Page 58 of Scourged

And above her head shone the moons. Two slender slivers—one silver, one gold—that seemed to pulse brighter as Mariah stepped into their light, taking in a deep, sobbing, choking inhale.

Her cheeks chilled as tears tracked down her skin. Those moons were almost gone; the Spring Equinox was almost here. But they had not vanished yet, and she took a moment to revel in their light, her magic dancing with more life and joy than it had in weeks.

It wasn’t enough to chase away the darkness, but light needed the dark to shine its brightest.

A branch snapped, no more than a few feet away. Mariah’s skin pulsed with magic, gripping her knife with all her meager strength.

A figure, seated on a stone garden bench, shifted in the soft moonlight. Silver and gold reflected off black hair, and the weight of the universe slammed into her as she met a brilliant, haunted gemstone blue gaze.

Eons stretched between them, as Mariah held Andrian’s stare in the dim light of her magic and the moons.

“I know you,” he murmured into the quiet, and it was like time restarted.

Her fingers twitched around her dagger. She’d wanted to simply escape, to flee into the darkness. But her magic was still not strong enough; there was still a gaping hole trying to refill. If the lords caught her, she’d be finished.

There might be one very simple way to ensure her safety.

Not just her own. No, there was another held captive here in this evil castle, and he was seated no more than a few feet from her, beautiful and broken in the moonlight.

Memories of shattered pain haunted her, but her soul still loved his. And if she could free them both from this evilness, she had to try.

She took a single, hesitant, fateful step forward. “And I know you,” she whispered back, voice hoarse in the cold.

The silence between them pressed against her skull, heart pounding in her chest like the beats of a war drum.

“How … how do I know you?” He looked like he’d been ripped from his bed, not at all dressed for the cold gardens. Black cotton trousers and a black shirt, unbuttoned and slung carelessly around his shoulders. With another step forward she could see his Mark, stark against his skin, the still-healing cut down its center scabbed and raw. The cool, flat-edge side of her knife pressing into her forearm burned.

Staring at his Mark, with his question ringing between them, she was frozen. Paralyzed by a sudden realization that despite her magic now freed, this still might not work. Nothing elsethat made a normal bonding ceremony was here—no candles, no sweetly spoken swears, and they were far more clothed than she’d been for other ceremonies. Even the knife she gripped was nothing more than a simple paring knife from a dining set, nothing like the decorative blade normally used.

She gritted her teeth. Took a deep inhale, holding it in her lungs until it burned, before exhaling in a long, steady breath.

Thiswouldwork. Those things, those other elements … they weren’t what was most important to the bond. She hesitated to call it all part of another antiquated ritual, but in her soul, she knew what was important.

Mariah had her sparkling magic, her blood, and the light of the moons.

Andrian had his Mark and his shadow-wreathed soul.

That wasallthat mattered.

This would work.

She took the final step to him, standing in front of his legs, her bare skin grazing the material of his trousers. He tilted back his head, something desperately profound shining in his eyes.

“You know me from another life. One I hope to find you in again.” They were the first words she found, carrying softly on the night breeze, and her soul thrashed in pain at how much she meant them.

She flipped her knife in her hand, wrapping her palm around the blade, ready to slice through soft skin.

“You have very beautiful eyes.”

Mariah stiffened. Forced herself to look closer at him, as if she could peer into his soul.

She swore she saw him there—therealhim. Not the one who’d been paraded around this castle for the last few weeks, who hurled vile words at her at every opportunity. Not the one who’d flayed her skin or shredded her heart.

She saw the broken man who’d made himself her greatest weakness. Her consort. Her King.

Mariah smiled, thickness clogging her throat. A strange, foreign half-smile danced across her lips.

“You do, too,Rhoi.”

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