Page 50 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood (Tales So Wicked #2)

Harrow

M y resources have been exhausted. I’m at my limit with no solution in sight.

I sent ravens all across the mortal realm in search of a necromancer.

They don’t exist. I am part of the reason they no longer live amongst the mortals.

Necromancers defy the natural order. Over the years, I’ve hunted down and maimed dozens.

I may not be able to kill them without penalty, but I can ensure they are unable to use their gifts to steal the dead from my kingdom.

Those who are left are well enough hidden that even my birds couldn’t find them. It’s infuriating.

This week without her has been hell. To know that she’s been suffering alone all this time. Or worse, in the arms of her Prince Cassius. The idea that she believes I’m responsible for her mother’s death has hurt me for days.

I’ve never cared for the feelings of others. But when I’m with Lenore, I want her to be happy. More than that, I want to be the reason she’s happy. I’ll wallow, grovel, beg for her understanding. I need to be by her side. I’ll do anything to be allowed back in her life.

I’ve been waiting to return until I had something to offer. That plan was scratched the moment I laid eyes on her father in my realm. Something strange is going on.

I enter the mortal realm and stride through the castle courtyard. Knowing how much she loves to sneak out, I was hoping she would be outside. I would have loved to find her in her bone garden. I have a whole pile of new bones back home for her collection.

If she’s not out here, she’s likely asleep. Maybe she’s locked away, deep in the dark pit of grief. I should have come sooner.

My first attempt to shadow into Lenore’s room fails.

I’m spit back out in front of the door leading in from the courtyard.

My senses snap to high alert. Was that a boundary line I felt ?

Reaching out with my senses, I search for any signs of a spell.

This door is clear. Is it only Lenore’s room that’s encompassed by the boundary?

Reaching out again, I search for any signs of magic in the courtyard.

I don’t find magic, but it does give me a moment to realize every plant surrounding the castle has died. All dead as a consequence of the queen’s death. An inner voice whispers that there is more at play. I believe it. My heart hammers with urgency.

My shadows tip the door into the castle. One boot crosses the threshold, then the other. Nothing stops me. I’m able to walk into the castle, but not shadow in.

The door swings closed behind me and my shadows recoil.

Something is amiss. It takes me a moment to place the wrongness, but when I do, my blood turns cold.

Lenore’s energy isn’t here . A sickening panic splits my gut, dividing me into two sides.

The side that rules the Underworld, whose duty and responsibility come first, and the side whose obsession with Lenore takes precedence over everything else.

My obsession wins out over my occupation.

I become one with the shadows, moving with unmatched speed and stealth as I whisk myself to Lenore’s bedroom.

There are no guards stationed outside her room. My shadows have already entered by the time I break the door down. My greatest fears are confirmed.

She’s not here.

Becoming darkness itself, I roam the castle halls. There is a somber air around. Several of the handmaidens are crying. My stomachs twists and flips. Where’s my little raven? An elderly servant hobbles down the hallway. His glow is bright. His time to die has almost come.

Freezing when he sees me, the man yelps in fear. I’m but a dark breeze as I materialize before him.

“You can see me, yes?”

His entire body trembles. “Y-yes.”

“Tell me what I need to know and no harm will come to you.”

He reeks of fear. “What do you want to know?’

“Where is the princess?”

“She’s fallen ill.”

“When?” I demand.

The man flinches. “Two days. We haven’t seen her since sh-she f-f-f?—”

Fear seizes his ability to speak. I don’t have time for this. My fingers throb against his temples as I delve into his mind.

I’m less careful than normal as I plow through his memories.

Meaningless, monotonous moments storm past. The flash of a familiar fair face has me slowing my search.

The man peers around the shoulders of others as multiple servants stand in a crowded doorway.

The hallway beyond is in chaos. Guards running in every direction.

Voices shouting, orders being delivered. Lenore is carried away on a stretcher.

Her body is too still. One arm hangs limply over the wooden frame. I try to see if she’s breathing. There are too many people passing in front of the doorway. I can’t get a clear glimpse of her long enough to measure the rise and fall of her chest.

The man whose mind I’m inside groans as I speed ahead, searching for any other memories that depict Lenore.

I don’t find her again. The only clue I get is when her name is mentioned by a young female servant.

The girl passes by with her arms full of dried flowers.

All I can decipher is “poor princess,” and “taking them to Lenore.” The man’s memories do not hold the current location of the princess.

He collapses in a heap as I lurch free from his mind.

I don’t have the time to apologize for the state I’ve left him in.

He’s already on death’s doorstep. Lucky for him, his soul radiates a pure glow.

He’ll end up in a garden, which means in death, he’ll have nothing to fear.

My movements are precise as I return from whence I came.

I saw that servant girl from his memory crying with the others. She knows where Lenore is.

The three maids are oblivious to my approach. My influence settles over the one from the memory. “ Stay quiet, do not react .” The moment her eyes glaze over, I push my way into her mind.

I wish I could be gentler, but every second that I don’t know where Lenore is or what has happened is a second that she could be in grave peril. The young woman’s body trembles, but my magic holds. She’s silent as I sift through her memories.

The red and white flowers catch my eye. I slow, following the memory as she walks through the hallway, her arms loaded down with blooms. Her path leads her through the castle and outside.

Where could she be going? A small but beautiful structure comes into view.

I’ve never visited Lenore here. My best guess is it’s the castle’s chapel.

The sheer number of guards surrounding the building is unusual.

At least thirty guardsmen stand watch. My pulse quickens as I follow the woman up the steps and into the doorway.

What will I find inside? If Lenore were already dead, I would surely have felt it.

She must be deathly ill. That’s the only logical explanation for her to be missing like this.

The inside of the chapel is dark, with only a few sparsely laid candles to light the space.

Lying in the middle of the room, surrounded by dried flowers, is Lenore.

I move so quickly that I reach Lenore before the girl in the memory, temporarily blurring my surroundings.

After an infuriating few seconds, my view of Lenore sharpens.

My gaze pins to her chest. The deep red fabric rises and falls.

Relief courses through me as powerfully as the river in my kingdom below.

She’s alive. What illness has she contracted?

Why is she here and not being tended to by healers?

A clumsy guard knocks over an extravagant vase of flowers near the floor. The sound rattles through the chapel, echoing off the walls and making my head ache. Lenore doesn’t move. Not a single muscle responds. She must be in a deep sleep. Perhaps they’ve drugged her?

The back of my hand brushes across her cheek. A thousand dark and damned images burst through my vision in a kaleidoscope of horror and death. No, it can’t be. It isn’t possible.

My hand hovers an inch above her skin and I feel it. The spell. Dark blood magic clings to Lenore’s skin like soot. This slumber is not the result of an illness. Someone has cast a spell on my little raven.

As gently as I’m able, I enter Lenore’s mind.

My skills are pushed to their limit. Entering the memories of someone within a memory is altogether foolhardy.

If I’m not careful, I’ll reemerge into the memories of the young maid whose mind I’ve invaded instead of rising fully to my current state of consciousness.

That would be a pity for her as well. She would be stuck with me inside her mind forever. Madness until death.

Lenore’s pulse flutters beneath my fingertips. I’m pulled halfway under. Her memories come to me in quick flashes. Darkness fills my field of vision. Ash burns in my lungs. Sinister magic twists ’round my spine. An all-too-familiar laugh pricks my ear. “Have you come to make a trade?”

I’m thrown from the vision. Landing back in the servant’s mind, I stare down at Lenore. The hairs on my neck stand alert. My skin crawls when my own memories come flooding back. I know that laugh.

Lenore is in the in-between.

The last time I set foot in that wretched place…

The scars on my back burn. I’ll never forget the pain.

She who rules the in-between makes the Ruler of the Underworld look like a gentle and benevolent fairy in comparison.

Her lands are filled with things so terrible they surpass mortals’ worst nightmares.

My little raven is trapped there. Two days. That’s what the servant said. Lenore has been on her own in the in-between for two days.

Urgently, I fling myself from the young girl’s memories. My cape flies out behind me, disturbing the hair of all three women as I turn on my heel. I need to get to Lenore.

The chapel looks just as it did in the memory. Lenore rests on the stone pedestal, hands folded over her stomach, surrounded by flowers. In person, the spell is much more easily detected. I’ll find whoever cast it and ensure their suffering never ends.

First, I must rescue Lenore. Who knows what hell she’s been living in. The in-between feeds off of fear.

Brushing my fingers through her hair, I whisper, “I’m coming for you.”

It goes against my instincts to leave her again, but I don’t dare to conjure a portal here. The risk of dragging others in with me is too high.

The meadow clearing is my best bet. I shadow forward, landing near the tree stump I’ve so often watched Lenore sit on as she speaks to her animal friends.

Movement to my right catches my attention. A small herd of resurrected animals is emerging from the tree line. They move toward me, chirping and huffing. I don’t know how to speak to animals, but I can sense the plea in their innocent eyes.

“I’ll get her back,” I assure them. “Stay away from the castle and out of sight until I return.” Something dark is afoot.

Lenore would be heartbroken to return to the world of the living only to find her closest companions slaughtered and eaten or turned into rugs.

The animals flee, scurrying and flying away.

Placing my palms flat on the ground, I summon a portal to the in-between. Lightning sears through my bones as my magic is funneled into the earth. My wings flap, the lower scars flaring with pain. A plume of smoke rises from the grass, swirling into the shape of a large oval.

I slide my hand into the smoke until it’s wrist deep. The sensation of thousands of tiny teeth tearing at my flesh threatens to overwhelm me. A large portion of my magic is being siphoned. It’s the price for entering the in-between uninvited.

The agony ceases. My payment has been accepted.

It takes several deep breaths to quell my growing nerves.

I never wanted to set foot in that place again.

I’ll do it, though. I’ll enter the in-between and save Lenore.

Without me, she’ll fall deeper and deeper asleep.

I have to rescue her while there’s still time.

I will find my sweet, sweet raven and help her. Without me, she’ll be lost forevermore.