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

They’ve been gone for days. There’s been no word, which is fine—expected, even—but I keep looking at the horizon, waiting for a scout to deliver bad news.

Noah dines with me and Nolla Verin in the evenings, and I appreciate the company of someone who’s also worried about one man in particular, not just whether Grey and my soldiers—our soldiers—are successful. My sister rarely leaves my side, so no one has dared to attack me, but with Grey gone, my nerves are tightly wound anyway, leaving me anxious and nauseated. After growing used to sharing my bed, now it feels cold and empty at night.

“You are both so dour,” Nolla Verin says on the fifth night. “Have you no faith in your beloveds?”

Noah and I exchange a glance.

“It has nothing to do with faith,” I say.

“When I was sixteen,” Noah says, “my sister was stationed in Afghanistan. It’s … it’s another place. A war zone. My parents were fine most of the time, but the dinner table, her missing seat … it was a constant reminder.” He paused. “It was a depressing year.”

“Your sister was a warrior,” says Nolla Verin.

“Yes, she was.” He pushes the food around his plate, but he doesn’t take a bite. He gives a laugh that’s a little sad. “I never thought I’d be waiting for news on a soldier again.”

A page appears in the doorway to the dining room, and my heart skips a beat. But the girl simply curtsies and extends a slip of paper in my direction. “A message has been delivered for you, Your Majesty.”

I take the paper to read the message. It’s from Captain Sen Domo in the guard station at the mountain pass.

Prince Grey has sent word that soldiers from Emberfall attacked their party. There were two casualties, including palace advisor Ellia Maya. They are proceeding toward Ironrose Castle. Reports indicate that another regiment from Emberfall has joined the first.

I have to read it three times, as if more information will suddenly appear, but of course none does.

Ellia Maya is dead? She was not with them. I don’t understand.

I can’t look up from this letter to look at Noah. His words just now about waiting on news about a soldier feel prescient. Jake and Tycho were among the soldiers. So was Iisak. Surely Grey would have known I would receive this message. I have no doubt he would have mentioned them specifically if he mentioned Ellia Maya.

I still don’t understand why she was there. She has been working in the city for weeks, trying to track the source of this anti-magic faction. She was the one who discovered the literature about Iishellasan steel, and the one who discovered that there was a faction to begin with.

I try to consider the meaning of this letter more deeply. They were attacked? The point of the small party was to be able to travel quietly, without detection. They wouldn’t have engaged in a battle.

I think of Harper, appearing to beg for help. Was this a trap? Have we been naive?

If this message came from Grey, he had to have a reason for mentioning her. He would know I’d be confused.

“Read it,” says my sister. Her eyes are intent on my face, her voice low.

I glance at Noah, then read the letter aloud. When I get to Ellia Maya’s name, my sister gasps.

Noah sets down his fork entirely. His eyes are shadowed and wary.

“Why would she be with them?” Nolla Verin cries. “Was she a hostage? Who has done this?” Her voice turns vicious. “And he has moved another regiment? They’re being led to slaughter. This is a trap.”

“I don’t think Harper was leading anyone to slaughter,” says Noah. He pauses. “I think Lilith is manipulating Prince Rhen.”

“Regardless,” says Nolla Verin. “More soldiers have moved into place. If we allow this to proceed unchecked, it won’t matter what Grey does, because he’ll be cut off from Syhl Shallow. He cannot stand against an army with a handful of soldiers.”

“You just asked me to have faith in him,” I snap. “And I do.” My thoughts are spinning, refusing to settle. I feel as though an answer is there, just out of my grasp. Grey would know I wouldn’t understand that message. Why wouldn’t he give me more information about Ellia Maya? It doesn’t make sense.

“Faith? Against an army?”

My stomach churns again. “Yes. Against an army.”

But she’s right. All the faith in the world isn’t going to stop thousands of soldiers. Even when Grey has spoken of the enchantress, her power is limited by location, by the number of people she can affect. She’s powerful, but she’s not all powerful.

Neither is he.

Including palace advisor Ellia Maya.

I read the letter again. And a fifth time.

“What are you doing?” my sister demands.

“I’m thinking.” I read it a sixth time. He’d expect me to be confused—and he’d also expect this message to pass through many hands before it would reach me.

Maybe I’ve been looking at this the wrong way. Maybe the message isn’t in what he says, but in what he doesn’t.

What did Harper say about a spy? She says her family was killed by Karis Luran. She said there was a faction against magic that had gathered artifacts.

Ellia Maya’s family was killed. And she knew everything about the faction because she herself was researching it. She told Nolla Verin no weapons had been uncovered—because she’d sold the blade to Rhen herself.

Ellia Maya wasn’t with them when she left—which must mean she was killed among the soldiers from Emberfall.

And if Ellia Maya was working against me, she might not be the only person in the palace who was involved with this faction. My blood goes cold.

This is what Grey suspected. This is why he offered no further information—not just about Ellia Maya, but about their own plans.

Oh, how I wish he were here. My people feel so uncertain about my rule, about my choices, about my alliance with a man who bears magic. I don’t want to make the wrong decision.

Maybe that’s been the problem all along. I’ve spent so much time worrying about how my actions would be perceived that I’ve forgotten to pay attention to what actions would be best.

Surely the worst decision would be to do nothing.

My army is prepared for war. Grey is in Emberfall, potentially trapped or dead—or worse, at the mercy of some enchantress.

I can’t protect him, but I can protect my people.

I look at my sister. “Call for the generals. Don’t send a messenger; I want you to speak with them directly. We cannot risk any further insurrection. But if Rhen has sent a force north, we will send a force through the mountain pass.”

She drops her fork. “Right away.”

She practically vanishes from the room, leaving me with Noah. My chest feels tight.

I look at him, my own worries mirrored in his brown eyes. “Your sister fought in a war?”

“She did.”

“Was she victorious?”

“She died.”

His words drop like a rock in a pond, breaking through the surface and plummeting to the bottom. “Forgive me,” I say softly.

He smiles a little sadly. “She died fighting for what she believed in,” he says. “I don’t think she’d want you to be sorry for her loss.”

“I’m sorry for yours.”

He reaches out to give my hand a squeeze. “I have faith in them, too, Lia Mara.” He stands. “I’ll prepare supplies.”

I blink at him. “Supplies?”

“You’re sending an army to war.” He pauses. “If I learned anything during the battle in Emberfall, they’ll need a medic.”