Page 76 of A Curse of Breath and Blood

The voice silenced.

29AELIA

“Aelia?”Caiden and Roderick rushed to where I lay crumpled on the floor, heaving me onto the bed. Emotions whirled inside me like a cyclone. This could not be the world I lived in. A world where Baylis allied with my tormentor. A world where I erased the mind of the only person who had truly loved me.

“I need a minute,” I said, curling myself into a ball. My ankle throbbed with pain. I wanted a mountain of dust. I didn’t want to feel anything ever again. My breaths came faster as the world closed in on me. My vision tunneled, growing smaller by the minute.

“I can’t breathe.” The air in my lungs diminished.

“Aelia, breathe. You must breathe.”

I could hear Caiden’s voice, but it sounded far away. With each shallow breath, I drifted farther away from my body.

Caiden lay next to me, wrapping his warm body around mine. “Do not let this break you, Aelia.”

Tears cascaded down my face. What did I have to live for anymore? Everyone I loved was gone. I wanted to rip my soul into a million pieces and scatter it into the wind.

I buried my face in his neck. This world had beaten me.

Caiden pulled me in closer. “Aelia, look at me.” He held my face in his hands. “This will not break you.”

“I’ve been broken for a long time,” I said through tears, gasping for air. “There is no fixing me.”

“You are not broken, Aelia Springborn. You are strong. I remember the girl I met ten years ago. The girl who has faced death. She is in there somewhere. I know it.” His eyes searched mine, for the woman he loved.

I did not know if I had the strength to resurrect her.

“Okay.” I sank into Caiden’s embrace, matching my heartbeat to his.

Amolie brought a healing tonic. The green viscous liquid tasted like sap and pinecones.

“When this is through, you better serve Gideon’s head on a platter.”She eyed the two sylph men in the tent.

“Oh, we’re planning on it,” Roderick said, cracking his knuckles.

“Good… because if you don’t. I will.” Her voice dripped with vitriol. I wasn’t accustomed to seeing this aspect of Amolie.

“Oh, I know you will, my love.” Roderick put an arm around the witch.

“His father killed my mother, and he nearly killed my best friend. I will carve his heart from his chest.”

I tried not to choke on the tonic as I stifled a laugh. “Thanks, Am. Thank all of you.” A calm washed over me.

Everyone nodded.

“I think Aelia needs her rest,” Caiden said, hurrying everyone out of the tent. He stoked the fire. The light danced on his face. I wanted to live in this tent with him forever.

Caiden brought me a plate of roasted chicken and vegetables, filling the tent with the mouth-watering aroma of thyme and rosemary.

As I ate, I glanced at Caiden’s desk, where the bone scepter slept, waiting for me to return.

“What are you looking at?” Caiden asked.

“The scepter… it calls to me. Talks to me in my head.”

He set his plate to the side, a seriousness overtaking his features. “What does it say?”

“It wants my blood. It wants to bind itself to me. I have been beyond the veil, and it knows.”Leaning back on the bed, I let out an exasperated sigh.

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