Page 11 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

My body raced with adrenaline. Suddenly, dark tendrils of magic swarmed from me in a frenzy. I was mesmerized by the beauty of it, but also the power that pulsed from it. It acted like it was... angry. Before I could react, they had merged into a semi-solid form and lifted me off the ground, giving me a push as if to tell me to get my assmoving. So, I listened and started walking the same way as yesterday.

My stomach growled and my feet ached. Maybe I would starve to death out here instead of in Exile. My stomach growled again as I wandered through the hot, sticky air of whatever kingdom I had wandered to. I focused on the hunger pain—anything to distract me from him dying.

This was fucking torture. All I could think of was that man being killed. The way his eyes were watching me before the sword came down. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to think of anything else. I tried humming and thinking of Sybil and the twins, but it wasn’t working. That darkness inside of me was seething.

It was determined to kill someone for stealing that man from me.

My mind felt as if it were aching from trying to remember him and my past. The last year in Exile was hazy at best. Sybil said I laid in bed and hardly left. Why was I so sad when I woke up that day? Then my mind switched to trying to find something. I was missing something important, and I never could find it. Sybil had told me I had all of my possessions, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Something in my chest didn’t feel right.

It kept telling me to find it, over and over in my mind. But maybe I was losing my mind because even now I could feel that same sense of loss.

“Thea, look up.” A deep voice said from somewhere next to me.

I froze when a figure appeared in front of me without warning. My darkness hummed with anticipation. It had to be eight feet tall with a slender frame and a large, white oversized cloak. Their beady red eyes stared at me, tilting their head as if to study me. I hadn’t heard them approach me, but someone had and tried to warn me. Glancing around the woods, I did not see who that deep voice belonged to.

“What do you want?” I spoke firmly.

“You are in our forest, yet you question us?” It did not speak harshly, but the tone was unfriendly. My eyes scanned around us to see where the others were, but I couldn’t find them. My gaze landed on a man who stood on the edge of the treeline. He was extremely tall with kind brown eyes. There was a woman next to him, but I couldn’t make out her features before she was gone. I focused on the creature in front of me as it slipped its hood off, revealing female features. The tall woman had hair so blonde it looked white, and she was beautifulin a melancholy way. She was far too thin to be a fae, but I didn’t know what she was.

“I didn’t know this forest belonged to you; I was under the impression that it belonged to the king.” Which king? I had no idea.

The woman’s head nodded slightly before smiling, but her smile did not comfort me. Her mouth opened far wider than mine would, and her teeth were sharp and pointed. There were so many that went all the way back to her throat. Something stirred deep inside of me.

“Well, the king does own the land, but we have free rein if we stay on this side of the wall.”

The word ‘wall’ triggered a memory of me sneaking around one and running into the forest. A forest that looked similar to the one we were in now. I shook the thought away.

“What do you want with me?”

“We're hungry.” The woman smiled again. “You look very satisfying.”

My heart rate picked up, but I did not show any signs of the fear I felt. I could feel something like an itch under my skin as the woman got closer. She smiled when I didn’t try to run.

“Don’t run. You can overpower her," the man said, drawing my attention toward him. He was still a gooddistance away. He wore simple clothing, but he seemed to glow slightly around his body.

“If you let me by, I'll let you live,” I bluffed.

The woman’s laugh floated through the air like a melody that did not match the disgusting beast she was.

She lunged at me before I could react, but her blow never hit me. A bright light burst in front of me, making me close my eyes instinctively. As I opened them, they had to adjust to the fiery mist that was now surrounding me. My eyes followed it to see it was coming from me. I have magic. Fire magic. Mixed with the fire were dark shadows, flitting about the fire and twisting in on themselves in a fluid motion.

I could hear the woman screeching on the other side of the fire mist, but I wasn’t sure if it was in pain or frustration. With a simple flick of my wrist, my fire magic exploded around me. Then in an instant, it stopped swarming and came back to me. I glanced at the woman who lay burned on the ground. Her red eyes shifted to my face.

“Princess,” she muttered to me.

“What did you call me?” I looked down at her, but she had already died. Something about the term ‘princess’ pissed my darkness off, making it swarm around me withfury.

The trees around me crackled and popped as they slowly burned. How could I have caused so much damage with such little effort? I summoned my fire magic, and it came forward again, but this time it sat in the palm of my hand. It was beautiful to witness the immense power it held, even in its small form. But then the black shadows tangled with the small ball of fire, causing the flames to burn black. Something about the two things entangled together had me smiling at them.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of horses running at a fast pace caught my attention. I wouldn’t be able to outrun them, but I could get away from them with my magic if I needed to, so I stayed where I was. When I looked for the brown-eyed man, he was gone.

Within a few minutes, dozens of men on horseback burst through the forest and through the smoke. Their light blue uniforms reminded me of the sky, and the crests on them were gold like the sun. The leader halted his horse immediately at the sight of me. The rest of the men followed suit, and for an intense minute, they all just stared at me. Then the leader rode closer and dismounted a few feet away. All of the men followed his lead.

Nothing had prepared me for what they did next.

They all bowed to me like I was important, just like Kai and Kaz did. My brows creased at the gesture.

“Captain,” they all echoed into the small clearing. “Your family will be so happy to see you back home.”

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