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

I’ve traveled with Rhen to dozens of cities over the last few months, and he was always at the forefront: surrounded by guards, dictating everything, smoothly shifting from cordial and gracious to haughty and aloof depending on the situation. He had a skill for reading people that was almost uncanny. Always a leader, with every action swift and decisive and absolute.

Now we ride at the back. If I weren’t spurring him to keep up, I think he’d let the reins go slack so the horse could amble and graze, and we’d lose sight of the rest of the party. A leatherworker fashioned him with a patch that covers the worst of the scarring. It’s dark, oiled leather, with little adornment and tiny buckles. Rhen wasn’t going to wear it, but then a young child saw him and screamed for five solid minutes, so now he has it with him always. Jake told him he looked like a pirate, which I actually think he meant as a compliment, but I thought Rhen was going to put his sword right through my brother’s chest.

It’s colder today, and snow has begun to drift from the sky to gather in the horse’s mane. Rhen looks at me. “You should ride in the carriage with Lia Mara.”

“I’m worried that you’ll turn back if I leave you alone.”

“I won’t turn back. Grey has given an order. I will obey.”

“He didn’t give you an order, Rhen.”

“He’s going to be crowned king. Literally everything he says is an order.”

I sigh and look at the sky. The snowflakes sting my cheeks.

“Again,” he says, “I insist. You should ride in the carriage.”

“I don’t want to ride in the carriage. I want to ride with you.”

He glances over. “You fell in love with the crown prince, Harper. That is no longer me.”

“No, you idiot. I fell in love with you. You, Rhen. I do not care about your crown.”

“I don’t either, really,” he says simply. He pauses. “But … what else is there?”

I stare at him, somewhat shocked.

But also a little shocked at myself, that I never realized the real basis for all his brooding, his angst, the way he was moving through the castle like a ghost.

The curse is broken. Lilith is gone. Emberfall is no longer in danger.

And Rhen is no longer the crown prince.

He was a man who devoted his life to his people, and now he’s … given all that up. A man who built his entire world around strategy and planning and thought, and now it’s gone.

“You know,” I say slowly, “when Grey yanked me out of Washington, DC, I lost track of any future I thought I had, too.”

He looks over at me in surprise.

I shrug and keep my eyes on the back of the traveling party. “I wasn’t ruling a country or anything. But still.”

“And what did you do?” he says, his voice rough.

“You know what I did.” I pause. “I tried everything I could to get back.” My voice tightens with unexpected emotion. “And then … and then that didn’t work. So I had to figure out a new path. A new future. A new way to move forward.”

He looks at me steadily. “Are you happy with your new future, Harper?”

“Yes,” I say emphatically. “You brought peace to Emberfall, Rhen. You did that. Grey was going to bring war. You gave him peace.”

Now it’s his turn to look startled.

“He missed you,” I say gently. “When I got to Syhl Shallow, he talked a big game about battle and war and how he would protect Lia Mara and her people—but when it came right down to it, he marched into Ironrose Castle to save you. No matter what he said, he was going after Lilith. He was afraid she would use you against him.”

Rhen flinches.

“He didn’t order you to come with him,” I say. “And I think you know him better than that. He asked you to come with him, because he wants you here.” I pause. “Just like I want you here.”

He says nothing.

“Remember when I first agreed to be the Princess of Disi?” I say. “We had that whole conversation where you said I couldn’t help all your people, and I said that we could help some of them?”

“Yes.” He takes a breath, and his voice turns very soft. “And you were right.”

“You can do that now, Rhen. You don’t have to be the king to make a difference for your people.” I pause, as the weight of what I’m saying hits me, too. Snow flurries drift down between us. “Just like I didn’t have to be a princess. I could just … be Harper.”

At that, he looks over at me, and I can see the emotion in his eye, just for a moment, before he blinks it away. But he reaches out to take my hand, and he presses a kiss to my knuckles. “You are more than I deserve.”

“Well. You did say you’d level a city for me.”

I expect that to make him smile, but instead, he gives my hand a gentle squeeze … and lets go.

I don’t know if I reminded him of what he could do as a monster—or if I reminded him of what he can’t do if he’s not the king, but it doesn’t matter.

“Remember when you told me I didn’t have to take anything?” I say. “That I could just ask for it, and you’d give it to me?”

“I do.” His voice is thin and soft, and he’s facing forward, so I can’t see his eye now, and I have no clue to his emotion.

I plow ahead anyway. “Grey would do that for you too, Rhen. If you told him what you wanted, he would give it to you. Just—just tell him—”

“I don’t know!” he snaps. “I don’t know, Harper! I have never been anything else!”

My breath catches. He wasn’t quiet that time, and the soldiers and guards stop short.

He’s the center of attention again, but not for any reason he wants to be.

Grey was riding near the front, but his horse lopes back to us. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” says Rhen, his tone clipped.

Grey looks at me.

I inhale to say the same, but then I stop. “Grey, we’re heading into Rillisk, right? This is where they found you?”

“Yes.”

“So you know your way around.” I hesitate. “Maybe for the first few hours you could lose most of the guards and horses, and you could just … not be the future king and his brother?”

Rhen snorts and looks away dismissively. “The guards will never allow it.”

Grey studies him, and then, slowly, he smiles. “Who says they need to know?”