Page 4 of This Vicious Dream (Kingdom of Death #1)

Calysian

Madinia mounts her horse with a sniff. “I had a feeling you’d be just fine. And clearly I was right.”

This woman.

I haul my saddle onto my horse. Fox snaps his teeth at me, displeased at having his rest interrupted. “Yeah, yeah, me too,” I mutter. I need much less sleep than most creatures, but I spent the last two nights traveling in order to get to the cold-hearted woman currently trotting out of the stables.

Moments later, I’m trotting after her, Fox throwing his head to ensure I’m aware of his irritation.

Madinia glances over her shoulder at me, her hair spilling down her back. “How did they find us?” She’s a little out of breath, her face flushed, and the combination makes me shift in the saddle. She’d be flushed and panting just like that in my bed.

I push that thought away. “This is the closest town to your tower. I’d hoped the search wouldn’t start until morning, but clearly Kyldare is motivated. What exactly is it that they want from you?”

She opens her mouth, but her face closes down and she turns to face forward. Either she hasn’t remembered the book, or she’s refusing to tell me its location. I study her tense shoulders. Was this woman the one who stole it from me?

My mood turns dark, and the temperature surrounding us drops suddenly. Madinia shivers, eyes wide, clearly spooked. Fox’s longer stride brings him up next to her mare.

No. Madinia doesn’t feel centuries old. And her ingrained haughtiness is little more than a desperate attempt to hide the fact that her mind is cracked.

And still, some part of me remains irritated.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

“How about you tell me? Are your instincts steering you in a particular direction?” Her head whips toward me and I keep my expression carefully blank. She may not have taken my book, but she’s connected to it somehow. Even if she’s unaware of such a thing.

This is why my own instincts pushed me toward her. This is why I suddenly feel more myself than I ever have, with a strange clarity of mind. Madinia Farrow just became priceless, her safety more important than anything else.

“And if I told you they are?” she asks carefully.

“Then I’d tell you it’s likely fate that is steering you in that direction, and you should always listen to fate.”

Her eyes narrow and I almost smile. At her core, this woman is sharp, distrustful. But she knows she needs me.

We’re both silent for several minutes. When she sends a narrow-eyed look my way, I raise one eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Why are you helping me?”

I shrug. “I’m an honorable man. How could I leave you to die?”

The jab hits, and she stiffens before sending me another dismissive look. “I hadn’t realized you would need to be rescued. Now that I know, I’ll be sure to help you in the future.”

I can’t help but laugh. “You do that.”

Some part of me wishes she remembered me, even as I’m sure it wouldn’t help my case. If anything, I should be hoping for the opposite. Once she does shake off whatever has been done to her mind, she’ll become even more of a handful.

We travel all night, riding along the dirt road, away from the forest. I might be imagining the warmth growing in my chest as I follow her lead. Or , it’s my book, calling me to it. Twice, she dismounts, walking slightly off the dirt path and shoving something into her pocket. When I ask what she’s collecting, she ignores me, peering at her nails.

It sets my teeth on edge. Women have never ignored me.

I focus on the book instead, mulling over its existence as we ride. Why would this book be so important to me? And is it the reason I woke in that forest, fully formed as an adult, but without a childhood, a family, a life ?

Rolling my shoulders, I slide a glance at the woman currently swaying in her saddle, clearly fatigued. We’ll have to stop soon, somewhere away from the main road and her enemies.

Frustration slices through me, but I force myself to jerk my head, gesturing for her to follow me off the trail. This may be the closest I’ve come to vengeance, but my own instincts urge me to be careful. If I’m going to find my book—and take my revenge—I’ll have to cater to the needs of the woman being hunted by Vicana’s soldiers.

At least until she tells me where my book is.

Madinia

Calysian’s eyes are the last thing I see before I go to sleep in our small camp off the side of the road. They’re dark and shadowed.

Perhaps that’s why I dream of him.

A man stands next to a woman with long, curly blonde hair. They’re surrounded by bodies, limbs strewn carelessly across the clearing. He clamps one hand on her shoulder, and I nudge my horse.

“Let her go,” I demand.

The woman whirls. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Oh yes,” the man purrs. “I see her too.”

I raise my hand, allowing a few orange sparks to jump from my fingers. The woman gapes at me. “How…? What?”

I toss my hair over one shoulder. “I’m here to help you escape.” I make a show of wrinkling my nose at the bodies. “If you didn’t do that , then we need to be on our way before they return.”

The man stares at me, and his eyes heat. “Well, well, well.”

I look down my nose at him and meet the woman’s eyes. “Are you well enough to sit on a horse?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

“What about your life debt?” the man asks.

The woman shrugs. “Madinia just saved my life. Give your debt to her.”

I don’t have time for this. I gesture for the woman to move .

“You’d leave me here?” The man asks. There’s something unsettling about his dark gaze. Something that sends a shiver up my spine.

I open my mouth, but he sends me a wicked grin. “Forget it. I have some unfinished business to take care of. But I’ll see you again. In the meantime, good luck to you both.”

I jolt awake.

I knew Calysian was familiar. But who was the woman with him? We spoke as if we were…friends.

It hurts—discovering memories I carefully hid away like precious jewels.

Sitting up, I run a hand down my face. Calysian lounges next to the fire. Sudden fury engulfs me, and I itch to pour my power into those flames, sending them straight into his lying face.

“Why didn’t you tell me we knew each other?”

He raises one eyebrow. “Would you have believed me? I figured you’d come to that conclusion in your own time. What did you remember?”

“Bodies. A woman with blonde hair. You told her you owed her a life debt.”

He gives me a wry look. “Tonight wasn’t the first time you left me for dead.” There’s a hint of affront in his voice.

I roll my eyes. “Clearly you survived. Who was the woman?”

“Her name is Prisca. And she’s the queen of the hybrid kingdom.”

Prisca. I mouth the name. “How did I know her?”

“I’m not entirely sure. You were with her when I met her, already unlikely friends.”

“Unlikely?”

He angles his head. “I don’t know Prisca well, but I know enough about her to know she likes people. And people tend to like her.”

His tone is pointed, and I curl my lip at him, ignoring the way his words slice into me.

Since neither of us are going to get any more sleep, I roll to my feet, stalking to the small stream to splash water on my face. I can feel Calysian’s eyes on me.

The strange power calls to me, rocking through my body and leaving my head ringing until I’m dizzy.

Calysian is suddenly standing in front of me. “What was that?”

I give him a withering look, and he clamps his huge hands on my shoulders. “Answer me.”

He tenses, and I know he can feel my blade at his balls. “Ask nicely,” I purr, shifting my knife closer. I found it in my mare’s saddlebag, along with a few rations and a change of clothes.

A glint of something I don’t recognize enters Calysian’s eyes. “Ah,” he says. “So you are in there after all, Madinia Farrow.”

His words remind me of the way he has kept silent about my past. About having met me before.

He leans close, ignoring my knife. His eyes burn into mine, and another memory explodes in my mind’s eye.

I open my eyes and jolt. A man has taken the empty seat in front of me, and I hadn’t even noticed. My hands warm, and the man grins at me. This is the man who’d escaped Regner’s dungeon with Prisca. Calysian.

He’s shaved his beard, and his eyes glint with wicked humor. He’s a handsome bastard, that’s for sure. Handsome and far too large. What exactly is he doing here?

“Tired?” he asks.

“What do you want?”

“I did a little research about you, Madinia Farrow,” he says.

“Did you? Then you know I could turn your insides to kindling.”

Calysian laughs. “Relax, beautiful woman. I’m here to help you.”

I force a bored expression onto my face. “And why would you do that?”

“I owe your friend a life debt. Since she didn’t seem inclined to let me pay it before we went our separate ways, and she told me to give it to you, it’s yours.”

“I don’t need a life debt.”

“Too bad. Where I come from, a man’s honor rests on his word. Who do you need killed? Or perhaps you have someone who wants to kill you? Name the time and the place, and I’ll be there to protect you.”

His expression is serious, his words solemn. But I don’t trust strange men.

“I can protect myself.”

“Something else, then.”

My hands cool, and I lean forward slightly. “What is it you think you could help me with?”

“You’d be surprised what I can help you with,” he says. I roll my eyes, and he laughs at me, folding his arms. “I know this city. I know the people in it, and I’m relatively confident I know what you’re planning.”

I tense and he waves an elegant hand. “I want you to succeed. So I can go home.”

“Home?”

One side of his mouth curves. “I’m from…elsewhere. When Regner’s little barrier went up, it trapped me on this continent.”

Of course. Of course there were people here who became stuck, unable to get home. Curiosity slides through me despite myself. If I’d known this man, I might’ve asked him to tell me of his homeland. And any other places he’d seen.

“Why were you in Regner’s dungeon?”

Calysian just shakes his head. “Irrelevant. Just tell me what you want.”

What if he could help me? I’d be an idiot to turn him away.

“What kinds of people did you say you know?”

“All kinds of people.”

“Get me a meeting with Caddaril the Cleaver.”

Surprise flashes across his face. “You continue to surprise me.”

I shrugged. “Can you do it?”

“Yes. You’re sure this is what you want to use your life debt for?”

“I’m sure.”

“In that case, I’ll find you when I’ve arranged the meeting.”

He gets to his feet, towering over me. “Be careful.”

I keep my expression cool, blank. He angles his head, curiosity glinting in his eyes.

“Prickly. I like that.”

“Come closer,” I say. “And you’ll see just how prickly.”

He lets out a laugh. “I’ll see you soon, Madinia Farrow.”

I wave my hand, a clear demand for him to leave.

“What did you see?” Calysian is tense, his fingers digging into my upper arms. When I glance pointedly down at them, he loosens them. But he doesn’t release me.

“A meeting. You were going to get me a meeting with someone called Caddaril the Cleaver.” I pause, attempting to understand everything I’ve just remembered. “Who is Regner?”

Calysian angles his head. “I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.”

“Fine.”

He releases me, stalking away to stare at the bubbling water. “Have you seen it?”

“Have I seen what?”

“Have you seen what it is that your instincts are pulling you towards?”

Sudden realization hits me like a splash of water to the face.

Calysian knows what it is. And despite his insistence that he’s an honorable man, he’s not here to keep me alive. He’s here because he wants it.

Betrayal. The feeling is intimately familiar. And yet I’m somehow always surprised by it.

“No.”

His shoulders slump. Likely in relief. He believes I’ll be easier to manipulate if I don’t know he wants whatever it is I’m supposed to protect. My teeth clench.

“Who is Regner?”

He sighs. “A king. He enslaved a continent and used religion to manipulate humans into giving up their power in a war against the fae. He told them they were sacrificing their magic to the gods in exchange for protection from fae invaders—all while hoarding that power for himself. Hybrids like you couldn’t be stripped of your power. So they were branded as corrupt and hunted and killed. But your people rallied behind the hybrid queen.”

Prisca. The hybrid queen is Prisca. And her face flickers in my mind once more, this time with a crown on her head. A crown I helped put there.

My heart thuds against my ribs. It’s coming back. But…

If I helped her, why did she never help me? Why did she leave me in that tower, trapped and alone?

Because no one can be trusted. If you want to survive, you’ll have to do it alone.

The thought is depressing, even as it rings with truth.

Whatever it is that I’m protecting, I gave three years of my life to keep it safe. I voluntarily went with Kyldare and refused to give him its location—even through his worst torture. I trust my past self enough to know that I wouldn’t have suffered Kyldare’s attentions if it wasn’t critically important.

So no. I will not be leading Calysian directly to whatever it is he wants.

In fact, I believe it’s time to head in the opposite direction.