Page 36 of A Curse of Breath and Blood

Caiden sighed, brushing his thick hair out of his eyes. “It wasn’t real. She was just using me to make a point. Whatever love Aelia felt for me died long ago. Besides, it would be foolish of us to start anything when we have made a deal.”

“You and I both know there are ways to get out of bargains.” Roderick leaned his elbows on his knees.

“Yes, ones involve immense pain and potential death,” Lucius said from the other room. “If you ask me?—”

“We didn’t,” Roderick cut him off.

Lucius glowered. “If you ask me, you should be glad to be rid of Aelia. She has caused you nothing but trouble.”

Lucius had never been a fan of Aelia. He saw the heartache Caiden endured when they freed her, and she fled into the wild. Lucius was there every time she broke his heart anew.

Caiden knew he should have been angry with Aelia—hold her accountable for Cassandra’s death, but she could not have saved her. He had been the one to risk everything to save Aelia, and he knew there would be consequences. But love blinds even the most careful planners. Caiden couldn’t have known events he set into motion years ago. Gideon had killed the spirit of the woman he loved, and his heart ached to save her.

“Better to mourn her and move on,”Lucius said to him when Aelia had fled the Highlands.

“You’re so bitter for someone who has never been in love,” Roderick told Lucius, pulling Caiden back into reality.

“How do you know I have never been in love?” Lucius asked, donning a pair of round-reading spectacles.

Roderick and Caiden sat stunned on the couch. In all the years they had known Lucius, he had never spoken of any lovers. Not even the kind you take after a battle when yourblood runs hot.Caiden assumed he took them in secret or not at all.

“Well, have you?” Roderick asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

Silence filled the air.

Caiden held his breath in anticipation.

Lucius shrugged. “Love is not in the cards for me.”

“Bullshit,” Roderick said, sitting up straight. “If I can fall in love and settle down, anyone can.”

Lucius bit his lip. “Well, we can’t all find partners like Amolie now, can we?”

Roderick slapped Lucius on the back, sending the thin man hurtling forward. “There’s someone out there for you, Lucius. I know it.”

“Anyway… we’ll need supplies for the Court of Sorrows. Amolie and Aelia are picking up potion materials, but we’ll need weapons we can easily hide. I’ve made an appointment with Tiernan, the blacksmith, to get us equipment.” Lucius pushed away from the table where he sat. Ernie brought out the cloaks.

The three men headed into the cold winter streets of Ruska. The smell of burning wood stoves filled the crisp winter air.

“Let’s make this quick,” Roderick said as they crossed the busy avenue where carriages crowded the street.“I hate the cold.” He rubbed his hands together for warmth.

“How are we getting to the Court of Sorrows?” Lucius asked.

“There is a portal in their embassy we can use. It will drop us outside the gates,” Caiden said as they entered the blacksmith’s shop. Tiernan greeted them, holding up a sword still hot from the fire.A towering man with a bright orange beard—part giant, Tiernan made Roderick look childish.

“Ah, trouble’s here,” he said, finishing his last bit of hammering on a piece.

The smell of fire and sweat filled the air. Caiden tugged at hiscollar, trying to ease the sweltering heat of the shop where intricately designed weapons lined the walls. Tiernan was known for his enchanted weapons… and rare artifacts… although few knew of the latter.

“What can I do for you?” He sat on a stool so small Caiden thought it would crumple under his weight.

“We need some discreet weapons,” Caiden said, motioning to some of his smaller daggers.

“How discrete are we talking?”Tiernan twisted his braided beard in his blackened fingers.

“Hidden in plain sight.”

Tiernan nodded. “I’ve got some things you may be interested in. Follow me.” He went to a door in the back of his smithy, so small that Caiden thought he wouldn’t fit. Turning sideways, the hulking man easily slid through the doorway.

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