Court of Ice and Ash: A Dark Fantasy Romance (The Broken Kingdoms Book 2)

“IT’S Kvinna Elise,” the guard said once he pulled back my hair and studied my face. His grin sent a shudder dancing up my arms. “The little traitorous princess. There can be no doubt what side you’ve taken now.” He spit on my boot. “You stand against your folk. I’d do the king a service by slitting your throat now.”

He whistled and three guards surrounded me, all placed their hands on my arms, holding me with unyielding strength.

I dropped. They dragged me. I kicked. A guard slapped me.

Outside smoke from the battle burned my throat. In the corner of my eye some of the Agitators fought. I didn’t know who, but they would be my chance. Halvar and Siv were likely deep in the trees by now. By the time my absence drew them back, I’d be on my way to Castle Ravenspire.

There, Calder would humiliate me. Runa would torture me. Then, they’d kill me.

“Ari!” I screamed, desperate for anyone to hear me. “Ari!”

“Shut your mouth,” a guard snapped. He hit the back of my head with his fist.

“Kvinna! No!”

I let out a rattling breath. Ari. He saw me. He sounded distressed. But would he take the risk and come after me? Halvar, maybe. Siv and Mattis, yes. But what could they do against the whole of Ravenspire?

The guard tried to shove me in the back of the coach. I struggled against him, earning another strike to my mouth.

“Get inside you stupid—” The guard let out a sick grunt. At once his grip loosened and his fellow ravens scattered.

A scream caught in the back of my throat.

In the center of his forehead a black battle axe split his skull. I stumbled against the coach when another person leapt from the top and splattered the blood of another guard.

My throat tightened. He was here.

Hells, I wanted to reach for him, to fight with him. The Blood Wraith ripped his axe out of the guard’s head and turned on the driver and two remaining guards. They slashed bronze swords at him, but he sliced their legs at the thighs, or the weak points under their arms.

The driver weaseled his way out of the bloodshed after taking a strike to the arm. He crawled on hands and knees toward the front of the coach.

I took a raven’s blade off the ground and met the driver at the front, jabbing the point against his throat.

“Get up,” I said, dark and low.

With his hands overhead, the driver came from under the coach, but in another breath, he shoved me and tried to take the sword from my grip. I kicked at his ankle. He fell forward, but took me down with him.

The driver tried to roll on top of me, but I managed to leverage the sword between us. I thrust the blade up until a strangled gasp ripped from his throat. Out the back of him, the point of the sword gleamed bloody and wet in the dim light. I’d skewered the man over me; his blood dripped on my face. My grip on the sword faltered and dropped his dead weight on me.

Until different hands tore him off.

Valen, masked beneath his hood, pulled me to my feet.

“Valen,” I whispered. Three hells, it felt as if turns had gone by since seeing those dark eyes. “You’re here.”

I didn’t know what to expect. His eyes gave away his anger. He might turn away and disappear. Would he ask about Halvar?

All at once, I forgot to breathe when he dropped one of his axes and pressed his palm to my cheek.

Blood and bone surrounded us. But for a moment, I could be still.

“Elise.” His voice was soft, a hint of desperation underneath it all. Then, he stiffened. “What have you done? Why are you here?”

Ari needed the Blood Wraith. And I agreed. But, no doubt, he’d be coerced. Ari and his folk wanted this fight badly enough he would threaten and use me against him. Perhaps he’d use Halvar, too, now that I’d delivered the Shade into the Agitators’ hands.

I gripped his arms. “Valen, the Agitators attacked, but they came for you. They knew of Halvar, so they planned to break him out, but only to get to you.”

His eyes narrowed. My heart sunk in my chest when he stepped back. “You told them of me.”

“I cannot. You made it so.”

“You will not stop until I stand in a fight I do not want.”

“No, I am telling you so you may go before they see you. Halvar is safe, Siv and I got him out. Leave, Valen. I see it in your eyes that you do not want to stay here. Go, then. We will take back this land without you.”

So many words were being left unsaid. I wanted to plead for him to stay, to fight, to be here with me. All gods, I was furious with him. My heart ached for him.

I turned away. By the cheers ringing from the clans, I guessed the battle was ending. They’d been victorious and it would be over soon.

“Elise.”

I winced but didn’t turn around. If I looked at him again, I would not leave him a second time.

“Elise! Down.” Valen’s hands gripped my arms and yanked me to the mud. His body covered mine. Shouts broke out, something about an archer on eaves.

I stopped listening when Valen didn’t get off.

His breaths were ragged, sharp, and shallow. I adjusted, so I could sit up. “What hap—no! Valen, no!”

He met my eye, blinking rapidly. In his lower back an arrow had pierced deep into his body. Blood pooled around the wound.

“You need . . . need to pull it out.”

“Hold still,” I whispered and gingerly touched the arrow

Sweat coated his brow. I tore his tunic and tried to hide my horror. Too much blood bloomed across his skin. Acid rose in my throat as I snapped the arrow, then gripped the remaining shaft. Valen slumped, but stilled, bracing. On a count of three, I ripped the arrow free. He groaned and fell onto his shoulder. More blood bubbled from the wound. In a frenzy, I stripped my tunic to my undershirt and pressed the fabric to his skin.

“Valen, look at me.” Tears blurred in my eyes. His gaze went glassy, the same as the moment he died in my arms at the Black Tomb. When, like now, he’d stood in front of me and took a blade in my stead. “Please stay awake.”

“Elise.” His voice was soft. His fingertips touched my lips. His eyes fluttered closed.

“Valen? Valen!” I shook his shoulders, resting my ear over his heart. He was alive but fading. Each breath came uneven, and his pulse unsteady.

“What the hells happened!”

I whipped around. Ari, Mattis, Ulf, and a dozen Agitators darted to us.

“The Blood Wraith,” Mattis said, breathless.

“Help me,” I pleaded. “He’s taken an arrow and is losing too much blood.”

Ari kneeled at my side and helped me roll Valen onto his shoulder.

“Leave him!” Tor and others I didn’t recognize rushed at us; blades drawn.

“The Guild of Shade, I presume?” Ari asked, still helping me with Valen. I nodded and added pressure to the wound. Ari lifted his chin to Ulf and Frey. “Stop them.”

The two guards signaled to their unit and turned on Tor. They outnumbered Valen’s guild three to one, but I knew Tor was formidable.

“Tor,” I shouted. “Stop! We’ve got him.”

“Who?” Mattis asked, but he shook it away and faced the oncoming attack.

Tor wasn’t listening. He dropped his blades, and for the first time since the curse lifted, I witnessed what Tor was capable of. His palms burst into icy blue flames.

“Bleeding Hells,” Ulf grunted, dodging a stream of fire. “A pyre fae!”

I didn’t know the others with Tor and Halvar, but they raised blades against the Agitators. They didn’t move with as strong a step as Tor, were dressed in rags, but they fought despite it all.

I turned away. Valen needed help and quickly.

Ari helped prop him up but kept glancing back at the skirmish between blade and fire. He cursed under his breath and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Keep him alive, Elise.”

Ari left my side. I knew the stand-in king had strong fury, and after a few moments Tor cursed them. Ari held out a hand and Tor clutched his head. So did the others. Illusions, no doubt. By the way they struggled, terrifying ones.

Frey, Ulf, and Mattis moved swiftly and snapped silver bands around the wrists of the Guild of Shade.

My insides hardened. “No! What are you doing?”

“Elise, it is necessary,” Ari said.

“Those are painful.”

“I’m aware.” Ari rose after clamping them on a woman’s wrists. She didn’t flinch but glared the same as others. Ari came to my side, another set of bindings in his hands. “Understand, they are needed.”

“You’re forcing them, Ari! This is what Ravenspire does.”

‘We are not Ravenspire!” he shouted. It was troubling to hear his playful demeanor shift into something harsh and angry. “They are Night Folk. They are Ettan. If they do not stand with us, then they are against our people, and are enemies.” Ari closed his eyes and softened his voice. “I swear to you, this is merely to get them to hear us. I will give them a chance to listen, and to join us.”

“And if they do not? What will you do, lock them in chains? Kill them?”

He didn’t answer and flicked his gaze back to Valen. The Night Prince was still breathing, but it was weak and labored.

“He needs our healers. We’ll use the prison coach.” Ari snapped his fingers again. “Ulf, Frey, help get him up.”

Mattis joined them. Ulf kneeled by Valen’s head, grinning. “Let’s see who lives behind the Wraith’s mask, shall we?”

“No!” I shouted. “Ulf, he—”

He pulled down the red cloth. Mattis jolted back, his mouth open.

“That’s . . . he’s . . .” He pointed his stun at me. “Elise, that’s Legion Grey.”

Ari lifted one brow. “I’ve heard that name.” His grin widened. “Dear Kvinna, I know where. Did you not have a man by that name in charge of your dowry negotiations?”

“Dammit.” Mattis scrambled to his feet. “Does no one speak true anymore? He lied to you. The Blood Wraith was in your chambers all that time.”

“Stop it,” I snapped, exhausted from listening to them speak of Valen like he was a prize to be won or killed. “I have already accepted his name, Mattis. I have, so if I am able then everyone else should accept it.”

“Why should we?”

“Because there is more to this man than you know. And I assure you he will not take kindly to being bound.”

“Then it is a good thing these decisions lie with me and not you who clearly cannot see through emotions.” Ari was short tempered. He’d battled, he was covered in blood. We all were on edge.

Ari was not wicked like Calder, but he would not win favor with Valen by forcing him to act outside his will. After being a slave to a curse for so long, Valen would never listen to the stand-in king like this. And what irked me most was I could not give Ari the full truth. I could not explain why the Blood Wraith would never stand with him.

I pinched my lips and turned away. “Forget his face for a moment and help me save him.”

“Do not touch him!” Tor shouted. Ulf pressed him against the ground now that the bindings were on his wrists.

“Tor,” Mattis said. “The attendant who was with Legion? Who was inside the prison, Elise? Who is the other Shade?”

“Halvar,” I said, helping Frey and Ari lift Valen into the back of the coach. I climbed in beside him and kept my hand on his wound. Already my tunic was soaked in blood.

“Halvar.” Mattis chuckled bitterly. “Of course, it was.”

The Agitators led Tor and those bound with him to the rear of the coach. Though Tor’s mask was still in place, his eyes gave away his fear when he saw Valen unconscious in the back.

Ulf slammed the door on them and took a place on the driver’s bench with Frey. A whip cracked and the mare pulled forward.

“Tor,” I whispered until he lifted his eyes. “I did not want this. He . . . he jumped in front of me.”

“He always will,” Tor snarled. “You will either be his rise or his downfall. And neither of you sees it.”

A tear dropped onto my cheek. “I will convince them to release you. All of you.”

“I care little about me, Elise Lysander,” Tor said. “But be warned. Save him, or not even bindings will stop me from killing every last one of you.”