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The other two women each hooked an arm under his shoulders and began dragging him along the path. The male was kicking his booted feet, twisting to and fro, trying any way to break their hold on him. They acted as if they were hauling a sack of potatoes. They’d been trained extensively on how to handle his kind.

And how to kill them.

“Where are you taking me? Where are we going?” he cried.

“Death’s Maiden has questions for you,” the third woman said as they threw him against the low garden wall. It was overgrown with thick ivy and thorns, and the male yelped as they cut into his palms, his skin, his face.

“No. Please, no,” he begged. “I will take the third over her!”

Death’s Maiden crouched before him, tilting his head back with her finger to peer into his eyes. “Oh, Death Incarnate shall have her turn…when I am done with you.” There was nothing human in her eyes as she surveyed the male before her. “Seven years ago you were hired to kill my mother…and me.”

At those words, the man began trembling. “You— You are the daughter. You are the one who— You’ve been missing for the last seven years.”

“Apparently, I’ve been found.”

She plunged a dagger up through the bottom of the man’s foot, right through his boot. The tip came out the other side, slicing through the laces.

The male screamed again, sobbing. “It was a paying job. He tricked me. I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know who you were killing? That seems highly unlikely,”Death’s Maiden said with a laugh tinged with madness. She pulled another dagger from her boot as she remained crouching before him. “Who was with you that day?”

“I cannot say,” he sobbed again.

“Well, that is a pity,” she sighed. Then she brought that dagger down into the male’s thigh.

“I cannot say,” he cried, breathing through his teeth around the pain. “I am forbidden. I am bound by ancient blood magic. I cannot say.”

“Foolery,” the third, Death Incarnate, snapped. “There is no one here who can do such magic. Magic is not found here.”

“There is,” the male gasped. “I swear it!”

“He lies,” she snarled, bringing her eyes to meet Death’s Maiden’s.

“Perhaps he does. I don’t give a shit.” She stood. “We have hours to discover if he is indeed feeding us lies.” Dracon began thrashing again, writhing on the ground. “Tell me, Dracon, did you know that your Fae magic will not heal you here?”

Dracon was trembling violently now. “I didn’t know your mother was who she was until it was too late. I swear it!”

Death’s Maiden only smirked. “Do you remember exactly how you killed my mother? How you took her apart piece by piece? Because I do. I was hidden in a trash bin in that alley and saw the whole fucking thing.”

Dracon began whimpering as the other two women came to her side. The three of them stood gazing down at him, cruelty on every line of their faces. They all drew daggers from their cloaks and advanced.

Dracon’s screams began anew.

Scarlett Monrhoe woke to Dracon’s screams still echoing in her mind. She rarely dreamt of that night anymore. This dream was actually a happy memory. She was usually jarred from the depths of slumber by nightmares that had her drenched in sweat and her throat raw from screaming. They were the reason she hadn’t slept well in months,so she wasn’t entirely surprised she’d fallen asleep in the middle of the day.

She sat draped over a chair with the early afternoon sun filtering into the parlor of the Tyndell Manor. The tea she’d been sipping on had long since grown cold beside her. The book she had been reading was still in her lap, open and waiting. It was a rather old leather-bound book she’d stumbled upon a few days ago. She’d been through the small Tyndell library numerous times and didn’t know how she’d missed the book when searching the shelves for something new, but there it had been, sticking out like a sore thumb on the shelf.

It was not just about the fallen kingdom of Avonleya. That kingdom had been on a continent across the sea but had been defeated when they sought to overthrow King Deimas and Queen Esmeray. The king and queen gave their lives for the war by using their magic to not only defeat and lock away the Avonleyans but also to protect them from the Fae Courts to the north and south of their human lands. Their sacrifices had provided the humans protection from the Fae who desired to enslave the mortals that shared the continent. This book, however, went into more detail about the conquered kingdoms: things she hadn’t been taught in her extensive studies, details about their strange magic, and the gods and long extinct bloodlines.

“Are you really going to just sit in here and read all day?” a young woman drawled from the doorway, her hip propped against the door frame. Her golden hair was braided and swept to the side. Scarlett smirked at Tava Tyndell, daughter of the Lord of the house. The two girls were very different. Scarlett was all confidence and swagger. Tava was entirely submissive and gentle on the outside, the way Ladies of nobility were trained to be from a young age, but she was clever enough and enjoyed getting into a little trouble with Scarlett every now and then. The fact that Scarlett wasn’t raised in a noble household accounted for their stark differences, but the girls were friends nonetheless.

“Unless you have something better in mind, I’m quite content to lounge in the sun all day,thank you very much,” Scarlett replied, her attention turning back to the book.

“She is waiting for you. Out in the training quarters,” Tava whispered, fidgeting with her spirit amulet at her neck. Three interlocked circles, side-by-side— the symbol of Falein, the goddess of cleverness and wisdom.

Scarlett slowly dragged her eyes back to her. “How long has she been here?”

Tava’s voice was hushed. “Only a few minutes. She nearly made my heart stop when she stepped from the shadows and sent me to you right away.”