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

A life for a life. Me for Legion, for his freedom. Could I? Did I even dare? The girl stared at me as though I might burst into flames.

“You—” I cleared away the fear. “You said when he is free, he will be the force that could change things for fury and magic-folk?”

She hesitated. “It will begin something. I don’t know how because you must remember, kind heart, fate is not always interpreted correctly. Each word could mean something different. I saw change. Not all at once, but a spark that will begin it all. I don’t know how it will be done, though.”

I closed my eyes and tears fell down my cheeks. One life for a life, but if she was to be believed this was one life for potentially many. Legion—who he was before—could be a force for change in Timoran, the sort I’d always wanted. Timorans might walk the streets with Ettans. Night Folk could emerge from the trees, from wherever they hide. But she spoke of a fire catching across the Fate’s Ocean, to different kingdoms. Bevan might not live out his days with smugglers. His sort of folk could be free.

I didn’t know anything about other kingdoms or their fury, or mesmer, or magic, but if it made a more peaceful world wasn’t it worth it?

I forced a grin, clutching the crest to my heart. “At least they’ll write a saga about me.”

The girl’s eyes grew wet. “Be sure you want to take this step. The guardians will do all they can to stop you. It is the nature of this cursed place, to keep it hidden.”

I nodded. In truth, I didn’t want to do this, but if it was the only way—if this is why royal blood was needed—then it would fall to me or no one. Certainly, no Timoran royals I knew would even consider it. Legion would be trapped, never dying. Timoran would dissect and destroy fury for their gain.

“Tell him,” I started, “if you see him when this is over, tell him I wanted it to be different. I wanted to bring the change at his side.”

She blinked, and as brisk as the child witch tried to be, she felt a great deal and tried not to show it.

“Will you be freed from this?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope.”

“But still, you sacrificed, too. You wrote this path for someone else.”

“I told you,” she whispered, “I know what it’s like to be a prisoner. And maybe I was a little bored.”

I laughed. What a strange girl. “I hope you will be free to find your brother.”

She winced and looked at the ground. “Gods be with you, kind heart.”

“I’m Elise. What’s your name?”

She blinked her gaze to me. “Calista.”

I nodded with a smile, offered her a final look, prayed she’d get free, and turned back to the entrance. Once I stepped out there, my decision would be made, and I would be targeted by the guardians. We’d come this far. I sent a prayer to the sky that we wouldn’t be undone by some aggravating shadows with swords.

Holding my breath, clinging to the dagger, I ran.

Tears stung in the cold night. I kept my head down, my intent focused. All around, the cries of my friends, Tor, Halvar, Siv, echoed around the swirl of shadows as they battled the guardians.

“She’s out!” Halvar cheered. “Elise! What—”

“Elise!” Legion’s shout was haggard. He battled the curse, even here.

I couldn’t look at him.

“Elise, stop!”

No. A slope to the courtyard was before me. Twenty paces, ten. I sprinted until my legs throbbed. A shattering cry shook the courtyard. From the corner of my eye, shadows gathered in coagulated mass of night. My heart quickened, and I forced my feet faster up the hillside. Wails and shrieks gained behind me as the guardians rushed to stop me. I didn’t know how fury worked, but somehow, they knew my intent, and their instinct was to attack.

At the top of the hillside, I fumbled over a lip of rock. My knees skidded over the rough surface, peeling off a layer of skin. I winced but kept limping to the center. It was a symbol of briars and coiled serpents on the hilt of a blade.

“Elise! Stop! What are you doing?” Legion was chasing the cloud of shadow guardians.

I curled over my bloodied knees, gasping, but spared a final, longing glance. His eyes were lined in red again, but he was still him. Still there. Still good.

He would be the good in this world.

I smiled, turned away, and placed the crest in a divot at the center of the symbol. A raised circle that seemed to be missing a piece. A spark of heat shuddered under the symbol once it was placed. I raised my knife over my heart. One breath. One more heartbeat. One plunge. I let out a long breath and pulled back the blade for momentum and—

The knife knocked out free of my hand. Legion glared at me furiously, scooping me in his arms.

“No!” I screamed. The guardians loomed at the base of the hillside. “No, you don’t understand this is the only way to end it!”

“No!” he shouted back. “Not like this. I would rather live a thousand more turns with this curse.”

I touched his face, tears blurring the sharp lines and edges. But I held onto them. “Forgive me.”

With all I had I shoved Legion back, so he fell over the uneven ground. “Elise!”

The guardians shrieked. I fumbled for the knife and dropped it more than once. I screamed at the glint of gold as a guardian raised its sword over my head. No, I couldn’t die. Not yet! I needed to do this!

The instant I circled my hand around the hilt of the knife, an angry hiss broke from the shadow guardian.

I turned.

My head refused to accept what I was seeing.

Hunched over me, like a sort of shield, Legion blinked in stun. He stumbled to his knees and slowly, together, our eyes traveled to the center of his chest.

A fiery gold sword had torn through his heart.

“Legion!” No! This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Blood dripped over his lips, down his chin. Blood from his chest splattered onto the stone seal beneath us. I patted his shoulders, afraid to touch him anywhere that might cause him pain. It didn’t matter, after another moment, another hiss of wind, the sword faded with the shadow guardians into the mist. I didn’t care where they’d gone or why, nothing mattered. Not now.

Legion fell back; I caught him and rested his head in my lap. I stroked my fingers through his damp hair. He coughed and more blood stained his teeth. My tears fell in heavy drops onto his cheeks. “Why did you do that?”

I choked on a sob. He could die here. He was dying.

“I couldn’t . . . let you.”

I pressed a kiss to his forehead, holding my lips there. “It had to be me. Willing, royal blood, Legion. It had to be me.”

His warm palm covered my cheek. I covered it with mine and met his eyes. They were too glassy, too faded. “You set me free.”

A shudder ran through his body and his hand went limp. The thud of my pulse in my skull was deafening. A deep crack built down the center of me. I couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. I pressed his hand against my face, desperate to feel him hold it there himself. My fingers anxiously tangled in his hair.

“Legion,” I cried. “Legion, please.”

He was silent.

As best I could, I hugged his shoulders to my body and buried my face in his neck and cried. Vaguely, I sensed the others had come closer. Siv sniffled. If Tor and Halvar had words in their heads, they didn’t say them.

Silently, I begged Legion to return. But I knew he wouldn’t.

Through my clenched eyes a white glow shone, blinding me.

“What the hells?” Halvar muttered.

I peeked and startled. The patches of Legion’s blood had started swirling in an incoherent pattern. Lining the curve of the serpent’s coils, the points of the thorns. Everywhere it touched, a bright glow burst from the pattern. Legion’s body was surrounded. I released him and scrambled back.

Tor and Halvar cried out at the same moment. They crumbled, and like Legion were swallowed by the glow of light.

I sprinted to Siv, and we scurried away. Dumbfounded, I stared at the dome of light. It burst everywhere across the stone seal, chasing away the shadows in the trees, the darkness of the tombs. It burned like a star, then faded back into the earth, leaving us blinded to the darkness.

I blinked and rubbed at my eyes until they adjusted once again in the night.

Groans and painful shouts replaced the ethereal glow. On the stone, Halvar staggered to his feet first, then he helped gather Tor.

“Halvar,” I whispered.

He faced me. His eyes were piercingly black, his dark curls longer than before. Halvar stared at me strangely, seemed to recognize me, but said nothing. Tor was more changed. His body leaner, but with more divots in his muscle. His russet hair was dark as a raven’s wing now. His skin the brown of the trees.

He rubbed his forehead. “By the gods . . . I know . . . everything.”

Siv and I had frozen in place, entwined together, simply watching it all unfold.

But my knees knocked when at the place Legion had fallen, his body arched; he staggered to his hands and knees.

A grin, deliriously happy, spread over my face as I watched him stand. His back was to me, but he’d changed, too. His hair no longer the washed golden color. It was midnight blue, so dark it almost looked solid black, and struck his shoulders in messy waves.

He was alive.

Beaming, I took a step forward, but stopped when Halvar and Tor reacted too strangely not to be distracted.

The Guild of Shade stared in astonishment at Legion’s back, then they each bent a knee. They kneeled and bowed their heads.

Legion’s shoulders rose heavily as he caught his breath. His fists clenched at his sides, and I jumped back when he shouted rage at the sky. It wasn’t only the shout I felt. The earth shuddered with him. Stone trembled. Trees groaned and bent. A fissure snapped through the soil.

Siv and I hurried back again.

Legion grabbed his head. Doubtless all the memories he’d forgotten were rushing back. I was terrified, amazed, unsteady. Should I reach out to him, should I run? Hells, would he even remember me?

“Sol!” Legion roared. “Herja! By the gods, they killed them. Everyone.”

Tor’s body trembled with unmanaged anger. “Give us the order and we’ll see vengeance is had. It’s long overdue.”

I held my breath when Legion turned around. Part of me didn’t want to see differences, but the greater part could hardly wait for answers.

His black eyes remained, the strength of his jaw the same. His lips were curled into a snarl. Siv noticed before me. She dropped to her knees, muttering prayers. Then, I noticed his ears. They were the change. Instead of rounded, Legion’s ears came to a slight point. Fae ears.

Legion was Night Folk.

My mind reeled.

He was fae.

Cursed because he mattered.

He’d called out the name of the Sun Prince, of the Ettan princess. His anger, it had moved the earth. I felt my jaw drop when he locked me in his black gaze.

Oh, hells.

“My Prince,” Halvar said in a kind of growl. “What would you have us do?”

He didn’t answer Halvar. Didn’t acknowledge him. He came to me; his eyes sending waves of fear and need to my stomach.

No longer Legion Grey.

I had helped free Valen Ferus. The Night Prince.