Page 2 of A Curse of Breath and Blood (The Mind Breaker #1)

1 AELIA

FIVE YEARS LATER

The guards beat him to a pulp before I arrived.

I stood with my hands crossed over my chest, drumming my fingers on my arm. Usually, I knew the full details of a job when an employer came looking for me, but kings don’t send forewarning, the Winter King least of all.

The uneasiness pricking at the back of my neck made the raging winter storm outside seem more welcoming than any tavern room gold could provide. A fireplace at the end of the hall crackled as it fought the cold. Shreds of firelight peered from behind the broad frame of the Winter King. Though his body blocked the heat, it did not stop the bits of shadows dancing on the young boy’s beaten face.

“Destroy him,” the king’s voice shattered through my ears.

I gazed at the soldier, no older than seventeen, with a bloodied lip and an eye so swollen, I wondered if it would ever heal. Still, he stared back at me. A slick sweat coated his brow.

“Will it hurt, Miss?” His brown eyes full of fear.

I crouched down. “Only if you resist me.”

I did not break bodies; I broke minds .

Acne still dotted the soldier’s face. His youth made me flinch, and I hoped the king didn’t notice. Why did he want this boy to suffer?

As if answering my question, the king’s daughter burst in, flooding the room with a bone-chilling cold.

“Please, Father…” With clenched fists, her eyes darted between her father and the boy. “Please spare him.” Head held high, she threw herself between them.

My eyes snapped to the king. Grinding his jaw, he reached for his daughter, yanking her away.

I ran my hand through my hair—a nervous tick I picked up to ease the tension building in my chest. Breathe, Aelia, do not let your affinity for young love get the better of you.

The king stared at his daughter. His mouth bracketed tight. A spasm hooked the corner of his eye. In an instant, his long years of diplomatic training erased every trace of emotion from his face, hiding it away—but even the best liars have a tell. Hidden in the loose curl of a fist, the tip of his thumb worries an incongruously simple gold band on his ring finger. Thinking of his dead queen, perhaps? I could work with that.

Bowing my head, I pleaded with his more sentimental side, “May I make a suggestion, Your Majesty?”

“I am not paying you for your opinion, mercenary,” he snapped at me.

Mercenary —he spat the name at me. A knot twisted in my stomach. Once, I was a queen. Now, I’d break the mind of whomever they put before me so long as they had enough gold to pay.

“Perhaps I might suggest a compromise?”

The princess’s youthful face brightened with hope.

“Go on…” The king crossed his arms over his chest.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I stalled for time, choosing my words wisely. “Let me erase the princess from this boy’s mind and replace it with a life of celibacy. He will serve you faithfully until his death. I guarantee it.”

The young man’s shoulders stiffened as his eyes bounced back and forth between the king and me. He did not dare to look at the princess.

“Yes, please, Father. Please let her erase his mind.” Tears streamed down the girl’s face. “And… mine too,” she said through sniffles, daring to approach the boy. “I don’t want to live without him.” She ran a dainty hand down the boy’s still-round face.

A fragment of a memory flashed through my mind of hands entwined, a breath on my neck, stolen glances from across a crowded room.

I swallowed the thickness growing in my throat, pushing back the memories of my youth, of the love I lost.

“Out of the question!” he snarled. His brow furrowed in brief regret before he hid the weakness away. He tried again, softer, “We have a responsibility, my darling. As regents, we must never compromise the secrets or security of our kingdom. Certainly, we must never let a magus go digging through their mind.”

“No.” The princess rushed to her father, yanking on his crossed arms, hoping her touch would make him understand. “This is what you wanted. I don’t want to live every day knowing he’ll never remember what we had.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Please give me this mercy.”

The king softened. “Very well. Erase both their memories.”

“Thank you, Father.” The princess embraced the king, turning his once stern face red.

The young man relaxed, his shoulders drooping.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself. To enter another’s mind is to enter a maze. You don’t know where it leads, and you don’t know if you can escape before the hedges close in on you. Slowing my heart rate, I focused on calming memories—the smell of my horse, Arion, the sun kissing my face. Going into a mind without stilling your own could trigger defenses.

I closed my eyes, reaching deep inside myself for my power. I knocked on the simple peasant door leading to the boy’s mind.

Click , the door swung open.

Show me the love you shared with the princess. Start at the beginning.

He took me to where he first met the princess—the palace’s great hall. Garlands of flowers hung from the rafters, filling the room with the scent of lilac and jasmine—an Ostara celebration. From across the room, the princess and the soldier locked eyes. She gave him a coy smile, sending his pulse racing.

A sharp pain clawed at my heart. Fragments of my past invaded my mind. A stolen smile, a kiss under the cover of darkness, this could have been me—had been me.

Slamming the door on my nostalgia, I focused on the task at hand; sweat dripped down my temples. One by one, I erased every kiss, every glance, every loving embrace. I took every memory until his unyielding allegiance belonged to the Winter King rather than his former beloved.

A slow breath escaped my lips. I worked through his mind, trying to keep the parts of him I could. I worked with a surgeon’s precision, clipping the princess’s lacy outline from every memory. Were I to take too much, his entire personality could change. Too little, and her face disappears but the absence remains, little fragments worming through the brain like an unscratchable itch.

The boy’s dark head hung low. His shoulders rising and falling with shallow breaths. The smell of sweat replaced the smell of fear.

“It is done.”

“Is he… alive?” The king leaned in to get a closer look .

Raising his head, the boy’s eyes shone with the vigor of a hunter eager for the kill. “My King, my life is yours.”

The cracking of my knees echoed through the lavish chamber as I stood. “He is your acolyte now. He will follow you until his bitter end, and perhaps even in death, he will remain loyal.”

The silver-haired king’s face lit with pleasure. “Very well.” The king motioned to two guards who led the boy out while the princess looked on, tears streaming down her face.

My fingers itched to light the cigarette in my pocket—a ritual I saved for after a completed job. Thinking about smoke burning in my lungs set me at ease. Even now I could taste the spice of clove on my tongue.

“Are you ready?” I asked the princess. Breaking one mind exhausted me; breaking two would deplete me. Already, my arms hung heavy at my sides, and my eyes begged for sleep.

The princess nodded, although her body trembled with fear.

“Give me a moment.” I crouched down once more to collect myself. My hair escaped its leather tie, swinging down to curtain off my face, hiding my exhaustion. Do this, and you can charge twice as much, Aelia. Do this, and you can drink yourself stupid later . Wiping my sweaty palms on my pants, I inhaled the dry air of the overheated throne room. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

The king signaled for a seat for the princess, and two attendants eagerly carried a plush chair over.

Gripping the arms of the chair tightly, her knuckles turned white. The princess steadied herself.

“I promise it won’t hurt. But you must show me everything. I cannot leave a memory to fester.”

She nodded, her shoulders slumping.

I chewed on the sandy taste filling my mouth—an unfortunate side effect of telepathy. “Close your eyes and show me the love you shared with the soldier,” I said, reaching out my mind once again .

A large iron door engraved with the sigils of the Winter Kingdom—two giant white bears fighting, greeted me. Their teeth bared in a sign of strength.

I pushed the doors open, but instead of the Ostara celebration, I entered her bed chambers. The princess stared down at a field of frost tipped wheat. Below, the young soldier laughed with his friends. My pulse quickened. Had he seen her too? Was there more left in his mind I did not take? Hurriedly, I erased the memory, hoping there weren’t any others.

With exhaustion biting at the corners of my vision, I cut precisely and with haste. In my tired state, the princess’s psyche could sense me. Whereas on a full night’s rest I was invisible; tired, I became a thorn in the girl’s mind, hacking away at her precious memories.

I had to get out.

The psyche wanted me gone. Members of the crowd turned their heads to face me.

I erased them as fast as I could.

Another memory. A stolen kiss. A stranger with their hand over my mouth. Jamming my elbow into soft flesh, I took what I could. I hated sloppy work, but I did not have the luxury of time on my side.

Cutting more like a butcher than a surgeon, I wiped the rest of the girl’s memories. Sweet and innocent. Their love faded to nothingness in her mind.

The princess opened her eyes. “Who are you?” she asked, blinking at me.

I pushed down the bile rising in the back of my throat.

“No one.” I slowly backed away. The chill of winter clinging all at once to my back.

“Your payment,” the king said, motioning for an attendant, who presented me with a sack of gold and a ruby the size of a goose egg .

I packed both away in my satchel. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

On my way out of the throne room, I caught a glimpse of the king and his daughter embracing. Jealousy tugged at my heart. No warm embrace waited for me tonight. Only the bite of a stiff drink and a pinch of dust lull Aelia Springborn, Queen of the Highlands, to sleep.