Page 35 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

My power whispered to take what was offered like I’d done so many years ago in that forest. Before I could stop myself, I inhaled, drinking it in.

My power thrummed, expanding as it fed.

My vision sharpened. My awareness amplified. Every cell in my body was focused on my meal.

“What does the prince have to do with Heliconia’s destruction?” I asked, breathless with the effects of the power I’d consumed.

The Obsidian sputtered, but no words came. Only blood. And its leaking, fraying life force. Frustration gripped me.

“By the Fates. What good are you when you speak in fucking riddles?” I dropped my sword and grabbed his collar, yanking his head off the floor. “Tell me how to break this damned curse!”

But he was already dead, his onyx eyes lifeless and staring emptily past me. Muttering curses, I released him and watched his head thud against the floor.

The remnants of his life forceribboned through the air, weaker now, slower. No longer a temptation. Just like he was no longer a source of information.

Sonoma was going to lecture me again.

Another Obsidian dead without the information we so desperately needed.

“Do you not understand the meaning of interrogation?” she’d demanded of me last time.

“Dammit,” I muttered and grabbed my sword as I climbed slowly to my feet.

Outside the farmhouse, leaves rustled.

I almost believed it to be nothing more than a breeze, but something in my chest tightened. My heightened senses went on high alert. I crept toward the still-open front door and raised my sword. No other sound came, but I knew I wasn’t alone as certainly as I’d known when the Obsidian arrived. My heart pounded at the thought of another one lurking.

Good because it gave me another shot at answers. Bad because the more Obsidians that found me, the higher the chance that one would escape and report toher.

Outside, the land seemed to hold its breath.

The trees had stilled unnaturally, and a shiver crept up my spine.

I didn’t let myself overthink it. Gripping my sword, I whirled onto the sagging front porch, careful to avoid the rotted wood I’d seen earlier.

A male stood in the grass near the barn.

Broad shoulders. Long cloak, its hem flapping in the crisp wind. Hair tousled. Wild. Eyes dark but not like the onyx of the enemy.

Not an Obsidian.

Fae.

His eyes roiled as if a storm raged inside them. Recognition slammed into me.

Rydian.

The male from the lamplight party. The one who’d insulted me then flirted with me shamelessly right in front of my parents. And my fiancé.

I’d never forgotten him. Couldn’t have even if I’d wanted to, thanks to the dreams that haunted me still. His ruggedly handsome face. His wild eyes full of secrets. And that voice that seemed to burrow beneath my skin, touching me everywhere. He’d infuriated me and then slipped away as if he’d never been there at all.

In my loneliest moments—and my drunkest—all my fantasies were full of him.

And now he was here.

Despite the time that had passed since that night, he looked the same, right down to the charcoal tunic that gave no hint of the court he belonged to and the same angry set of his jaw.

The wind rustled, the hissing of the tall grass pulling me from my inspection. I blinked, scowling at myself for focusing on his good looks rather than assessing him as a threat. Whatever he was doing out here, it couldn’t be a coincidence. The area was too remote.

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