Page 36 of A Curse of Breath and Blood (The Mind Breaker #1)

35 AELIA

Pyres burned for three days.

None brighter than the former Alder King’s.

Dressed in a black satin dress and matching veil, I stood beside Caiden as the Stormlands honored their dead.

Priestesses from Ammena and Illya temples presided over the funeral ceremonies. Normally, humans are buried in the earth to return to the soil what they took from it in life. To honor their sacrifice, the few human kingdoms who had attended the revelry burned their dead along with the sylphs. Hoping Moriana would see the smoke and feel their grief.

Ursula fled to the sea, not bothering to return for the funeral—typical mermaid.

On the third day of the burning, Tharan assembled the heads of the courts to discuss their response to the attacks. Caiden and I sat with Roderick and Lucius.

The pain from the rot claiming my body for not upholding the deal with Caiden was still dull, but I knew the longer I waited, the worse it would get. Amolie cast a glamour to hide the dark mark. I looked for signs of the bargain taking its toll on Caiden but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“We should retaliate now! Hit the Highlands while they think we are licking our wounds.” The Lord of Rabbits slammed his fist on the long wooden table. An elder with long, gray hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, his face showed a fierceness in sharp contrast with his court’s name.

“It is unwise to attack the Highlands. They are allied with the Elven High King, Aerendir. We do not want to start another war.” Tharan took to the part of the Alder King well. He sat in the center of the center of the room, flanked by Sumac and the green sylph, Hopper. The crown of antlers gleamed in the firelight. Butterflies flitted in my stomach at the sight of him.

“War is at your door, young king,” a centaur with a jagged cut across his face chimed in. “There is no going back now. We must show strength.”

Caiden squeezed my hand under the table. I opened a line of communication between our minds.

‘ It is never wise to go to war ,’ Caiden’s voice filled my mind. ‘ Millions will die. There will be bloodshed for thousands of years. ’

I nodded. War represented the final recourse, yet the sylph hungered for conflict, their essence imbued by the goddess Illya.

Caiden stood, wearing the Court of Storms battle leathers, endowed with boning to conduct his lightning. “As the only court here, who answers to the Sylph Council, I will need to take this to the chairman. The sylph courts need to appear united. If the elven king hears we are divided, he will not hesitate to exploit our weaknesses.”

A grumbling rippled through the crowd. Tharan cleared his throat. “I am the leader of the Wild Courts. My word is the law. I will send my emissary to parlay with the Sylph Council. Until they return, no one is to attack the Highlands unless otherwise provoked.”

The lords returned to mumbling, but no one challenged Tharan’s word.

The meeting adjourned, and the courts returned to their homelands.

Caiden and the Court of Storms would return to the capital city of Vantris with Tharan’s emissary in the morning. Amolie and I would stay in the Woodland Realm and search for a cure for Baylis.

Caiden and I lay in bed together.

“I’m going to miss you,” I said. Caiden laid his head on my chest. “I didn’t think I’d ever say those words again, but I am.”

“I was stupid to make the bargain with you.” He hugged me tighter.

Pressure built behind my eyes. “We both said things we didn’t mean.”

“I wish I could take it back.”

A lump grew in my throat as I stroked his soft, blond hair. “I know.”

I pulled my sleeve back, wiping away the glamour Amolie had covered my arm with.

Caiden’s eyes widened at the sight of the mark. He pulled back his sleeve, revealing one of his own. “I wanted to keep loving you until I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I too covered it with glamour.” He sat on his knees, pulling me in close. “I’m sorry, Aelia. I’m sorry I did this to us.”

Our time was at an end. No more sweet kisses or stolen glances. No reminiscing about our youth. Only I would carry our memories. Cursed to remain while Caiden moved on .

“We did this to each other.” My words stuck in my throat as tears poured down my face.

The bargain needed to be completed before he left for Vantris tomorrow.

I struggled for air, the futility of our struggle cementing within me. There would be no reversing it. Tomorrow, I would gradually vanish from Caiden’s memory, like sand carried away by the wind.

“I love you,” I said, looking into Caiden’s blue eyes. “I know you won’t remember, but I hope your heart keeps the memory your mind won’t.”

Taking my face in his hands, he thumbed my cheek. “I will find a way back to you.” He kissed me passionately. “I love you, Aelia. I loved you even when I hated you, and I will keep a space in my heart for you until the end of time.” A promise he couldn’t keep.

Laying me down on the bed, tears wetting both our eyes, we indulged in one last night of passion.

Tomorrow, I would be a stranger to him.

We made love until the sun rose; neither wanted to waste our last precious moments together sleeping, hoping our bodies could convey what our words could not. Caiden held me until the morning bells chimed. I committed everything I could about him to memory. His smell, the dimples on his cheeks, the way one piece of his unruly hair fell over his eye. These memories were for me.

A knock woke us from our dream.

We quickly dressed.

“Come in.”

The door creaked open, and a sleepy-eyed Amolie strolled in carrying a comprehensive book and a mug of coffee.

“Sorry to disturb you, but I found something.” She laid the massive tome on the desk .

Pulling my hands through my disheveled hair, I hoped the smell of sex wasn’t too pungent.

“What is it?” Caiden asked.

Amolie motioned to the tome. “This is a book of ancient spells. From a time before the Trinity.”

The book was full of old pages, yet the colors on the paper were still vivid even after thousands of years. I delighted in the smell of old parchment. “You can read this, Amolie?”

“The scholars in the library helped me to translate it.” She pointed to the text. “This is a spell to bind a soul to an object. I’m guessing Erissa used it to bind Baylis’s soul to her amulet.”

I ran my fingers over the words. “Can the spell be broken?”

Amolie sighed. “It says here to free the soul, the blood of the bound must be spilled upon the object.”

“So, we need to take Baylis’s blood?” I asked.

“Yes.” Amolie put her hands on her hips. “Only the blood of the soul can free it.”

I took a deep breath, raising my head to the heavens. “I have to go back to the Highlands, don’t I?”

Amolie sipped her coffee. “It looks that way.”

I needed time to think. I hoped never to return to the place of my torture, but to save Baylis’s soul, I would endure the fires of hell itself.

A long breath escaped my lips. “Okay.”

“There might be another way. I’ll have to do more research, but?—”

I cut her off before she could finish. “This is the only way. We will get Baylis’s blood, find the amulet, and free her soul. I know the castle at Ryft’s Edge like the back of my hand. I can sneak in without being seen.”

“Are you sure?” Amolie gave me a questioning look.

“Yes.”

Caiden’s hand entwined with mine .

Amolie shut the book and made her way toward the door. I grabbed her arm. “There’s one more thing we need to do. Gather the others.”

“What?”

I laid my arm bare. Black rot crept through my veins like ink in water. “It’s time, Amolie. We need to complete the bargain before it takes our magic, and our lives.”

Amolie’s mouth tightened into a straight line. “I’ll get them.”

The door silently shut behind her. Caiden slipped an arm around my waist before burying his face in my neck. “I wish I could go with you.”

“You will be with me,” I said, placing his hand over my heart. “You’ll be right here.”

We held each other until the others came.

Caiden and I stood hand in hand as we addressed our friends. Their sullen faces made my voice crack. “I am going to finish my part of the bargain today. Baylis is safe. The rot on our forearms will hinder our magic. It makes sense to do it before Caiden leaves.”

“Isn’t there another way?” Amolie said, biting her nails.

“No,” Caiden said, squeezing my hand. “We made a bargain, and now we must fulfill it as the laws of this land command. Eventually, the rot will kill us if we do not.”

Hot tears welled in my eyes. “Are you ready?”

Caiden nodded, taking a seat on the bed.

Pushing my feelings aside, I knelt before him, focusing my mind. A sandy grit filled my mouth.

“Wait.” He ran his hand through my hair and down my jaw one last time. “I want you to know I love you.”

“I love you too.” I kissed him one last time, savoring every moment. “Now close your eyes and show me your first memory of us.”

I connected our minds.

We stood in the library of Caiden’s mind. Each book represented a memory.

“This one first,” Caiden pulled a leatherbound book from the shelf and handed it to me. I swallowed hard before opening it.

The first day we met.

My hair was a brown mess of curls tied together in a bun on the top of my head. I had just finished riding. Through Caiden’s eyes, I looked like a goddess. His pulse quickened, and my chest felt light. He smiled at me. I erased the memory.

My heart shattered. I couldn’t do this. This history belonged to both of us—but I had to.

Releasing a breath, I pressed on, erasing our adventures together as emissaries and the holidays at the River House. Every memory rewritten took a piece of my heart with it: all the kisses, the hugs, the stolen glances—all gone.

Our memories intertwined. It killed me to wipe them away.

I stumbled upon the memory of my wedding day. As an emissary, he was obligated to attend. He arrived late, entering through the rear of the throne room, likely hoping to avoid me. However, we collided as I waited to be escorted down the aisle. It was an odd feeling to revisit a memory shared with someone else, seeing and feeling it from their perspective.

Dressed in a high-necked ball gown, a white veil covered my face. Caiden’s heart went cold when he saw me. Tears poured down my face. I had never felt more alone than on that day. None of my family could come to the wedding as my father had just died, and they feared leaving the Midlands unattended.

Reaching out, he grabbed my hand. We shared one last moment.

“You’ll always be my princess,” he whispered before the guards escorted him away .

Those simple words carried me through the darkest days of my life. I should have thanked him for that. He’ll never know how he helped me.

With tears in my eyes, I wiped the memory away.

Taking another breath, we entered the darkest part of our past.

The hard memories were easy to erase.

“ I never loved you. You are nothing to me. I never want to see you again. ”

I wish I could erase who I was then. So full of hate and vitriol—a rabid dog who attacked anyone who got near me. I wish I could take those memories from my mind, but they were a part of me—a lesson I needed to learn.

We reached the most recent memories. I took them all—the Court of Sorrows, the cave trolls, the nights we spent entwined in each other’s arms.

Back in the library of his mind, Caiden gave me a half-hearted smile. “This is it. The last memory.”

He handed me a few pages containing our memories from the morning.

Tears welled in my eyes. This was all that remained of us. Just a few pages. Already Caiden’s mind closed in on me, no longer recognizing me as a friend, but as an intruder.

“I’m sorry,” I said, lighting the papers on a nearby candle.

“You’ll always be my princess,” he said as the look on his face transformed from sadness to neutrality.

I blew out the candle, cloaking myself in darkness. He wouldn’t know me from a stranger on the street.

When I opened my eyes, they’d already blindfolded Caiden. I snuck out of the room on padded feet before taking refuge in an intricately carved alcove, letting out the hot cry boiling in my chest.

From a balcony high in the Alder Palace, I watched Lucius and Roderick load Caiden into a carriage. The process made us both weak, and it took all my energy to climb up the massive circular staircase. I kept my gaze fixed on Caiden until the carriage disappeared, yearning for one final glimpse of him before he vanished forever.

Lowering myself to the wooden floor, the weight of grief pressed down on my very being. Tears flowed freely. I cursed the Trinity, the Fates, and every force that seemed to conspire against Caiden and me. My breath seared in my lungs.

I screamed until my lungs crackled like the embers of a fire.

Closing my eyes, I allowed the flood of emotions to engulf me—a teaching from the Trinity, a trial of my resilience. Caiden had departed, taking my vow of sobriety with him. The temptation to surrender to a blissful numbness and never resurface overpowered me, but I couldn’t yield to it. I had Baylis to consider and refused to be a victim any longer.

A hand decorated with golden rings extended toward me. I looked up to see Tharan standing in front of me.

“You look like you could use a drink.” He gripped my wrist, pulling me to my feet.

I wiped my nose on my tunic. “Maybe two.”

Giving me a reassuring smile, his aura radiated soothing energy, lifting the sadness from my bones.

“How are you doing this?”

“A gift from my mother’s side of the family,” he said, leading me down the winding stairs of the Alder Palace. The midday winter sun cast an ethereal light throughout the branches as craftsmen busied themselves, mending the ancient tree. “We are more alike than you know, mystery woman.”

I didn’t want him to see me like this, but somehow, I knew he would understand.