Page 39 of A Curse of Breath and Blood

A sense of relief flooded me at the sound of those words. For ten years, we had walked on eggshells around my father. One wrong move sent him into a downward spiral we could not pull him out of.

We were free.

The reality of the situation did not register until she led Caiden and me into my father’s chambers, where he hung from a rope. His eyes were glassy, like a doll’s.

I left my body: his snapped neck, his rigid limbs. The guards hacked to bits on the floor beneath him. It was all too much. I retreated inside myself.

Caiden held my hand the entire time—a tether to this world—the last intimate touch we would share for years. The next day, I was shipped off to the Highlands. Where a fate worse than death awaited me.

Baylis’s last words echoed in my mind.

Do not let them break you, Aelia.

My sadness so consumed me that I hadn’t noticed that sentence’s nuance.Them. Did she have the sight then? Was she trying to warn me of what was coming? Why had I been so thick-headed?Stupid idiot.

My chest lightened after telling Caiden the simple truth. Gideon had made a fool of me—a brilliant plan.“A broken girl makes for a willing victim,” I said, wiping my nose on my cloak.

Caiden lifted my chin so that our eyes met. “You were never broken to me.” Lightning flashed in his blue eyes as if he were seeing me for the first time.

Both suffering when we met, we poured ourselves into one another, half empty, looking for something to make us whole again.

“I am hollow inside. Gideon sucked the life from my veins.” Tears muffled my words. Truthfully, I accepted love from any source. I allowed Gideon to abuse and manipulate me because of desperation to be accepted… to be loved.

Taking my hand in his, a serious look crossed his face. “Let me help you, Aelia.”

“You can’t.” I breathed deeply. “You won’t know I exist when this is all over.”

Firelight danced across his chiseled face as his mouth tightened into a thin line.

I focused on our intertwined hands. “I cannot let myself get attached to you again. I have to protect my heart.”

“We didn’t specify a timeline in the bargain. We could hold off on it.” Caiden ran a loving hand across my shoulders.

“You and I both know the longer we wait, the harder it will be. The more the magic will demand the bargain be fulfilled.”

The laws of the land demanded balance. Once we saved Baylis, the scales of the universe would be off. Magic liked equilibrium. It would pull us together, demanding we finish what we started.

Caiden’s stubble pricked my fingers as I stroked his jaw, examining the man I had loved and hated for all these years. “We were never meant to be, Caiden.”

15AELIA

Lucius saton the bench in front of one of the large kitchen windows with one leg dangling in the air. Shadows ringed his eyes as he stared out the window.

“Did you sleep at all?” Caiden asked, sitting at the table laden with fine pastries.The smell of fresh berries filled the air. The sylph loved sugar. They put it in everything from pies to eggs. Wars had been fought over sugar.

“I followed the soldiers we saw earlier to a house on the outskirts of town and waited.” Ernie poured him a hot cup of coffee, and Lucius took a long swig before continuing—being part wraith, he ate very little, if at all. “Erissa and Gideon are here, but I did not discover if they knew of our presence.”

“What did they discuss?” I held my breath.

“Mostly domestic political matters. From what I could gather, they are here preparing for the Yule Revelry.”

“You should have killed him,” Amolie chimed in from across the room.

“Easy.” Lucius held up a hand. “That’s not how diplomacy works.” He sipped his coffee. The morning light illuminated his pale skin.

A fire burned in my belly, rising into my throat. “If anyone is going to kill either of them, it’s going to be me,” I said, squeezing Caiden’s hand under the table.

“Her goons are here, too,” Lucius said, his eyes peeking out from beneath a curtain of white hair.

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