Page 3 of A Curse of Breath and Blood (The Mind Breaker #1)

2 AELIA

While the barkeep poured me a drink, I surveyed the dingy pub. Low-lit candles struggled against the darkness, casting the room in shadow. Ripped wallpaper adorned the decrepit walls. The stench of old ale and sweat hung heavy in the air.

Downing the shot of brown liquid, I let the alcohol burn away the stress of the day. Warmth spread through my body.

Patrons huddled near a massive fireplace, trying to stay warm as a winter wind rattled the windows. At the other end of the bar, a group of soldiers cheered, clinking their mugs together. A tall, broad-shouldered young commander with dusty brown hair caught my eye. I flashed him a flirtatious smile. He returned it with a smile.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Traitorous Queen herself…” A voice as cold as frost-covered glass sent a shiver down my spine.

I dug my nails into the grease-laden bar, turning to face a ghost from my past. He hadn’t changed a bit since last I’d seen him—still as tall and thin as always. A shock of white cascaded down the center of his pale head. Why had he come back to haunt me ?

I stilled my face into a stoic look, hoping it hid my churning stomach.

“What do you want, Lucius?” I picked at my nails carelessly. His lord could not be far away.

“You know why I’m here, Aelia.” He cocked his head. Disdain clouded his black eyes.

I arched an eyebrow. “You can tell your lord I’m busy.” Taking another drink of liquor, I hoped it would give me the courage to face the man whose heart I shattered into a million pieces. My fingers tingled as the alcohol worked its way through my system.

“It’s serious, Aelia.” He leaned in, the scent of his beloved mint leaves heavy on his breath. “He’s found something.”

I paused; my thumbnail still wedged under my ring finger. “Bullshit.”

“Read my mind and see if I’m lying.” He tapped his temple with an immaculately manicured finger.

“I don’t work for free.” I signaled for the barkeep to pour me another drink.

Lucius caught my hand before I could down the shot, spilling some of the chestnut liquid onto the bar. “I did not travel to the end of the world to play games with you.” A muscle ticked in his jaw as he tried to contain his ire for me.

“Pity. I love games. Especially ones where I get to upset the infamous Spy Master of the Stormlands.” I ran my free hand through his long, silken hair. Exhilaration rushed through my veins at the sight of his cold eyes and pinched mouth.

“We don’t have time for this nonsense.” Lucius carried an air of intensity about him, but the fact they were here at the edge of the continent told me they found something tangible. His lord wouldn’t have traveled to the edge of the world for nothing.

I pouted my bottom lip. “But we’re having so much fun here.”

“Grow up, Aelia.” His words soaked in disdain.

“Fine,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.

He released me, and I tipped my head back, letting the dark liquor burn my throat. My head buzzed.

“He’s waiting upstairs,” Lucius said through gritted teeth.

“Lead the way.” I pulled out a cigarette to calm my nerves, making him wait until I lit it.

Lucius turned and parted the crowd. I followed him up the creaky stairs to a small suite. He knocked four times.

Pushing my hair behind my ears, I took a deep breath.

A mammoth, sylph man with umber skin and pale green eyes answered the door. The sigil of the Stormlands, a bolt of lightning striking an oak tree, embossed in his armor—Roderick Bonecleaver, general of the Court of Storm’s armies.

I strained my neck to see the room behind him, but he took up most of the doorway.

“Took you long enough,” he said to Lucius. His deep voice commanded attention.

“I told you she wouldn’t come easily,” Lucius replied, pushing his way past Roderick.

Taking a drag from my cigarette, I lingered in the curling smoke before stepping into the light cutting through the dark hallway.

“Aelia! It’s been a long time.” Roderick’s perfectly shaped lips curved into a disarming smile. My chest lightened as he squeezed me tight.

His sylph fangs gleamed like pearls in the flickering candlelight. A reminder of the creatures they were before their goddess, Illya, blessed them with her blood. Turning them into something resembling a human but with the strength of one hundred men.

“It’s nice to see you too, Roderick,” I squeaked out.

He set me down.

Lucius glowered at us.

“Let’s get this over with.” Running my fingers through my hair, I prepared to see the man who had owned my heart for nearly ten years.

“After you.” Roderick stepped aside, creating a path for me.

A mix of fear and anticipation coiled in my stomach. Part of me wanted to puke, part of me wanted to run. No, Aelia. Face your fears. I straightened and stepped into the dingy room.

Time stopped at the sight of Caiden Stormweaver, Lord of the Court of Storms, sitting at a small table in the dim room. Golden hair cascaded in waves over his sculpted brow. His square jaw pebbled with stubble. Blue eyes fixed on mine.

My fingers twitched with the memories of summer days spent lying on the grass, exploring each other’s bodies. Memories I wish I could erase. The irony in being one of the last telepaths on the continent—I could erase anyone’s mind but my own.

Regret rotted in my stomach, but somehow, I willed my feet to move.

“Please take a seat.” He motioned to the worn chair in front of him.

Chewing the side of my lip, I wiped my sweating palms on my pants in hesitation.

He held up his hands. “No tricks, I promise.” His voice was as smooth as aged brandy.

I took the seat, noting all the exits. A small window I could easily break through to my left and the door behind me. “I assume you’re here about the oath, Caiden,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He nodded. “Yes, blood oaths are not easily undone. I promised I’d protect you and your sister. So here I am, at the edge of the world, making good on my promise.”

The gold in his hair caught in the flickering candlelight.

My anger did not stop my breath from hitching when I peered into his soft eyes. The same eyes I remember staring back at me all those years ago when our flesh and souls had become one .

Caiden pushed an unruly piece of hair out of his face. “I have located Baylis.”

“Bullshit. Have you come here to taunt me?” Hope flickered in my chest, but I dared not give it air.

Caiden examined the shabby room while a winter wind battered the windows. “Do you think I traveled all this way for a joke?”

“I think you’ve traveled further for less.” I gave him a snarky look.

A flame crackled in the hearth.

He held up his hand. A ring of gold encircled his fourth finger. “I’m not here to win you back, Aelia.”

Thorns grew in my throat. He’d moved on.

Caiden’s eyes would not meet mine, making me squirm in my chair. “It gets worse.”

I ground my teeth together. A pressure building inside me.

“Gideon has her.”

A breath escaped my chest at the name. Gideon Ironheart, King of the Highlands, my husband. “No shit. I’ve suspected that for five years. What proof do you have? I know every inch of his palace. Every place he would hide her. Every secret he keeps. And I haven’t found so much as a whiff of Baylis.”

“My scouts saw her in Gideon’s traveling party, making their way towards the Woodland Realm.” Lucius’s eyes told me I should be worried, but I had become ignorant of the politics of men and magus since I fled Ryft Edge.

“Are you sure it was her? Could have been a body double? Could have been a glamour to lure me out of hiding. Could have been a coincidence.”

“Trust me. My men are very good at what they do.” He leaned back in his chair.

Matching his stance, I bit my lower lip. “I trust you and your men about as far as I can throw them. ”

Caiden let out an exasperated sigh. “I knew this was a waste of time. I should have known you’d never believe me. Guess I’ll save Baylis myself.”

My chest tightened. I compressed my insides. He had my goat, and he knew it. “Fine, I’ll bite. What else do you know?”

A smile tugged at the corner of Caiden’s mouth. “We think he’s planning to offer her as a gift to the Alder King.”

“Why would the Alder King want my sister?”

Caiden mulled over his words, rubbing his jaw. “We think Gideon will claim she has your mother’s gift of sight.”

“Psh. Neither my sister nor I can see into the future.”

Caiden shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s been years since any of us have seen Baylis. Perhaps her powers manifested, after all.”

The last time I saw Baylis, we were lowering our father into the ground.

“If Baylis had powers, I would know.”

“We all know Gideon has ways of manifesting powers,” Roderick said, tapping his temple.

“You don’t have to tell me how Gideon can manifest powers.” I traced my finger down the side of my face where a glamour now covered a jagged scar. “Great, tell me where she is, and I’ll go rescue her.”

“I know you’ve been on your own for a while, but I need your help with this. I have an oath to fulfill, too, if you remember,” Caiden said.

“Oh, the oath you took before you sent my sister into the wild by herself?” I took a drag off my cigarette, letting the smoke fizzle in my lungs.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, Caiden sighed. “If we’re pointing fingers, why don’t we talk about who leaked the information to Highlands leading to the downfall of your kingdom.”

A challenge. I let out a long, billowing plume of smoke.

Pressing my palms onto the table, I pushed myself up. “You don’t know what it was like in that palace. Under Gideon’s thumb. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t even know what I was doing.”

“Oh, don’t give me that excuse. We always have a choice.” He shook his head, dismissing my pain.

He thought he had me, but I knew where to twist the knife.

“Just like you had the choice to save me, and you didn’t.”

His face went pale.

That’s right, I know which scars to reopen.

“I’ve apologized for that a million times. I can’t go back in time, Aelia. What do you want me to do?”

A wave of emotion washed over me at the thought of our final goodbye all those years ago. Why was this happening now? Why did I let him affect me after all these years? I took another drag off my cigarette. Anything to distract me from the emotions bubbling in my stomach. The events of the day, combined with the alcohol coursing through my veins, made me emotional. Exhausted, I gave in. “Fine, tell me what you know.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “We believe she will be offered at the Alder King’s Yule Revelry. Though there’s one tiny hiccup.” Caiden scrunched his fingers together. “We don’t have an invitation… yet.”

I leaned back in my chair, praying for something stronger than a cigarette to ease my nerves.

“Yet?” I asked. “The son of a high lord can’t get any invitation he wants? I have not been an emissary in a long time, but I remember you can’t go anywhere near the Alder Palace without an invitation.”

Mischief gleamed in his blue eyes. “That’s why we’re going to have to steal one. ”

“Ah, no. I’m a telepath. I’ll find a way into the Alder Palace by myself. Thanks.” I headed toward the hallway.

A hand grabbed mine. I turned to see a curvy witch with curly brown hair and a face full of freckles bound through the door.

My heart lightened at the sight of Amolie, my trusted friend and confidant.

“What are you doing here?” I said, half-mad, half-relieved to see my friend.

“Caiden invited me. He thought you would need someone with my set of skills.” She wiggled her fingers at me.

Turning to Caiden, I said, “I’m assuming this is how you found me.” I noted they hadn’t sent Amolie to confront me. Lucius must have wanted the pleasure of that all for himself.

Caiden would not meet my gaze. “It’s not important how I found you. What’s important is we leave at dawn, and you need to be ready.” Caiden stood, straightening his embroidered tunic.

“You’re not going to tell me the plan?” I tried not to wobble, but the liquor poisoning my blood made the room spin.

Caiden moved closer to me. The smell of leather and horses still clung to his skin. “You’re drunk, Aelia. Sober up, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

“Do not get me killed, Lord Stormweaver,” I said through gritted teeth.

Caiden paused by the door. “It’s a good thing you’re hard to kill, Springborn.” Lightning flashed in his eyes.

I couldn’t help but remember the young man I had fallen for all those years ago. The one who waited for me in darkened alleyways. The one who held me close when the world fell apart. I snapped my fingers nervously, trying to distract myself from the ache in my heart.

“We leave at dawn, Aelia. Don’t be late,” Caiden said as he headed out, his entourage in tow.

“I didn’t say I was coming,” I yelled after them .

“Dawn!” Caiden’s voice echoed through the old halls.

I huffed, blowing a stray strand of dark hair out of my face. Exhausted, I didn’t want to feel anymore. I didn’t want to think. I wanted to sink into a warm bath and hold my breath until my lungs begged for air. Scream until I had no voice left.

I lingered in the empty room, pouring pink dust in small lines onto the table. Once used for battlefield pain, pixie dust, or “dust,” the product of the elusive pixie faerie. Their magic dust had no effect on the magus, fully magical creatures like the elves and sylph, but for humans and half-breeds, the cravings were insatiable.

An expert at dosing, my usage became scientific. A pinch to take the edge off, one line to numb me. The color affected the potency. I examined the dust—a solid shade of fuchsia—incredibly potent. Just a pinch would do. I looked at my use medicinally, only using what I needed to get through the long nights.

I didn’t want to think anymore. Snorting the drug, I let it fizzle in my brain. My eyelids drooped, and my head felt heavy on a wobbly neck. In a matter of moments, my life had been turned upside down. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of Gideon doing to Baylis what he had done to me all those years ago.

I made my way back downstairs, gripping the handrail for balance, and signaled to the bartender for another drink. He obliged when I put a gold coin down on the counter.

Lazily sipping a glass of whiskey, I tried not to think about what lay ahead of me when the sun rose. The young captain sidled beside me at the bar.

He gave me a wide smile. “I thought you left.”

My chest tingled at the nearness of his body to mine. I moved closer. The scent of sweat from a day of training lingered on his skin. Twining my arms around his neck, I took in his appearance. A muscular build with brown bedroom eyes and a thick mop of wavy brown hair—not bad for a human.

“How could I leave someone as handsome as you behind?” I whispered into his ear. His pulse quickened as he ran his hands over my body.

Gideon took everything from me—my home, my family, my lover, my looks, but he couldn’t take my body. I learned sex could be a way to both bury my feelings and feel good about myself.

I ran my tongue up his neck. The salty taste of sweat filled my mouth. “Let me take you home,” I whispered.

He didn’t resist when I pulled him toward the door.

I needed to forget Caiden, to forget the ring on his finger, to forget the anxiety welling in my chest.

Tonight, I would pour all my feelings into this young man as if he could fill the emptiness in my soul.