Page 38 of The Cursed and the Broken
As ours was a small town, the innkeeper could afford to house only the most important of guests: Farkas, Dante, a small contingent of their personal guards, followed by bannermen and nobles within their village. The remaining Wolfblood clansmen had sought refuge in the arms of witches or in makeshift tents they’d erected upon arrival.
The perimeter bordering the treeline twinkled with the odd lantern as I passed, likely belonging to the unfortunate souls who’d been tasked with patrol overnight. Thankfully, the cultists hadn’t returned since Erika and my rendezvous with them, but I knew they were watching. The hairs on my neck stood to attention at the thought, goosebumps rising on my skin.
I snatched a forgotten goblet from the ground and took a swig. Honeyed mead dripped down my throat, washing away the bitter taste of fear. I’d have to be careful not to reveal my power, which meant fighting with fire or the old-fashioned way. Patting the dagger sheathed at my thigh, I smiled grimly. The gods know steel works just as well as magic.
Mama and Farkas had spent most of yesterday in talks with the council and Dante had joined patrols to assess the security of our village for himself. I snorted. Just as well. His face was just as good as any punching bag and I didn’t care to be around him right now.
He’d known everything about me and hadn’t said a word—would have realised who I was the moment my magic exploded in the forest. I didn’t know why it annoyed me so much. We weren’t friends or lovers. It’s not as though he owed me anything.
But he was one of few people I could be myself around. Hell, I’d thrown daggers, punches and insults his way and he hadn’t batted an eye. He didn’t judge me, and it meant more than I had dared to admit. But despite all that—even the accusations I’d thrown his way—he’d said nothing.
I sculled the remains of the goblet, tossing the cup on the ground. What would telling me have changed?
Absolutely nothing, I realised. Whether it was from his mouth or my mother’s, the truth would still have stung as sharply. I snorted. Didn’t stop him from kissing me in the woods, though, did it? I wondered if I’d still have kissed him had I known the truth.
I sighed, shaking my head as I slipped through the temple doors. It didn’t matter. The most important thing now was to ensure my family’s survival. To protect the ones I loved. And even if this village had brought me misery and loneliness, there had always been light here, too. Love.
The temple was silent. Ghostly. I knelt before the gods as the sun streamed through the stained-glass windows, painting my world in fractured colours of reds, pinks, purples. Istenanya’s arms stretched before me, and the light catching on her eyes made it seem as though she watched my every movement.
I bent my head in reverence, closing my eyes in prayer. “Why is this happening, Mother?” I asked her. “What would you have me do?”
Only silence answered. Deafening and cold. My exposed skin chilled as the room seemed to plummet in temperature and, even with my eyes shut, the darkness deepened behind my lids. Fathomless.
A shriek blasted the doors open as wind hurtled through the chamber and, snapping my eyes open, I saw him.
Death.
He looked exactly as I remembered. Black robes billowing around him, skeletal hands, a hood covering a black void where his face should be. “She won’t answer, Kitarni,” he purred. “The mother cannot intervene; her gaze is set beyond the seven-pointed-star.”
I glared at the black chasm with all the strength I could muster. “I suppose I don’t need to ask why you’ve come. I received your message loud and clear.”
He picked at a piece of lint upon his robes, bone fingers smoothing out the velvet shadow of the fabric. “I thought the dreams were a nice touch. I can’t very well visit you in person, what with the scores of charms your mother has erected around your house.”
“Almighty Death can’t even conquer a few simple charms?”
Death chuckled and it was a raspy, awful thing that sent shivers down my spine. “It would be impolite to enter uninvited.”
I was holding a conversation with a well-mannered murderer with a fondness for mistresses of doom. Could my life be any weirder? Scoffing, I rose from my position, daring to take a few steps toward him. “Didn’t stop you the first time.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Semantics. Would you have opened the door if I knocked?”
I crossed my arms in answer.
“Didn’t think so. Now, she will come for you two nights from now. But be warned, child, should you ignore her call there will be consequences.”
My skin prickled. “I don’t respond to threats,” I replied haughtily. “Why don’t you tell your mistress to do her own dirty work instead of calling in her lackey?”
The room grew colder as Death swept towards me. My blood pumped sluggishly, my heart slowing as he approached. A single finger swept down my cheek, cold as ice. The moment he touched me, I sagged under the weight of his power. Any warmth fled my skin and I curled inwards. He was draining me of energy.
His breath plumed on my face, smelling musty, like a bouquet of decayed flowers mixed with dirt and rotting flesh. The scent brought back memories of Hanna’s body, and it took all my willpower not to choke on it, to paw my throat for fresh air. His hood lowered inches from my face, and the void where his own should have been …
Terror sliced through me, sharp as knives as I beheld an eternity of despair within that void. It sucked me in, dragging me to a vortex of pain and emptiness. I clawed at his fingers now, lungs closing off, blood slowing, slowing, slowing.
Death held me lazily in one hand, my limp body dangling from long, thin fingers. “I like you, Kitarni, but don’t mistake me as a benevolent being. Messenger I may be, but that is my mark you bear on your back. I am the ruler of the Under World, not Fate. Cross me, and you’ll see just how much power I hold over you.”
He dumped me unceremoniously on the ground, leaving me to gasp and dry-retch shamefully under the gaze of our pagan gods. Slowly, warmth returned to my bones and my heart, though racing in my chest, resumed its steady pulsing.
“Well then,” Death said cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. “You will meet her loveliness in the woods two nights hence.”
