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Twenty-Three

KURAI

F or a prosperous city like Teneris, I expected a much better dungeon.

The place was so deep underground, it ceased being habitable.

Sulfur reeking water seeped from the walls, staining their black stone with rusty yellow.

The only light came from smears of mold in the cracks of the rock that my cell had been carved in many millennia ago.

The ceiling was too low to stand up, and the floor seemed too filthy to lay down.

The door crackled with magic of wards when I touched it, keeping me inside the cell more securely than any lock.

Since my bag had been taken away, I couldn’t even try any of the Joy Guardians’ magic to break out of here.

Though, I suspected, it would’ve failed anyway. The royal wards were unbreakable.

I sat with my legs under me and my skirt spread wide so that no part of my body would accidentally touch the grimy floor.

Born in poverty and raised as a Joy Guardian, I was used to owning nothing and making do with little. But I feared that this place could break even the most enduring spirit.

One thought brought me comfort. Ciana was safe. Prince Rha would let no harm come to her, even as he would likely execute me. I’d taken the risk coming to Teneris. The word of the Watchers and our identifying tattoos had come out, and not one of us was safe.

It wasn’t supposed to matter. We’d thought our mission would be complete by now. The humans would be gone, and those of us who would’ve survived were prepared to answer for our part at their deaths and disappearances.

What we weren’t prepared for was how devastatingly attractive some humans would turn out to be, how impossible it would prove to harm them, and how easy it’d be to fall in love with them.

Master Arter died because Prince Rha came after his favorite Joy Vessel and brought his army with him. And I couldn’t annihilate the queen’s sarai because that would’ve killed Ciana. I failed my mission, and I didn’t regret it.

At the thought of Ciana, warmth spread through my body even in this cold, destitute place. A shiver of tingles rushed me head to toe, skittering down my spine. It rose up my thighs to my groin and further still to the pit of my stomach, then finally to my heart.

Blood pulsed in my skull with the sound that seemed to echo between the slimy walls.

The ancient magic of those who had guarded the Joy all their lives whispered to me through the door. The moldy wood shimmered with gold, forming a circle. It widened, spreading to the edges of the wood as the wards retreated to let someone in.

The door opened, and Oria slipped through it and into my cell.

“Oria!” My heart lifted at the sight of her.

I climbed to my feet, keeping my head down so as not to bump it against the ceiling.

Oria and I held opposite views on humans, but we’d spent decades side by side, carrying out our duty to serve the Joy. It was hard for me not to think about Oria as a sister Joy Guardian and a friend.

“Kurai.” She nodded briefly in greeting.

“Have you come to free me?” I blurted out.

It was naive of me to expect Oria to rescue me after the way we had parted. But why else would she be here?

She shook her head, unpinning the top layer of her garment from her hair.

“The wards are to keep prisoners in the cells, not to stop them from coming in.” she explained. “Now that I’m here, neither you nor I can leave here.”

“Why would you do this then? Why come in here?”

It served no purpose for her to be imprisoned along with me.

With a soft sigh, she dropped her shoulders.

“Because I can’t let you leave here, Kurai. I can’t allow you to talk to Prince Rha, either. You know all about us. If you betray us, our mission will fail.”

“The mission is over, Oria. The portal is closed, and there will be no other.”

She pinned me with her stare, filled with determination.

“As long as there’s even a single human in the kingdom, our mission isn’t finished. And as long as it continues, no one can know what you know about us.” She reached in the faults of her skirt.

I retreated all the way to the back wall as she slowly drew a dagger out—slowly, because she knew I was unarmed. There was no need to hurry or hide her intentions.

“You can’t leave here,” I reminded. “You will die with me.”

She nodded serenely. “That’s our vow, is it not? I’m prepared to die for our cause.”

There was a time when I was too. I had given the vow, fully believing in its meaning. I was ready to kill or be killed to protect the Joy.

But so much had changed since.

“Oria, we’ve been mistaken. Humans aren’t just Joy Vessels. They are the Joy. They create it in abundance and share it freely with those they love. The very origins of our Joy might be human too. ”

Pity shone in her eyes directed at me.

“They say that human joy creates an addiction and poisons one’s mind,” she said somberly.

“I can see now how it happens. You dedicated a century of your life to the service to our Joy. But you abandoned our cause and your purpose after only a short while spent with a human.” Oria raised the dagger in her hand.

The blade sparkled with the red of the deadly Nerifir iron.

“I regard you as a brother, Kurai. It saddened me to come here, knowing what I had to do. But I also see it as an act of mercy. Once your spirit is free of this affliction, I know you will forgive me.”

She took a step toward me, and my muscles tensed. The guards had taken away my daggers, but I wasn’t helpless or harmless without the weapons. I fisted my hands, ready to defend myself.

“There is no need to fight me,” Oria spoke evenly and softly as she did when we used to pray together.

“If you could think clearly, you would understand this is for the best, Kurai. Then, you would use this dagger yourself to leave this cell the only way we can. And when your mind is finally free from the trap of human joy, we will both enter the afterlife side by side, like in the procession for the morning service in the temple, remember?”

“But I’m not ready to die.” I sidestepped her in anticipation of an attack. “I have so many reasons to keep living, Oria, now more than ever.”

Muffled voices sounded behind the door. Oria jerked her head in that direction, momentarily distracted.

I jumped, aiming to grab the dagger from her hand.

She pivoted on her heel, slashing with the weapon across my torso, before snatching the weapon out of my reach.

The blade scraped across my chest, breaking skin on my shoulder.

The door flew open.

“Kurai!” the beloved voice called in horror.

The blood in my veins turned cold. Ciana was here, and Oria whipped around to face her with the dagger raised .

“What do you know? There will be one less left of you before I leave this world.” Oria lunged forward.

“No!” I moved to stop her but hit my head on the fucking ceiling.

The blow blinded me. Pain sent stars dancing in my vision.

I pressed forward, not quite seeing where I was going, but I couldn’t let a single hair fall from Ciana’s head.

She was mine to protect. That was my life’s mission now, one that didn’t require any rituals, tattoos, or vows, and one that I couldn't fail. I would die to fulfill it.

“No,” I growled, falling forward and grabbing Oria’s legs.

Her dagger slashed through the air as she crashed to the floor with me. Prince Rha appeared next to Ciana. He grabbed her and hauled her backwards—out of the harm’s way.

Oria’s body tensed suddenly. Her every muscle seemed to momentarily turn to stone under me. She flipped onto her back.

A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. The normally quiet, mild mannered Oria growled and hissed, writhing on the filthy floor. She didn’t just try to get out of my grip, she seemed to want to crawl out of her own skin.

Clawing at her chest, she tore apart her beaded armor. The gold and onyx beads rolled and bounced on the floor all around us.

“Kurai! You’re hurt.” Ciana struggled to get free from the prince’s grip, but he held her tightly, keeping her away from Oria.

A human woman with yellow hair peered around the prince’s bicep. Guards crowded behind them, but there was no space in the tiny cell for anyone to intervene.

“Let me go!” Ciana snapped at the prince in frustration.

“It’s not safe.” He shook his head, not taking his eyes off Oria.

Oria screamed and mumbled something ineligible. Her body arched from the floor, as if the rock burned her skin. She scraped her chest, drawing blood with her nails. It stained her hands. Foam bubbled around her mouth, dripping from her fangs .

“What’s happening to her?” the prince demanded to know. “She’s acting like a cursed one.”

I held on to Oria’s legs as she tried to kick her feet.

Her strength seemed to multiply, giving her jerky movements the power of punches.

Except that those punches were no longer directed at me.

She hurt herself. Raising her head, she hit it hard against the floor, staining the rocks with her blood.

The woman behind the prince cried out in terror. “What’s torturing her? Why is she doing it?”

The prince met my eyes. “What promise did she break?”

I’d never seen the torment of a promise breaker before. But Prince Rha was right, this was the behavior of someone who had broken a promise. An inferno of pain and despair burned through those wretched souls, making them lose their mind and die in torment.

What promise did she break? Prince Rha’s words echoed in my head as I searched for an answer.

My gaze fell at the dagger by the prince’s foot. Oria had dropped it after trying to attack Ciana.

There was one promise that was present in both the vow of the Joy Guardians and the oath of the Watchers, one promise that we all gave, it was to protect the Joy at all costs.

The realization settled in me with startling clarity.

“She promised to defend joy,” I said. “Yet she attacked one of its creators.”

The prince stared at Ciana. Understanding of what I’d realized a while ago spread on his face.

Humans weren’t just the vessels of joy. They were its creators, the sources of it.

They were more precious than even our ancient Source at the temple because they possessed an infinite ability to replenish and grow their happiness.

Oria screamed again, thrashing in my grip and smashing her head against the floor in the never-ending torture.

“Pass me the dagger, Your Highness.” I tipped my chin at the blade by the prince’s foot .

He kicked it toward me. Pressing my chest down on Oria’s feet to keep her from kicking the floor, I grabbed the dagger, then shifted up her struggling body.

“I’m sorry you erred in your mission, Joy Guardian.” Sorrow seized my heart when I raised the dagger.

This wasn’t how I had thought any of us would end our lives, but there was no other way to free Oria from her suffering. A long, terrible death was the fate of every promise breaker. Killing them quickly instead was a true act of mercy.

“May the Gods of Eternal Darkness welcome you to the afterlife. May you be forgiven for your sins and spared in death the suffering you’ve brought upon yourself in this life,” I whispered the spell to ease her spirit’s passage into the next phase of its existence, then sank the iron blade into her heart.

She screamed one last time. Blood tinted the foam that bubbled out of her mouth.

“Rest now,” I exhaled, keeping the blade in the wound firmly.

She finally stilled. The silence fell on the cell, deafening after Oria’s ear-splitting screams. I held her until the black shadows of her spirit leaving her body curled around the blade in her heart. And Oria was no more.

Letting go of the handle, I wiped the splatter of her blood from my cheek and looked up at all those who had gathered in the entrance.

“Get your hands off my woman, Your Highness.” I glared at the prince.

He smirked at my gruff tone but released Ciana, who instantly rushed to me.

“Is she…” She cast a cautious glance at Oria before falling to her knees at my side.

“Dead.” I pulled Ciana to me.

“You’re bleeding.” She fussed over the cut on my shoulder.

“It’s nothing.” The wound was already tingling with healing magic as the flesh started to knit itself back together.

She buried her face in the side of my neck. I held her, reveling in the peace that descended upon me in her presence. Everything seemed to fall into place when she was near. I didn’t even need my tendrils to feel connected to her on a deep visceral level.

“I love you,” she whispered, echoing my feelings for her. “I lied that I didn’t because it scares the shit out of me.”

She raised her head. Her wide-open eyes met mine.

“As long as we’re together, I’ll fight all your fears for you.” I kissed her lips. “Because the only thing that scares me is you being taken away from me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She drew in a breath as if ready to rush into a battle. “I’m yours,” she exhaled.

My brave woman. She had fought a battle of love before and lost. Yet she rose from the ashes, picked up all her pieces, and opened her heart again. For me.

“May I endure the fate of a curse breaker if I ever hurt you. May my spirit never rest if I break your trust or your heart,” I vowed.

She smiled.

“You sure know how to woo a girl, speaking like that,” she cooed sweetly.

A shiver ran through my body with the urge to have her closer. I tightened my arms around her, but it wasn’t enough. It felt like our souls had merged. And now, my body wished to be impossibly close to her as well.

A need I couldn’t name pulsed through me, growing inside me, urging me to satisfy it in a way I didn’t know.

“I…I need you.” My throat spasmed, catching my words.

“What is it, Kurai? Are you in pain?” She hovered her hand over the cut on my shoulder, mistaking it for the reason of my affliction. When the true reason was her.

A low growl reverberated deep in my chest, erupting from my throat with a roar.

“Oh, no!” the yellow-haired woman by the door squeaked, grabbing on to the prince’s arm. “It’s happening to them too.”