Page 41 of A Curse of Breath and Blood (The Mind Breaker #1)

40 AELIA

Rising at dawn, we packed the little wagon and headed toward the elven territory. Neither of us said anything about the night before. Tharan made me a breakfast of rabbits with thyme and rosemary. Being with him was effortless.

The juices from the rabbit danced on my tongue, making me moan with delight.

“When you’re at war, you learn how to cook for yourself,” he said, handing me a slice of cheese and an apple. “Eat up. We are not stopping in elven territory.”

Relief washed over me.

Tharan took off the twine ring, letting his true self shine through. The unforgettable scar snaked across his face, his skin glowing like dew catching the sun’s first light.

“They won’t bother us if they see it’s me, but keep your hood up. We don’t need word getting around we’re traveling together.”

I scrunched my nose at him. “Whatever you say, my king.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Get in the cart. The sooner we leave here, the sooner we make it to the Stone Kingdom. I do not want to get caught in the mountains at night. Harpies lurk there. ”

“Oh, is the Alder King afraid of a little bat?”

“They are not bats. They are terrible creatures sent by Hades to punish humans and magus alike.”

I threw him a side-eye. “You fucked one, didn’t you? And then she tried to kill you.” Harpies were known for their ability to appear as beautiful young women to lure men back to their nests. Where they transformed into hideous beasts, tearing their unsuspecting victims to shreds.

He held his head high in the air. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“He-he, harpy fucker,” I said, jabbing him in the ribs with my elbow.

He scoffed. “I’m trying not to be that person, remember? I’m trying to show you I’m different, and fucking a harpy is not a great way to do that.”

I waved him off. “It’s fine. We both have pasts. No one can use them to hurt us if we laugh at them.”

Tharan clasped a gloved hand around mine. “You’re right.”

Arion breezed down the freshly plowed streets, whinnying with delight as we traversed the elven kingdom.

Two colossal statues of halflings dressed in battle armor guarded the entrance of the Stone Kingdom. Over their heads, an inscription read: We are the wielders of Mylar’s ax. Let no rock break us. Let no stone disobey us.

“The halflings of the Stone Kingdom are a proud race,” Tharan said, urging Arion forward.

The primary city within the Stone Kingdom went by the name of Mineralia. A towering metropolis constructed into the side of the Cheyne Mountains, an impressive engineering accomplishment for any species, let alone one of such diminutive stature .

Here, halflings and humans mingled freely, linked by a treaty forged ages ago determining the stewardship of the mountain. At the city’s heart lay a vast lake formed before any creature set foot on Moriana. Some believed the Trinity themselves shaped it.

Humans and magus gathered at its shores, drawn by its renowned healing properties. Vendors peddled an array of products crafted from its healing waters, such as curative elixirs and cleansing soaps.

Tharan gave me a nudge. “Cover up. You never know who’s lurking here. Someone may recognize you.”

We slipped on our enchanted rings before entering the city, but as a precaution, I covered my face with my hood.

Tharan stopped in front of a small inn. No grandeur for us tonight. Two human farmers who were selling their wares wouldn’t have the money.Tharan enchanted a pile of leaves to look like apples.

I waited outside with Arion while Tharan secured us a room, keeping an eye out for any Highland soldiers.

A bell chimed, signaling the end of the workday. Children played and laughed in the streets as their parents returned from a long day in the mines. Their faces covered in black ash from the day’s work. In the Stone Kingdom, even women mined. They spent years learning about rocks and geology. Only the most skilled halflings were chosen. Women’s petite bodies made them ideal for mining smaller caverns.

One child ran into her mother’s outstretched arms, something I remembered from my childhood. I missed my mother. The mother I had then, not the conniving lying one who lived in the Tower of Fates.I thought of the conversation I had with Amolie. Maybe I had judged my mother too harshly. I never had time to find out her true motivations. Perhaps I would pay her a visit if I made it out of here alive .

Our modest room was furnished with one medium bed, a dresser, and a small tub.

A wind whipped through the open window, looking out at a dirty alleyway. I shivered as Tharan lit a fire in the small woodstove in the corner.

“It should be warm in just a minute,” he said, feeding logs into the hearth.

I shut the window then pulled the blankets tight around myself.

Once the fire was lit, Tharan plopped down on the bed next to me, propping himself up on an elbow.

“Nervous?” he asked.

I ran my hands through my hair. “About tomorrow? Who wouldn’t be a little anxious about returning to a place where you were tortured and turned into a magical creature who can read minds?”

“I’ll be with you the whole time, Aelia.” He placed a reassuring hand on my thigh.

I rubbed my palm with my thumb. “I hoped I’d never have to return to the Highlands. A fool’s hope.”

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can take the blood. You can tell me where to go telepathically.”

I held the vial of Baylis’s blood, rubbing my fingers over the smooth glass. “No, I need to do this. For Baylis. And besides, my telepathy doesn’t reach that far.”

Tharan brushed a lock of hair out of my face. “Your bravery is admirable.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got a lot of cowardice I need to make amends for.”

Part of me had died in Ryft’s Edge. I didn’t notice it at first, but over time it became clearer. Emotions were muted. The beauty of the world had faded. I wanted the piece Gideon took from me back, and if that meant spilling blood, then I would drain every living soul in the Highlands.

“Don’t do it,” Tharan said as if reading my mind.

I gave him an innocent look. “What?”

“Don’t even think about killing Gideon.”

My mouth fell open. “How did you?—”

“You forget—I once murdered my lover in cold blood in front of the entire court of the Woodland Realm. It will not give you the peace you seek.” He placed his hand over his heart. “Peace is here. Within yourself.”

Chewing on the inside of my mouth, I contemplated his words. “I want him to hurt the way I did.”

“He can’t, Aelia. He is a creature who cannot feel the way you and I do. His heart is a shriveled piece of rotten fruit hanging on by a thread.”

I smirked. “I know, but my innate need for justice gets the better of me.”

“I know who he is. Maybe he was born bad, or perhaps the world turned him that way, but either way, there is nothing you can do to hurt him in the same way he hurt you. And besides, only we know he was behind the attack at the Court of Sorrows. I have no doubt he’s concocted some lie justifying his attack on the Woodland Realm.”

My eyes trailed to the floor. My mind flashed back to the time I tried to hurt him—one of my lowest points. I had seduced one of Gideon’s guards into taking me to bed. I wanted Gideon to know my pain. He’d had many lovers since we wed. Each one a slice to my heart, causing me to bleed to death from the inside out. I wanted him to see I, too, could take a lover. That I could hurt him in all the ways he had hurt me, but it ended in my shame.

His words still echoed in my head. “ You think you can hurt me? ”

I squirmed underneath his iron grip .

“ Well, you can’t. You can’t hurt me because you mean nothing to me. ”

My chest tightened as he pinned me against the wall.

Gideon’s advisors looked on as he humiliated me.

Tears streaming down my face, I retreated inside myself. He couldn’t hurt me if I felt nothing.

I burned the faces of Gideon’s inner circle into my mind as they looked on and did nothing. Each one would meet a fate worse than death for their complicity.

Leaving my victimhood behind, I honed my new telepathy skills to take from Gideon the one thing he loved more than anything else: his kingdom.

“Fine, I won’t kill him. However, we should look for evidence of what he’s planning while we’re in the castle.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” The little fire gilded his features. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Staring into each other’s eyes, the fire between us building to a roar. My lips yearned to feel the pressure of his on mine, to taste him on my tongue.

He cleared his throat. “I think I’ll go grab us some food.”

My cheeks flushed. “Sounds like a good idea,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed, straightening my ill-fitting clothes.

I let out the breath I had been holding in. At the very least, he provided a welcome distraction from the impending nightmare across the Ryft.

Tharan returned thirty minutes later, carrying two roast chicken and potato platters.

We sat cross-legged on the floor, eating dinner in front of the little stove. The smell of herbs and cooked meats filled the room.

After dinner, Tharan suggested we take a stroll around the lake. Despite the cover of night, I still took precautions, purchasing a thick scarf to hide my face.

Colorful fish swam beneath the surface of the crystal-clear lake. Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn I caught the jeweled tones of a mermaid tale. My thoughts drifted to Ursula. I hoped she made it out of the Alder Palace.

Mer stuck to their own, rarely involving themselves with the dealings of land dwellers. They even worshiped an ancient god, Manannan.

“Beautiful night,” I said, hoping Tharan would take my hand.

“Not as beautiful as you, my dear,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Your charms won’t work on me.” A lie.

Shrugging, he wrapped his arm around me. “Well, a king can try.”

“He sure can.” I gave him a warm smile. A fuzzy feeling bubbled in my chest.

As we rounded the lake, two humans and a halfling dressed in shabby clothing jumped out from behind a pair of bushes, brandishing knives.

“What do we have here?” a human said, his face pocked from years of picking. Bags hung low beneath his eyes, and his fingers twitched in a familiar manner. Dust addicts. Judging by the marks on their faces and their pale gray skin, they’d been using for a long time. The dust took its toll on them. Desperate for coins to pay for the drug.

A hand clenched my heart at the sight. I could’ve been one of them.

“Give us your gold, and we’ll be on our way,” the halfling said.

Tharan stepped between us. “Back away. No one needs to get hurt here.”

A human with a knobby nose and a missing ear pointed a finger at Tharan’s chest. “And who are you?”

Tharan’s fingers twitched .

My breath came faster. Tharan couldn’t use his magic here. We had to act human.

Glancing around for onlookers, I launched into the halfling’s mind while Tharan took on the other two.

Do not be afraid. Let me help you.

‘ Who or what are you? ’

I am a telepath and can help ease your suffering if you wish. You need to heal the parts making you seek dust, but I can remove the craving.

‘ And what if I don’t want to? Without it, I have nothing. ’

Then, I will ease your pain in another way. I am already in your mind. All I have to do is light a match.

His psyche tensed.

‘ But I’m not ready. ’

Choose now, my voice thundered inside his head.

The halfling’s pulse quickened. ‘ Fine, Fine, I’ll do it. I want to live .’

Very well.

Diving deep into his psyche, I found the area where the craving lived, plucking it like rotten fruit. The lust for the drug would regrow if the halfling did not clear the tree entirely, but at least I bought him some time to heal whatever haunted him.

Shaking my head, I tried to rid my mind of the hopelessness seeping in, grinding grit between my teeth. Traces of people’s psyches lingered like they wanted to go with you.

The halfling lay unconscious on the side of the path next to his friends.

“Let me help them too,” I said before I dove into their minds, easing their pain as best as I could. We pulled the sleeping bodies into nearby bushes. They would awake cold and hungover, but at least they wouldn’t be dead.

“What did you do to the men back there?” Tharan asked, taking off his green cloak, and hanging it neatly on the wall of our room.

I bit my lip. “I took away their lust for dust.”

Tharan raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not permanent, but it’ll ease their suffering for a bit.”

Tharan ran a thumb over his lip in contemplation. “That was kind of you.”

Leaning back on the bed, I sighed. “I’m trying to be a better person. And part of that is helping others. I didn’t cure them but set them on the right path.”The burden I carried felt a little lighter.

Tharan took my face in his hands. My skin tingled at his caress. The light of the fire danced across his face.

“I want to kiss you, Aelia. I would’ve killed every one of those men tonight if it meant you were safe.”

Caiden would have, too.

My heart beat faster. I leaned in, touching my lips to his, our bodies pressing against one another. He gripped my thighs, hoisting me into the air, pinning me against the wall as our mouths consumed one another. Primal urges begged to taste him.

“I want you,” he whispered in my ear as teeth nibbled my neck. “I want you more every day.”

My breath caught in my throat. “I want you too.”

A low growl came from Tharan. His arousal grew as his tongue found its way to my ear.

I moaned with pleasure.“But not yet.”

“Aelia, please.” His breaths ragged with lust.

Keep your head on straight, Aelia.

“I can’t, Tharan.”

He lowered me to the ground, giving me sad puppy dog eyes.

I ran a hand down his angular jaw. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but I want to take it slow.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”His eyes sank to the floor .

“I let it go too far.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek before climbing into bed.

Tharan laid down next to me, pulling me in close, letting his heat wash over me like a wave upon the shore. With Tharan by my side, I could face whatever awaited me in the Highlands.