A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3)(77)

He cuts the soiled bandage free and pulls it away from my leg in one smooth movement. It must have crusted to the wound, because stars flare in my vision and I gasp. I’m choking. My back arches. I’m going to throw up. Pus and blood creep from the injury, which has turned black along the edges, with weird bruising running the length of my thigh.

My brother hisses in alarm. “Holy crap, Harp, how long has it been like that?”

“I couldn’t wait,” I say, and my eyes won’t focus. “I think—I think it’s infected.”

“You think? Grey—”

“I can fix it.” And before I have time to ask how, or what that fully means, he pulls off a glove and presses his fingers right to the wound.

I scream. I lied, I lied, I lied, I don’t trust him at all, this is worse than any pain has ever been, ever. It’s too much, too intense, like he’s grabbed a fist full of my flesh and pulled it right out of my leg. This has to be a nightmare. This is torture. I’m going to pass out again.

But then—it’s not. The pain eases away. For the first time in days, my head is suddenly … clear. I’m still weak and exhausted and starving, but the bruising and pus around the knife wound are gone, leaving only a narrow scar where the edges of the wound had turned black. I’m soaked in sweat and panting, but my body stops shivering from infection, and instead starts shivering because it’s cold.

Whoa.

Jake pulls off his cloak and wraps it around me, and I’m grateful for the ready warmth, but I can’t stop staring at Grey. I’ve heard some of the rumors of what happened between him and the people in Blind Hollow, how he saved them with magic, but until this moment, I hadn’t quite understood what that meant.

Lilith tore through Dustan and the other guards with this same kind of power.

I shudder. I suddenly understand Rhen’s terror. I can’t tell if it’s the memory of what happened or the thought of that kind of potential being at Grey’s fingertips, but either way, I’m speechless. I don’t know if I should be grateful or terrified.

Both. Definitely both.

Scary Grey for sure.

Maybe he can see it in my frozen expression, because he stands, pulling his glove back on. His eyes give away nothing.

A woman steps forward, through the soldiers, and they step back with deference. I recognize her vibrant red hair before I recognize her face. Queen Lia Mara is in dark blue belted robes, and she wears a heavy woolen cloak against the cold.

“Princess Harper,” she says. I feel like I should stand, so I grab hold of Jake’s arm and let him help me to my feet. Whatever Grey did didn’t heal everything, and my one ankle nearly gives way, so I clutch to my brother to stay upright. She was able to look regal and unaffected when she was Rhen’s prisoner, but I don’t know if I can do the same after days of not eating, with my pants hanging in torn scraps around my knee.

I also don’t know what I’m supposed to call her, and I’ve been in chains for days, possibly by her order. I’ve heard plenty of stories about the viciousness of Karis Luran—but I also know this girl once came to Rhen with hopes for peace.

Her expression isn’t angry, but it’s definitely not warm and inviting. “My scouts said that you told them Prince Rhen is injured,” she says.

“Yes.” But as soon as I say the word, my tongue stalls. I was so determined to get to Grey, to beg for his help, but now I’m here and I’m worried that I’m handing them an advantage. What did Rhen say?

This is war, Harper. Grey will use anything at his disposal.

Surely Lia Mara would do the exact same thing. I wanted to talk to Grey. I thought he would understand. I thought he would help.

Maybe. Hopefully.

Looking into Lia Mara’s cool green eyes and Grey’s severe ones, I don’t feel very hopeful at all.

But then Lia Mara says, “This is not our doing,” and her tone is grave. “My soldiers have been ordered to honor the sixty days we granted.”

“Oh!” Wait. Does she think I came all this way to blame them? “No! I know it’s not Syhl Shallow.”

She frowns. “Then who attacked the prince?”

I look at Grey. “The enchantress.” I take a breath. “It’s Lilith. She’s back.”



From a distance, the Crystal Palace looks nothing like Ironrose Castle. While the latter always reminds me of something you’d see in a brochure for some kind of European fairy-tale adventure, the Crystal Palace sits well above the city, partially built into the side of the mountain. Massive sparkling windows reflect the sky, and huge snow-covered fields stretch away from the palace to end near a forest with glistening ice-coated trees. For a country that once tried to burn Emberfall to the ground, I didn’t expect it to look so beautiful.

I expected Grey to react with shock when I mentioned Lilith, but he didn’t. Some of the soldiers exchanged glances and murmured to each other, but Lia Mara asked for silence, and they gave it. She then said we would return to the palace to discuss the matter privately. I thought that meant me and them, but Jake loaded me into a carriage to take me away from the scout station where I was being held. So now I’m alone with my brother, rattling across rocky streets while I huddle and shiver and stare out the window at the palace that keeps growing closer.

I wish I could put a finger on what’s changed about him. It’s not confidence, because Jake was never lacking in that, but he’s gained something. Or maybe he’s lost something.