A Vow So Bold and Deadly (The Cursebreaker Series Book 3)
A Vow So Bold and Deadly: Chapter 32

The castle is cold and silent, but I don’t mind the chill. If this were midsummer, the stench of the bodies would be interminable. I’m willing to freeze to death anyway, so I haven’t lit a fire in days. I still don’t have the courage to look in a mirror. My left eye has been dark and blind since Lilith attacked us, and when I touch a hand to my face, all I find are raised ridges of thick scabs and swelling that aches when my fingertips drift over it.

It’s only been a few months since the curse was broken, following an eternity of isolation with Grey, but somehow I quickly forgot how quiet Ironrose becomes when there are no guards and servants in the halls, no children laughing as they race up the staircases, no rattling dishes, no ruffling papers, no clanging swords in the training arena.

Lilith left the bodies in the halls, telling me to think on my crimes while they rotted around me. When the curse first held me captive, she did the same with my family, but I was a monster then. When the season reset, everything in the palace returned to its former state from the first morning she cursed me: no dead bodies, no one at all.

This time, there’s no curse—and even if the enchantress were to offer a means out of this hell, I would refuse. But maybe she knows I’ve learned my lesson, or maybe she thinks this is better than watching me fail for another eternity. No curse is offered. No bargain. No means of relief. Every hallway of Ironrose reeks of blood and death. I gagged on it for hours and locked myself in an empty room—but eventually, I had to eat. I might be willing to freeze to death, but starving to death felt too much like torturing myself.

Lilith probably won’t let me die anyway. She won’t let me run. She promised to follow if I tried, to slaughter anyone who dared to offer me shelter. So here I remain. I haven’t seen her in days, though I don’t dare to hope that she’s done with me. Grey is gone. Harper is dead. What else can she take? Despair is all that’s left.

I’ve spent my hours pulling bodies out of the castle, dragging them on velvet carpets one by one down the marble steps, then loading them into a wagon I’ve hitched myself. One horse is missing from the stable: Ironwill, my favorite steed—and Harper’s, too. In a way, I’m glad he’s gone, though I hope he escaped through the woods after Lilith killed Harper and Zo. Then again, the enchantress is easily vicious and vindictive enough to kill my horse, too.

For as terrible as this task is, I’m grateful for something to do. When I sit still, my thoughts churn with agony over everything I’ve lost. It would be worse to leave the bodies anyway. I know what happens to a corpse once it begins to decompose, and I have no interest in watching it happen by a hundredfold.

Occasionally a scout or a soldier will come to the castle, bringing messages or requests or inquiries about what actions I intend to take. The first one galloped into the courtyard, took one look at me dragging a body across the cobblestones, and screamed—then ran. I don’t know what Lilith has turned loose in the forests surrounding Ironrose, but I’ve heard distant screams and rustlings in the leaves, and the people who make it all the way to the castle are few and far between. Maybe she’s cursed another prince and turned him into a monster.

Whatever it is, it leaves me alone, and I have no desire to investigate.

Despite the cold in the air, I stop in my dragging to wipe a sleeve across my forehead, but it pulls at the wounds on my face, stealing my breath for a moment. Three dozen charred bodies already lie in a row under the trees. It feels wrong to burn them, but I can’t bury them all myself, and animals have already begun to pick at the corpses.

I honestly didn’t think anything could be worse than being stuck here forever, turning into a rampaging monster season after season, but clearly Lilith has no limit.

Without warning, the enchantress speaks from somewhere nearby. “What will you do with them all, Your Highness?”

Her voice sends a jolt through me, and I wish it wouldn’t. I wish she couldn’t still elicit fear just by her closeness.

I don’t answer. I climb back on the wagon and cluck to the horse to head back to the castle.

Some people were able to escape. I know because there aren’t bodies for everyone. At first I hoped someone would find help—but I quickly realized there is no help. No one can stop her.

Hands fall on my shoulders, and I gasp and jerk away. The horse plods on.

Lilith whispers in my ear. “I cannot believe you thought you would use that silly weapon to attack me. As if I have never encountered steel from Iishellasa.”

I shiver and try to jerk free.

She leans closer, her breath hot and sickening. “As if I did not hand it to the spy myself.”

I suck in a breath.

“You’re so surprised,” she chortles. “As if I have not played these games with you for an eternity, Prince Rhen.” She pauses. “Who do you think has stoked the discord in Syhl Shallow? Who do you think whispers suggestions of assassination to anyone who will listen?” Her tongue touches my ear, and it’s like the kiss of a forge-hot blade. “You were to use it on Grey, not me.”

I shudder. She is diabolical. There is no stopping her.

It was useless to even try.

“I have even sent orders to your troops, Your Highness. Using your seal.” Her fingernails dig into my shoulders. My back is rigid against her touch.

“Your soldiers at the border will attack this regiment from Syhl Shallow. They will bring the war into Emberfall, and we will win. I have sent for troops to surround the castle.”

That’s foolish. If she wants to rule Emberfall at my side, she shouldn’t let Syhl Shallow’s soldiers get anywhere close to the castle.

“Grey will come for you,” she seethes. “The blade is gone. He will kill you, you know.”

Yes. I do know. I once thought I needed to kill the heir to protect my throne—and he will have to do the same thing if he wants to claim it.

The thought brings an unexpected tightness to my throat. So many things I wish I’d done differently.

I would have yielded to him. I would have negotiated for peace. It was Harper’s last request.

Almost her dying wish.

My breath shudders.

Now Lilith has ordered my soldiers to attack. No one will listen to a message about an alliance.

“Grey will come for you,” she says, “and I will lie in wait.” A blustering wind blasts through the trees to ruffle my hair and make me shiver, and Lilith closes her arms around my neck. “I will lie in wait so I can kill the one man who still stands in my way.”

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