuckled and looked to the man. “Sven, another round.”

The aleman ignored my pleas entirely and jutted his chin at Halvar in a jerky sort of nod.

I was on my own.

Back in the aleroom, Siv stood off to the side of the table where Tor sat with the Wraith, still wearing his red mask. He watched me fumble on my feet. His eyes were Legion’s but harder. Angry I’d tried to run, maybe.

“Sit.” His command sent an icy ripple down my spine.

My body trembled, but I lifted my chin, daring to meet his eye. I mean this, Elise. He’d whispered it against my ear, then left kisses on my neck, my lips. He knew this would happen. Knew his identity would be revealed eventually. My heart cinched because part of me wanted to believe it was real, the other part could not see beyond that bleeding mask.

“Sit, Elise.”

I swallowed my fear and obeyed. “Take off your mask.” I closed my eyes, feeling weak and pitiful. “I beg of you.”

The Wraith drummed his fingertips over the table, studying me. His scrutiny peeled back my skin until he could undoubtedly see every emotion, every thought I kept hidden. But after a moment, he complied, and removed the mask; he tossed back his hood. Legion Grey stared back at me.

“Ask,” he said.

“Ask what?”

The arrogant smirk curled his lips and I wanted to cry again. Wanted to go back to softer moments and pretend this horrid truth didn’t live between us anymore.

“Anything, Elise. But like it or not, eventually you will need to speak to me again.”

“I don’t need to do anything.”

He tapped his fingers again, almost grinning. “No. I’ve learned enough about you. It is utterly frustrating trying to force you to do anything.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to talk about how he knew intimate thoughts of mine. Tonight, I’d build a wall between us and refuse to let it break. “You want me to ask you a question?”

“I want to have communication between us. We will need it.”

“Fine. May I have my fingers back?” His eyes widened. Good. He deserved to be taken off guard at least once. I tilted my head smugly. “What? You think I haven’t recalled every bleeding moment from the night you tried to butcher me since you put on that damn mask?”

“What is she talking about?” Tor grumbled.

I rose to my feet, anger buoying me. “Did you recognize me when you came? Did you return to finish the job, torturing me slowly, allowing me to believe . . .” My voice cracked.

Legion, or the Wraith, or whoever, was on his feet, too. He towered over me. “I have no memory of that night. Nor the attack at your manor. Only what you have told me.”

“Ah,” I said wryly. “You kill so much you don’t remember faces.”

“No,” he said, discomfited. Strange to see the Blood Wraith uneasy when my memories remember him vastly determined and deadly. “You don’t understand—”

“Stop,” Tor snapped. “Have you met before all this?”

“The docks,” Legion said through his teeth. “The Mellanstrad docks. You told me how I nearly . . .” He glared at his Shade. “Do you remember?”

Tor’s eyes went wide, and he looked to me. I wanted to scream at him to speak everything running in his head. I needed to know it all. But in Tor fashion, he pinched his lips and went silent.

Halvar was different. He chuckled nervously. “This just got more uncomfortable, didn’t it?”

Uncomfortable was one word for it. Exhaustion, betrayal, all of it cut me at the knees and I slumped back in the chair. “Release me. Let me go. I don’t want to be here, not with you.”

Legion tried to keep his expression unmoved, but his eyes gave away the truth. I’d cut him the same as he’d cut me. “The bond will fade by morning. Until then you may as well ask your questions.”

I wanted to be free of him. The bite of memories of the way he made my heart soar, my breaths catch, kept colliding with the brutality I’d suffered at his hand, and so many others. There was a reason he was called the Blood Wraith. He’d earned the title, earned the tales of his lust for death. A thousand sweet kisses couldn’t wipe it away.

“I have nothing to ask you.” I had a thousand things to ask. “Release me.”

Legion shook his head, sighing. “You chose me.”

“I chose Legion Grey, not a murderer.”

“He and I are one and the same. You trusted him or the bond would not have worked. Trust me now.”

“You have an obsession with trust when you do nothing to earn it.”

Trust those undeserving of it.

I shook my head, chasing away the little witch’s words. They had no place here. I would not trust this man.

Legion leaned onto his elbows, dragging his fingers through his dark golden hair. It seemed to be darkening even more. I scoffed—it wasn’t real. He didn’t have golden, Timoran hair. No. I had no doubt in a few days the false color would fade and I’d see him plainly. The deliberateness of his deceit hurt worse than the actual lies.

“What do you want with me?”

“I need your help.”

“With what?”

“It’s difficult to explain.”

I sneered. “Because it isn’t a lie? It seems you only know how to speak in falsehoods.”

“I would tell you everything should you only ask,” he said softly and looked away.

Right then, I almost believed he hurt as much as me, but doubtless it was all a ruse. Everything had been a chance to get close to me, to use me. Truth be told, in all the pain racking my body, I didn’t even care to know the reason.

“I opened my heart to you,” I whispered, voice trembling. “And you deceived me.”

I stood from the table, finished talking. When his hand curled around my wrist, I gasped. My insides fluttered and I cursed my body for betraying me.

“Stay, Elise. Build trust again. I never lied.”

“You never told the truth either, Blood Wraith.”

He closed his eyes, gaze to the floor. The name bothered him, and I didn’t care.

No mistake, I wanted to believe him. Even as the Wraith, I wanted to believe he had not tormented my heart for nothing. But there was no sufficient reason to make up for his omission. Like Siv, he’d infiltrated my life for some selfish need and in turn had turned my world on its head.

“The bond lasts until sunrise and then the choice is once more mine, true?” I asked.

“There is more to explain.”

“Will I have the choice to leave?” I said again.

“You need to understand what your choice will mean,” Halvar said. For the first time his voice came out in a dark threat. “Listen to us.”

“No.” I said, hiding my agony behind a carefully placed wall. I turned back to Legion. “You want me to choose to stay, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

“Trust and choice mean a great deal to you.”

“They mean everything. Nothing can change if you do not choose it.”

I took a deep breath and stepped back. Hot tears blurred my sight. “Understand something: I will never choose you again.”