Page 44

SEND A MESSAGE (PREFERABLY ONE THAT BLEEDS)

KAZIMIR

Moonlight filtered through the ancient pines while I circled the spy, mud squelching beneath my boots. The forest stank of damp leaves and rot. Behind me, Thorne waited, his measured breaths hinting at the violence on his mind.

High above us, my Skyspire Citadel hovered against a backdrop of churning clouds.

I pictured Arabella up there, halfway furious and maybe halfway something else.

I vaguely wondered if she sensed the uproar below, or if she even cared right now, given how I’d left things between us.

I shoved the thought aside—she had enough reasons to hate me. No point adding this one.

I halted in front of the spy, who was on his knees in the mud, blood oozing from a jagged cut at his temple. My soldiers had delivered his introduction with a mace. An unrefined but effective approach.

“I’m on a tight schedule,” I told him, rolling my shoulders to ease the ache in my runes. “So let’s skip the part where I pretend you won’t suffer.”

I tapped into the dominion rune carved along my throat. A wave of scorching pain bit into my neck. Familiar, unpleasant, but undeniably effective. My voice dropped to a dark pitch.

“ Tell me everything ,” I said, letting power flood every syllable. “ Who sent you to spy on my citadel? ”

He jerked, eyes glazing over as the dominion hooks sank into his mind. When he spoke, his voice turned flat, mechanical. “King Auremar wants a map of your defenses, especially the lightning bridges. So he can identify weaknesses.”

I circled behind him, each step slurping in the mud. “And Auremar’s next move?”

His body shuddered. Dark rivulets of sweat and blood dripped from his brow. “He plans to retrieve… the Evenfall girl.”

Red fury spiked in my chest. I clamped my hand around his jaw. “She is Lady Arabella Blackrose. My wife.”

He managed a pathetic, quivering nod. “Y-yes, my lord,” he stammered.

Thunder growled overhead, a throaty rumble that matched my mood. I shoved him away, and he flopped forward. So far, he’d told me nothing that changed the game, but a warning needed to be delivered.

I activated another rune along my ribs, letting the fiery burn wash through my old scars. Dark magic sparked under my skin, coiling, ready to be unleashed.

“Open your mouth,” I commanded.

He obeyed, displaying rotted teeth and a tongue that trembled. I pressed my thumb to his forehead, channeling a trickle of shadow. Where my flesh touched his, darkness spread beneath his skin, a slow, creeping stain. Tendrils of it curled down and wrapped themselves inside his mouth.

“You will return to King Auremar with my message,” I murmured, sliding dominion into each word.

“Three days after you deliver it, you’ll forget everything about this citadel—me, this encounter, your mission.

But you’ll wake screaming at night, convinced shadows devour you from the inside.

That terror will plague you until the day you die. ”

His body convulsed. Blood trickled from his nostrils, and his eyes rolled back until only the whites showed. The magic lodged deeper than any knife, a poison in his veins.

Satisfied, I grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him upright. He swayed like a puppet with loose strings, eyes empty, waiting for final instructions.

“Go,” I said.

He turned, stumbling down the narrow path into the trees, leaving a trail of footprints in the mud. There were plenty of ways to kill your enemies, but a slower unraveling drove the message home, and I had a particular taste for letting the nightmares do my work.

Thorne slid up beside me. A grin sliced across his scarred face. It was the kind of smile that could curdle a demon’s blood. “Do we follow him, my lord?”

“Yes,” I told him. “But bring only enough men to make a statement, not enough to spark all-out war.”

Thorne nodded, grin unwavering. Then he vanished back into the shadows.

I tipped my head skyward, gazing toward Skyspire. Above the clouds, lightning crackled around the fortress’s spires. I wanted to be up there with Arabella. The tension between us was far more consuming than any thought of war. But I had to clean up this mess first.

My arm throbbed where the runes glowed, heat still thrumming against bone. I started down the path after Thorne. A message needed sending, and I intended to send it in blood.

I slipped through the forest with my warriors fanned out in a silent arc behind me.

Twigs snapped softly under our boots, but otherwise, not a sound rose amid the pre-dawn gloom.

We’d followed the spy straight through Arvoryn territory, where Auremar’s elite guards waited on Solandris’s nebulous border.

The camp held twelve men in shining royal livery that glowed faintly from the enchantments woven into their blades.

They had no idea how close death crawled beneath the trees.

When I caught Thorne’s eye, I flicked two fingers toward the nearest sentry. Thorne obeyed without hesitation, disappearing into the folds of night. A single slice, and the guard dropped with barely a gurgle. Another crumpled so fast he never even finished gasping.

“Ambush!” someone finally roared, but it was far too late. Four lay dead in a matter of breaths.

I stepped out of the shadows, letting supremacy radiate from me in dark waves.

A guard whirled around, fear stark on his face.

“The Dark Lord,” he stammered, lifting his enchanted sword as if that would impress me.

I flicked my wrist, and shadows whipped around the blade, ripping it from his grip.

A faint grin tugged at my lips. There was a certain pleasure in showing them how pointless their efforts were.

“Your king sent his dogs to spy on me,” I announced, loud enough for the rest to hear. “He should know better than to reach for what’s mine.”

Shadow-woven steel clashed against royal blades, snarls and screams wrecking the night’s hush.

I was only interested in their captain, who I spied across the clearing.

A broad-shouldered man wearing a commander’s insignia.

He fought with a remarkably steady hand, keeping two of my warriors at bay with precise, brutal strikes, not an ounce of fear in his eyes.

Excellent, I thought. Someone with a bit of backbone.

I released the guard I’d been toying with. I heard his neck snap when he hit the ground. Then I strode forward, lifting my voice over the clamoring chaos. “Captain,” I called out. “A word.”

He didn’t miss a beat. He shoved a sword through one of my warriors’ throats, eyes never leaving mine.

“I’ve nothing to say to you, Blackrose,” he spat, brandishing his weapon with confidence.

“You kidnapped Lady Evenfall in violation of our peace accords. An act of war. Return her, and perhaps the King will show mercy.”

I laughed, letting the mocking sound echo through the slaughter. “You assume I ever agreed to his wretched peace in the first place.”

The captain’s gaze hardened. “What would you call what you’ve done, then?”

I stepped over a fallen body, my shadows curling higher around my hands. “My reasons are my own, Captain. But rest assured, Lady Arabella is now Lady Blackrose. She remains so by choice.”

A small part of me might have felt a twinge of guilt for that half-truth, but I buried it under the certainty that I would make it true eventually.

He adjusted his stance, sword steady. “The King won’t stand for it.”

I tilted my head, letting shadows riot around my body. “He’ll stand for it once he gets my next message.”

A surge of dark magic smashed into his ribs.

He staggered. Another lash of power knocked him onto his back, and I pressed my boot into his throat, pinning him to the dirt.

Around us, the battle died away. Eleven of Auremar’s guards now lay crumpled, while their cursed spy observed everything with unblinking eyes.

I crouched, eyes mere inches from the captain’s.

“You will be that message,” I murmured, then lifted my voice to deliver the terms. “Tell your King that Lady Arabella Blackrose belongs to me. Any attempt to take her again will be met with force far greater than this.” I pushed harder, hearing him choke.

“Next time, I won’t let even a single man walk away. ”

He glared, fury blazing in his gaze despite his predicament. “He’ll come—” he rasped. “With an army.”

“Let him try,” I said, relaxing the pressure so he could suck in a ragged breath. “But first, you’ll carry my warning.”

I motioned to Thorne. He approached with a small, ornate box inlaid with silver runes. “Hold him,” I commanded. Two of my warriors clamped onto the captain’s arms, pulling him into a kneel.

Drawing the slender, rune-etched blade from my belt, I leaned close to the captain’s ear. “This won’t hurt much,” I said, letting amusement edge my tone.

His scream ripped the air when I carved my sigil into his forehead. Dark lines dripped blood across his face, soaking his uniform. I admired my handiwork, then opened the box.

“Now, for the closing remarks,” I said softly, pressing the blade beneath his jaw. In one swift cut, I sliced open his throat. Blood pumped in a red arc. His eyes went dim as the light left them.

Shadow-tendrils slithered at my command, wrenching off his head with a neat separation. I held it by the hair, inspected the rune carved into his brow, then slipped the head into the box. The box would only open for Auremar, and then the head of his captain would deliver my message.

The spy stepped forward under my compulsion, and I handed him the grisly package. “Deliver this to your King. Tell him Kazimir Blackrose sends his regards.”

The spy turned and walked toward the path, presumably heading straight for Solandris.

At my sign, my warriors began gathering the bodies into a pile. “Keep the captain’s corpse visible, as a warning to trespassers. Burn the rest.”

Thorne’s expression remained impassive, though I sensed his grim satisfaction. He wiped the blood from his blades, then inclined his head. “We also found a chest of coins,” he rumbled. “Could be payments to the local bandits.”

I nodded. “It seems the Viscountess was right about a secret outpost here.”

Dawn flickered across the eastern horizon, painting the sky in pale fire as smoke curled from the burning bodies.

I stood there for another long moment, inhaling the metallic sting of blood on the breeze.

I’d stayed out all night, leaving Arabella waiting.

She expected the answers I’d been dancing around.

My chest gave an uncomfortable pang, something that felt suspiciously like guilt.

An ache pulsed behind my eyes. War with Auremar was inevitable now. I had to prepare. And soon, very soon, I would need to speak to Arabella.