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

I’ve seen Rhen like this before, but it’s still terrifying and beautiful all at once. This time, his eye is missing in this form, too, the scars mottled streaks of blue and purple that make him seem both more monstrous and more radiant.

His transformation has thrown Lilith and Grey back. Rhen roars, and my heart skips in terror.

Somewhere in the room, Tycho chokes on a breath and cries, “Silver hell.”

For a heartbeat of time, I’m terrified that he’ll turn on us. The monster was always indiscriminate, and I know Rhen caused a lot of damage in this form—damage he couldn’t control.

Wind blasts through the room, overturning the rest of the furniture, knocking the rest of us into the walls. But Rhen-the-monster is unmoved. He growls again, ending in a shriek that makes every piece of glass in the room shatter.

Lilith screams in rage. Her fist closes on that dagger, and she struggles to her knees. Rhen’s scales glitter in the light, and he rears up—leaving his chest a wide-open target.

For a stunning, terrifying fraction of a second, I feel as though we’ve found this moment before: Lilith with a blade in her hand, threatening to kill Rhen in his monster form.

Me, shoving my feet against the ground, running to save him.

“No!” I scream, and I leap, just like I did once before.

Rhen’s growl shakes the room. I hear Grey shout, and then I feel myself slam into the marble floor, nowhere near Lilith. Rhen’s monster has recoiled from the blade, and he hisses at Lilith. Grey’s face is in front of me. “He’d never forgive me,” he gasps.

Lilith’s blade is swinging forward again, and I cry out. I’ll never forgive him. I’ll never forgive her. I’ll never forgive anyone.

But Grey has turned away from me, and he’s grabbed hold of Lilith’s dress, and he pulls hard. It grants Rhen an inch of space, but it’s not going to be enough.

Then her skirts erupt in flame, a sudden burst of heat from where Grey has grabbed the hem. Lilith shrieks, and the wind in the room swirls as she summons her magic to douse the flames and heal herself.

It’s only a moment of distraction, but it’s enough.

One moment, Lilith is there, surrounded by smoke and flames that have already begun eating away at her skin.

The next moment, the monster rips her apart.

The sound is terrifying. The sight is terrifying. I’m wheezing. Blinking. Staring. His talons are coated in gore. His beautiful glistening scales are spattered with blood.

Everything is spattered with blood.

Suddenly the room is so silent that I can’t hear anything but my breathing. The fire drifts away in a cloud of smoke. Grey is on his knees. He’s bleeding, his skin raw in spots. I stumble to my feet, which takes too long, and my feet don’t want to work right. The monster growls, turning. Tycho is crouched over Iisak, who isn’t moving, but Rhen pays them no attention. When he sees Grey, he shrieks, and the sound makes me want to cower.

“Harper,” says Grey. He lifts his hands. “Harper.”

“Rhen,” I breathe. I stumble forward on my knees, half crawling to Grey’s side. “Rhen, I’m here.” I put my own hands up. “Change him back, Grey. Change him back.”

Grey takes a breath, then carefully gets to his feet. “I can’t. You remember. Only he can.”

Rhen-the-monster growls again, but he presses his face to my chest and blows warm air at my knees. My gut tightens, and a tear slips from my eye. “But I already love him.” My breath catches. “He already loves me.”

Shouting erupts in the hallway, and the monster’s head whips up. Another low growl rumbles from his chest. Voices are clamoring in Syssalah, and I can’t understand a word.

But then Jake and Captain Solt appear in the doorway.

Jake swears. “Holy—”

Rhen snakes his neck and roars at him.

Captain Solt blanches, then draws a blade.

“Hold!” Grey shouts.

Rhen whips his head around to roar in Grey’s face. I whimper and fall back, but Grey doesn’t move.

“It cannot fly,” snaps Solt. “We can kill it.”

“No,” says Grey, and his voice is soft. Rhen roars in his face again, and the sound makes the walls tremble.

“Easy.” Grey lifts his hands. His voice is so quiet. The way he speaks to horses or children. “Rhen. Easy.”

“It’ll tear you in two,” says Tycho. He stumbles to his feet.

“I don’t think so,” Grey whispers. Another growl pulls from Rhen’s throat, but Grey fearlessly puts a hand against his face, below his one good eye.

“Come back to yourself,” he says quietly. “Come back to yourself, Brother.”

The air barely shimmers, and then Rhen stands before us. He stumbles a little, as if drunk or disoriented, but he puts out a hand and Grey catches him.

“She’s dead?” Rhen says.

“She’s dead.”

He stumbles forward again, but this time when he reaches out, Grey catches him, and he wraps up his brother in an embrace.