Page 22 of A Curse of Breath and Blood (The Mind Breaker #1)

21 AELIA

I dreamed of my sister.

Baylis woke me in the middle of the night.

“ What’s going on? ” I asked, bolting upright.

A smile crossed her round face.

“ Shh… follow me. ” She held up a small lantern.

I pulled on my cloak, and we headed into the night. The Ostara festival had begun, and our parents were out dancing the night away. We made our way down the back stairwell, where Baylis grabbed a picnic basket.

“ What’s that for? ” I asked, sleep still clung to my eyes.

“ You’ll see. ”

The moist grass stuck to our feet as we scrambled to evade the guards. Our little hearts pounding in our chests as we hustled to the old lookout. Music from the Ostara festival floated on the crisp spring air.

We took the stairs two at a time until we reached the old lookout. Two blankets waited for us.

“ Did you plan this? ” I asked, shocked my little sister had so much foresight.

“ Happy Ostara, Aelia! ” she said, bringing out a bottle of sparkling wine she had nicked from the cellar. We shared sips, letting the bubbles go to our heads.

“ There’s one more thing. ” She pointed upward as fireworks burst overhead, illuminating the sky with bright lights.

“ I hope you like it, ” she said, sipping the bubbly wine.

“ I love it, Baylis. ” I pulled her in close for a hug.

We stayed until the fireworks ended and then snuck back into our beds, giggling to ourselves. Drunk on the idea we had gotten away with something.

The sound of our parents’ footsteps echoed down the hall. We shut our eyes, pretending to be asleep.

The door creaked open. Baylis and I did our best to pretend to be asleep.

“ They’re so precious, ” our mother said.

“ They really are beautiful, ” our father replied before shutting the door.

Baylis and I let out the laughs we had been holding in. Little did we know by the next Ostara, our lives would be completely different.

Suddenly, I was underwater, trying desperately to swim to the surface, but something dragged me down. My screams were muffled by the water filling my lungs.

I awoke covered in sweat, yearning for dust to calm my nerves. I reached for my cigarettes only to find they had been ruined.

Exhausted, dirty, and needing a bath, I rang the bell in my room. A young-looking elf with rosy cheeks appeared at my door within minutes.

“How can I help you?” he asked in a cheerful tone.

“I’d like to take a bath, and I’ll need a change of clothes.” I motioned to my torn gown.

Clicking his heels together, he tipped his hat at me. “Would you also like a wool cloak? Elves spin the finest wool in Moriana.”

“Yes.” I had no gold on me and, therefore, no way of paying for any of this. “Is it possible to send an invoice to my bank?”

The attendant looked up from drawing me a bath. “Lord Greenblade has covered all your expenses. He also asked me to give you these.” He handed me a leather pouch filled with clove cigarettes. A note lay inside.

I figured you would need these.

– Tharan

A mixture of excitement and guilt swirled in my heart. I should not feel this way. Caiden and I did not belong to one another, and soon, he would not know I existed. I needed to move on with my life and leave the past in the past.

An assortment of dresses lined my bed, each crafted in the elven style, favoring function over fashion. I chose a high-necked olive green one with golden leaves for buttons. In human lands, this dress would cost a month’s wages, and here I had four of them and a black cloak lined with fox fur.

My stomach grumbled with hunger. Caiden wouldn’t be up for hours. Perhaps Tharan would be awake.

Hesitantly, I knocked at his door.

Tharan answered, dressed in only his pants—his bare chest exposed. I tried not to stare at his toned body as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Well, if it isn’t the mystery woman,” he said, giving me a coy smile. My stupid knees weakened as he leaned a forearm on the doorframe.

“Thank you,” I said, giving him a wink. Who was I? I was a woman who gave winks, apparently. “Would you like to get something to eat?”I wiped my sweaty palms on the expensive dress .

Tharan yawned, stretching so I could see the muscles in his abdomen tighten. “Sure, come in. I’ll get dressed.” He left the door ajar and went to change. I hesitated before stepping in. Gideon’s words from the night before echoed in my head. Whore.

Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried to shake off the shame.

Tharan threw on a thick wool sweater, the color of stained oak, buttoning it to his chin.

We headed out onto the promenade, where elves gave us dirty looks. If it bothered Tharan, he did not show it. I envied the lightness of his steps.

We entered a large dining hall with long wood tables where elves sat chatting with one another, drinking wine, and eating roasted lamb.The smell of roasted meats and vegetables wafted through the air, making my stomach rumble.

Taking a seat at one of the less crowded tables, Tharan hailed a servant, ordering us ale and two plates of lamb stew. “Hope you’re hungry,” he said, handing me the tin plate.

“Starving,” I said, popping a roasted carrot into my mouth. The potent flavor exploded on my tongue. I devoured the rest without so much as a whisper to Tharan, who I noticed reached for seconds when a server came past.

We ate until our bellies groaned.

“Thank you for everything,” I said, sipping the mulled wine—savoring the taste of spices. Pulling the leatherbound cigarettes from my pocket, I placed them on the table between us.

Tharan’s face brightened. “You got my note.”

I had to admire anyone who could be cheerful after almost being killed several times in one night.

“I did.” Arching my eyebrows at him, a cigarette between my lips, I tried to be as seductive as possible. “Thank you.”

I exhaled the smoke into the hall.

Tharan took another drink of his mulled wine before reaching across the table and taking the cigarette from my hand .

Electricity roiled in my veins. Tharan exuded sensuality in a way I had never experienced before. Yes, Caiden possessed handsomeness, but Tharan was an entity unto his own. His scars displayed for the world to see instead of hidden beneath a glamour like mine.

“So, are you going to tell me who you are?” He took a drag from my cigarette, letting the smoke billow into the air. “Judging by your incisors, you’re not fully human.”

Taking back my cigarette, I brought it to my lips, letting the smoke burn in my lungs. “You are correct. I am a half-breed, as they say.”

“Interesting.” He leaned in closer. The candle’s light cast devious shadows across his scarred face. “Which sylph lord bed your mother?”

“None.” I bit my bottom lip, afraid to tell the truth. “Blood magic turned me.”

His expression darkened. “That’s punishable by death. I thought everyone knew that.”

My eyes flitted around the room. I couldn’t look at him—couldn’t tell him the truth. “It wasn’t my idea.” Tears welled behind my eyes. “I was turned against my will.”

Tharan reached for my hand. “Who?”

My words stuck in my throat. “King Gideon of the Highlands. He and I were… are… married.”

“Interesting.” Tharan leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

I took a long drag of my cigarette while I waited for his response.

“You probably think I’m a?—”

“I don’t think anything about you, Aelia Springborn.”

My shoulders dropped with relief, but still, I could not look at him.

Tharan leaned forward, hooking a finger under my chin, forcing our eyes to meet. “I have been around long enough to know—life sometimes places us in impossible situations.”

I sucked in a stifled breath. A heat grew between us. I wanted him to touch me, but I dared not move closer.

“I’m sure Caiden’s told you all about me.”

I let out a half-hearted laugh. “He told me you were not to be trusted.”

“He was right. You shouldn’t trust me.” Mischief gleamed in his emerald eye.

My breath hitched in my throat. “Why?”

“Because I am the Lord of Nothing. A bastard son who drinks too much wine and pours honey into the hearts of princesses, only to shatter them later.”

“Lucky for you, there is nothing left of my heart to break.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Tharan’s lips. “That makes two of us.”

We clinked our mugs together in acknowledgment of one another.

Tharan and I walked back to the inn in comfortable silence. I didn’t have to be anyone around him. The people who knew me before expected me to act like the old Aelia—the one they knew in Elyria before I married Gideon. That Aelia died a long time ago, and I couldn’t resurrect her.

Lanterns hung from every tree, giving the promenade a warm glow. Tharan walked with purposeful grace, keeping his hands behind his back. The lush I met in the Court of Sorrows replaced by a dignitary.

I did not know Tharan’s story, but if it mirrored my own, the scar on his heart proved worse than on his face .

“How about a smoke before we turn in?” Tharan motioned to the golden railing encircling the roof of the inn.

“Maybe one more,” I said, pulling the cigarettes from my cloak pocket. Excitement bubbled in my chest.

A quiet swept over the city as townsfolk turned in for the night. From where we stood, the lights of the town twinkled like stars on rolling hills laid out as far as the eye could see.

I lit a cigarette. “Have you been here before?”

Tharan tucked an unruly piece of hair behind his ear. “I was born here,” he said, taking out his own leather pouch of cigarettes and tapping the pack on the palm of his hand.

“So, your mother is from here?”

“No,” he chuckled. “My birth was a cursed one. She fled here to escape her father’s wrath.”

“Ah, it was a forbidden romance?” I arched an eyebrow.

Smoke plumed around Tharan. “Like you, I am a half-breed. You know the laws of this land. No elves and sylph may mate. Even if they are in love.”

“I guess I thought the law only applied to commoners,” I said, staring at the town blanketed in snow.

Tharan sighed. “My mother’s father is the elven king, Aerendir. It was a disgrace on the crown.”

I touched his arm tenderly. “What happened to her?”

“She was discovered here and taken back to the elven capital of Elohim and killed. I was sent to my father’s doorstep in a basket of thorns.” He took a long drag of his cigarette. “He hadn’t known my mother was pregnant.”

“You never knew your mother?” My heart broke for him. I couldn’t imagine never knowing my mother.

“No.” He lifted his head toward the heavens, silken hair shining in the moonlight. “Sometimes I like to imagine she looks down on me from wherever she is. ”

It would be easy to fall in love with Tharan. Few were this candid with a person they’d just met. He made you feel like every word he shared was a secret, known only to the two of you. I yearned to kiss him again, to alleviate whatever pain resided in his soul.

My tendency to fall in love too easily had always been my downfall. I would not step into a trap again. Tharan was an asset to exploit. For all I knew, he could be using me. I needed to give him something in exchange for the story about his mother—a wound for a wound.

“My father fell ill when I was young. He descended into madness before taking his own life on my twenty-fifth birthday.”

Tharan did not look upon me with pity as most others did. In his eyes, I saw a reflection of myself. “We are both children of sorrow,” he said, taking my gloved hand.

We stood together in the silence of the night. Here, we could be vulnerable with one another. Here, we were two people enjoying each other’s company. No titles branded us—a traitorous queen and a bastard prince.

When the winter wind became too much to bear, we reluctantly headed inside.

“I’ve enjoyed this time with you, Aelia. Even if you are still a mystery to me.”

A fuzzy feeling grew in my chest. “I as well, Lord of Nothing. I hope we can be friends in the future.”

He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “I’d like that,” he whispered in my ear.

Goosebumps pricked my skin, and my heart fluttered.I wanted to reach out and touch him, bring him closer to me.

But I was not that person anymore.