Page 8 of A Crown of Tears and Treason (The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows #1)

Chapter

Eight

EVIE

“ W atch out!” I grabbed Kaya’s hand and pulled her behind me, switchblade already raised.

Vexa had a dagger in her hand, eyeing me like she couldn’t decide where to tackle me first or stab me outright. The Commander had tensed, too. But everyone looked at me , like I was the dangerous one and not the gigantic snake flicking its tongue at us.

“No, no.” Kaya laughed. “It’s harmless.”

“It’s a snake.” Back at the cabin, a snake meant death. I knew how to frighten one long enough to slip to safety.

“It’s a green snake,” Kaya said patiently. As if that mattered.

“Yes, perfect camouflage,” I said. “Now let’s get away until he leaves.”

The Commander sighed and flicked his fingers. His eye sparked as steely, ethereal tendrils wound around a fallen branch with a forked tip.

Everything stilled as he raised the branch toward the snake. My insides twisted with a curious mix of excitement, envy, and fear. He was doing it. Using magic. Minor magic, simple spells for simple tasks. My fingers tensed against my bloody dress, mimicking his movements, as if I could steal the method through sheer hope alone.

The snake flicked its forked tongue at me one more time before using the branch to glide from the roof onto the nearest tree.

“Around here, you only have to be scared of razorback snakes. Yellow, super sharp scales, and very rare, they nest deep in the jungle. Once they grow up, one bite could kill an entire army,” Kaya said as everyone kept staring at me like I was insane. “The rest are harmless.”

Well, didn’t I feel stupid standing there with my weapon raised, ready to…ready to what? Defend a member of the enemy Clan, that’s what.

My cheeks heated up instantly and I dropped my hand.

“But thanks for your concern,” Kaya said, just as gently.

“Sure,” I muttered, hoping this spotless path would open up and swallow me whole.

These were Blood Brotherhood members. The enemy Clan. I needed to remember that.

“You’re here. You’re unharmed. You’re alive.” The Commander blinked and the tendrils vanished. “I’m done here.”

“You’re in a mood today,” Kaya said.

He rolled his eyes before slashing them in my direction. “Careful around this one, Kaya. She’s hard to understand.”

His words still stuck in my mind after he got back in the carriage and left in a rush of hooves and falling leaves. What was there to understand? I wasn’t some feral, threatening creature, though they acted like it.

“Don’t mind him, he’s upset about the wedding,” Kaya said.

“Aren’t we all?” I said.

“Of course not.” Kaya linked her arm with mine, like we were bosom buddies, and guided me through the gates, into what was meant to be an inner garden, but only had a bench and parched earth to its name. A shame, really, when the house surrounding it was so perfectly elegant and breathtaking.

I was so taken aback by Kaya’s casual gesture, I only sobered once we got inside the house.

This was just for me? One person? All this marble and mahogany furniture trimmed with gold and this luscious carpet I could sink into? Everything from the tiles to the filigree cornices had a flower motif, in shades of pink and purple, with small clouds painted on the walls in the corners.

It looked like a cloud, and it smelled heavenly, sweet and honeyed and clean . I shook my head. There I went again, attracted to shiny, sparkly things. I could almost hear my parents’ hums of disappointment.

What was I doing here?

I was a stranger in blood-spattered clothes, getting weird looks from members of an enemy Clan, that’s what.

Exit points, that’s what I should be concerned with.

The hatch windows in the back looked like they only unlocked from the inside.

Good.

Only one set of main doors, with a heavy bolt.

Even better.

“I need to take a bath.” Basic needs first. Blood attracted insects, and filth could bring death. “And change into something less gruesome.”

Kaya looked relieved as we stopped in a vast space that looked to be a formal dining room, but was now filled with rows upon rows of clothes stretching between every available surface, from the large table to the silverware cupboards. “Thank the gods. I was starting to think you were one of those Clan members.”

“Which ones?”

“The kind who love mayhem and gore,” Kaya said as sweetly as the perfume around us. “Now let’s get you some clean clothes.”

That did sound good. The corset was digging in places that should only be handled gently.

“Pick whichever one you like.” Kaya waved at the lines of silks and lush velvets. And gold. So much gold I couldn’t stop staring.

This felt too familiar. I knew what it was like to have too many options then none at all. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Kaya misread the grimace on my face.

“Don’t worry, this is just the summer wardrobe,” she said with an apologetic tone. “This is just temporary, all the clothes will be organized in your closet upstairs. We were in a bit of a rush, nobody really knew you were coming.”

I doubted anyone was more surprised than me. “There aren’t enough days in the summer to wear everything.”

“Our summers are longer. And you’ll be our future queen. You need a wardrobe to match.”

Right. Because I was stuck in the Citadel and an endless summer, apparently.

Fine. If the Blood Brotherhood wanted to waste their money on me, I wasn’t about to complain I didn’t have to patch my own coat any longer. But I wouldn’t rely on it. No getting used to opulence.

“We need to get that off you.” Kaya made a move toward the ribbons at the back of my dress.

I stepped back. “I got this.”

No Blood Brotherhood stranger would be touching my bare skin, thanks.

I didn’t trust Kaya. She was Blood Brotherhood, of course I didn’t trust her, no matter how friendly she seemed.

“Oh. Sure.” Kaya’s smile was forced.

I maneuvered my switchblade so it was tucked against my wrist for easy access. Keeping my eyes on her, Vexa, and Goose, my hands went behind me.

Vexa frowned. She grabbed Goose’s shoulders, and turned them around. Goose’s ears turned the same shade of red as my gate.

Nice of them to give me some privacy, but I’d washed the shyness off me in the freezing creek.

Slowly, ribbon by ribbon, pull by pull, I began to unlace the cage I’d worn for gods-knew how many days.

Kaya nodded at my dress. “That looks…uncomfortable.”

“Yes, the corset’s trying to break my ribs,” I said distractedly.

“I heard what happened at the wedding,” she said softly. All of her movements were soft, as if she didn’t want to scare me. She reminded me of my cousins. “I heard your groom…died. May the gods have mercy on his soul.”

“They won’t. He didn’t have mercy for anyone while he was alive.”

After a few seconds of stunned silence, she huffed a surprised laugh. It sounded so at odds with her perfectly poised demeanor.

“Oh, he is going to just love you,” she muttered.

“Who?”

“Your other groom. You know, the one who’s still alive.”

The crown prince? “I’ve already met him. There was no love to be had.”

“Trust me. I’ve known him since he used sticks to sword fight. I know what he likes and what he doesn’t.”

Great. So the famed Dragon had been into fighting since he could walk. That’s why he was so good at it.

My hands stilled. “Does he like murdering people?”

“I know meeting during a massacre isn’t great, even when it comes to Clans, but he isn’t horrible–”

That wasn’t an answer and I had to know . Had I just agreed to spend the rest of my life with someone who killed just because he could? That’s what I’d hated most about Fabrian. He would destroy a thousand lives just because he’d had a bad day.

“Murdering people. Does he like it?” I pressed on.

“I don’t think so,” Kaya said at last. “He has a good soul, deep, deep down. But leading a Clan and protecting your civilians requires some harsh decisions. And now he will protect you too.”

“Funny. I was taught I needed protection from him.”

“Clan members come in all shapes and moralities. You will need to be protected.”

Didn’t that sound ominous and concerning.

Everyone wanted to protect me. I didn’t look all that menacing, but I’d lived to my twenty-first year with nothing but a switchblade and pure will. How many Clan members could say that?

The dress finally pooled at my feet, leaving me in nothing but my corset. Good riddance. I rolled my bare shoulders. “That feels good.”

“This is nothing compared to our wedding dresses,” Kaya said.

“That heavy?”

Her top lip curled. “Worse.”

I huffed a laugh. “What else happens at a Blood Brotherhood wedd–”

A threatening march resounded outside these pretty walls, stealing the rest of my words.

Coming close.

Closer.

Fast.

Through the open doors leading to the veranda, I saw a black cloud made up of dozens of guards with sharp helmets and even sharper spears thundering through the garden, up the steps. They stopped in front of the doors and stepped to the side, two by two, perfectly in sync, revealing him .

The crown prince.

The Dragon.

And he looked pissed.

Dressed in a long red and gold robe that billowed behind him and with the markings of royalty in every stitched symbol, he looked even more imposing. And how, in all of Malhaven, did he seem even taller?

Everyone kneeled around him, including Kaya. The guards bowed as one, their armors clinking onto the wooden floor.

The only ones left standing were him and I, and he towered over all of us.

He took one look at my corset and stiffened. “Leave us. Now.”