Page 99 of To Bleed A Kingdom

“How dare you attack me!” I roar, enraged at the coward for attacking me while my back was turned. Fury swelling within my chest, I clench him tighter and pinch around the column of his throat. “Do you know who I am?”

The Fire fae begins to chuckle, quiet and low, before it slowly rises into a maniacal cackle. “Oh, yes! I know who you are. The Gods Wrath. A prince. A bastard. An immortal. You think you’re a god amongst man and fae, but you are no god, Darius Lesdanas,” he spits. “You are vermin. A plague. A disease in need of eradication.”

Blinking slowly, my anger begins to recede as I attempt to follow the fae’s incoherent babble. Loosening my grip around his throat, I scan him from head to toe. He wears an ill-fitting uniform that’s soiled and torn; oily, matted hair; sunken cheeks and pale skin; and what I initially thought to be hatred gleaming within his eyes, I now realize is insanity.

“He's crazy.” Scratching the back of my head, I watch males and females warily step out of shops and alleys, moving towards us to see the show. I have to suppress a groan at the nobility's insatiable need for gossip. “Take him to the dungeon. We’ll keep him restrained, but we’ll see if the healer can help him,” I say to my commanders. Kace and Ajax nod, but Griffin jerks his head in refusal, scowling at the guard's aura. Confused, I'm just about to ask for an explanation when the Fire fae begins hissing in laughter, an eerie sound that raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

“You believe me mad? Oh no, Captain, I’m not mad! I'm blessed. Enlightened. For he has shown me the truth. Has shown me her.”

“Who is her?” I ask, unsure if I should be encouraging his madness.

The man’s eyes flash with hysteria.“She is blood and pain. Terror and darkness. She is who lives in the shadows. The Goddess of Death.”

Desdemona.

Scrubbing my hands across my face, I blow out a breath and crouch down, motioning the others toward me. “Let’s get him down to the dungeons.” Flattening an orange palm above him, I'm about to release his binds when a voice halts my hand.

“Does he have a tattoo?”

Searching for the owner of that seductive, raspy voice, I find Lena standing between us and the crowd, only a few paces away.

Drumming her fingers on her hips, she jerks her head toward the fae. “Search him.”

Frowning, I tear my gaze away from Lena to face the others, seeing that Ajax, Kace, and Griffin all appear to be just as confused as I am. Shrugging, I lift the sleeve of his tunic and search his arm, while the others check him as well. I’m starting to think I’m just as crazy as he is for even entertaining Lena’s odd request, but as I lift his vest and look beneath his tunic, I find a black swirl tattooed on the side of his ribs.

He’s Cursed!

“You’re Cursed!” Ajax shouts my thoughts, rearing back and falling on his ass.

Griffin quickly tosses up a blue shimmering palm, flinging the Cursed flat on his back with a whoosh of air in the same moment a dozen more chains of fire shoot from my palms. They twine around the fae’s torso, staking him to the ground as Kace raises a glittering green hand and thick branches sprout from the ground. The serpentine wood crumbles stone and cracks jewels before curving around the fae’s limbs, shackling his arms and legs.

Heart galloping in my chest, I study the bindings on the Cursed fae, searching my memories for any clue as to how to immobilize these creatures. But I already know the answer to that.

“I am their servant,” he claims boldly.

I feel a momentary relief that he's not one of the indestructible Gods Cursed. For if he was, these bonds would not hold him for long. But that relief is brief and short lived. As the feeling wanes, fury surges.

“A fucking Breccan in my Guard,” I growl in the same instant that understanding dawns on me. “You’re the one who's been altering the patrol. You’re the traitor.”

“Me, him, her, them. We are everyone and no one, Captain,” he rambles. “We live to do his bidding, and he wishes for your end.”

Raising the heat on the chains, I watch his clothes melt away to reveal his chest beneath and revel in the sight and scent of his blistering skin. Yet he remains silent. Cheeks spread in a deranged smile, he’s unconcerned with his blackening skin. The crowd gasps in horror, unaccustomed to witnessing the vengeance of the Gods Wrath firsthand, but I pay them no mind. For this male is a traitor, and there will be no mercy for my enemies.

Boots scrape across stone and jewels and Lena appears at my side. “How many of you are in Seboia?”

The traitor swivels his head in her direction. When he sees her, his mouth slackens. “My gods! You are a beauty.”

“So I've been told,” Lena replies dryly, her lips flattened into a tight line.

He licks his lips and trails his lust-filled gaze across her every curve. “Silky hair, lush tits. I bet your cunt tastes divine. A worthy gift for my Master.”

Watching him leer at her, every protective instinct in me claws to the surface and I grip his chin, jerking his gaze to mine. “You don't talk to her, you don't look at her, you don't breathe near her!” I hiss, feeling his skin bubble beneath my glittering fingers.

“It's you!” he says to Lena, peeking at her out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly jerks up, tendons bulging as he struggles against his restraints, his skin sizzling against the flamed chains. “I should've known from the first moment you spoke. Those markings, your beauty, your eyes. But of course it's you!”

He knows her.

The guard returns his feverish gaze to mine and once he sees my confused frown, he cackles. “You don't know, do you? She's right under your nose and you have no idea. He's been searching for you a long time, darling,” he taunts Lena.

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