Page 34 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

I didn’t bother rounding the open doorway to face it. The monster was counting on that. Instead, I drew my sword and jammed it forward—slicing clean through the sagging wall. The sharpened blade slid easily through the rotting wood, the years of age and neglect softening any resistance. I felt its tip pierce the body on the other side, sinking through flesh and muscle and bone in one powerful thrust.

The creature screamed, tearing itself off my sword in a panic.

Grunting, I stepped back, pulling Dorcha with me. The metal came away stained with blood.

I wrenched the bedroom door open and stepped into the hall in time to see the Obsidian fall. It landed on its knees, clutching at its chest where blood seeped through to stain its worn jacket. As more spilled, it darkened, turning from burgundy to black within seconds. My power thrummed at the sight of it.

The creature balked at me, and I knew its reaction was about more than just laying eyes on its killer. More than being bested by a female, even. By now, I understood very well what the cursed monster saw in me. What its mind didn’t want to accept as it struggled against the pain.

I was Summer Court fae.

No, more than that. I was its lost princess. Valuable above anything else it might’ve found while scavenging this deserted slip of land.

“You’re… her,” the creature rasped as it fell onto its back with a grunt. “Princess Aurelia of Sevanwinds, the forgotten one.”

I knelt beside it, ignoring its sputtering, and snatched thecrooked blade out of its limp hand. The scent of a long-dead animal wafted from the dried blood coating the steel. Gross. Setting the weapon aside, I ripped a section of its tunic free and pressed it to the wound in its stomach. Blood immediately saturated the fabric.

Shit.

“How does it work?” I demanded.

Blood leaked from its mouth as it stared up at me from its back.

I pressed harder, knowing it was futile to try and prolong the inevitable. But I needed information. And I wouldn’t get another chance like this again. “Tell me how it works, and I’ll find you a healer,” I said.

“How does what work?”

The creature had the voice and look of a fae male. But he was much more than that. A cloying sense of magic, dark and twisty, clung to him. It leaked out along with his black blood, calling out to the death magic inside me. The darkness inside me was hungry—and impatient.

“Her magic. Her control over you,” I snarled, leaning harder on the wound as blood continued to leak out around my hands. “Tell me how to break her spells.”

He paled, and I knew he was bleeding out—faster than I liked, considering all the questions I wanted to ask. That wall had been softer than I’d anticipated.

“You cannot defeat her.”

“Tell me,” I hissed. “Or tell me how to break her wards in the north. How to get to her.”

“She is … untouchable,” he said, his words no more than a gurgle as more blood ran from his mouth and leaked out onto his chin.

Seven Hels.

“Tell me anyway.”

“She sees things,” he said, his voice strained from theobvious pain. “Things the darkness is afraid of.” The Obsidian gagged.

“What else does she see?” I demanded, urgency driving me to shake his shoulders. To keep him alive long enough to hear his answers.

“She sees you … allied with the prince—and she sees her own destruction.”

My mouth went dry. “What? How? What do you mean?”

His eyes rolled backward as he gasped for air through lungs now drowning in fluid.

“Wait. I’ll find a healer,” I said.

“Just…let me go.” His eyes turned pleading. “Please. Let it be over.”

The life force leaking out of him clawed at my ankles.

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