Page 7 of The Cursed and the Broken
My sister was slack-jawed and trembling from her perch at the table, but she still looked dainty as ever?calm, even. I paced back and forth before the fireplace, earning a lazy side-eye from our hound, Laszlo. He was the true ruler of the house, as his name suggested, and the pampered vizsla was curled up on Mama’s favourite chair, watching our row unfold.
“Kitarni, sit down,” Mama ordered, and a rumble loud as thunder cracked through the room, causing the fire to snuff out and the mugs, hanging herbs, and various embroidered artworks to wiggle on their hooks.
I forced myself to breathe, lest my power get the best of me. I’d always struggled to control it when emotions were high, and now it threatened to overwhelm me. Eszter’s hand graced my arm, and she turned me slowly to look at her, sweeping my hair out of my face. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s all right.”
She must have been using her magic, for I felt soothing warmth trickling through my veins, gently stroking the pressure points in my head and calming the pumping of my heart. The smell of copper filled my nostrils and a rosy mist wreathed around her palm as the magic seeped into me.
In less than a minute, I felt serene and I nodded slowly as she ushered me back to my seat.
My mother’s lips thinned as she took me in. “Are you quite done with your tantrum?”
I nodded again, too weary to argue.
She took a deep breath, glancing between her daughters before settling on me. The look in her eyes had my stomach jolting again.
“Good. Because it’s not Eszter that’s getting married, Kitarni. It’s you.”
THREE
Marriage. I was being forcedto marry someone I had never met. The idea was so absurd, I had stayed awake most of the night, tossing and turning until, finally, I’d fallen into a fitful sleep. Dreams had plagued me, of girls going missing in the woods, of dark shapes, rivers of blood and bodies of witches piling high.
My eyes were crusty come morning. Robi crowed on schedule—which was around an hour before dawn. Stupid bird. At least he was consistent, and today I welcomed the early start.
I felt like the living dead as the rosy hues of dawn splintered through my window. My bones were stiff and my head ached with every movement. If I was to remain with my coven, to give my family the best future possible, I had to marry this stranger. For whatever reason, Mama and this Farkas fellow wished to unite our families. But why? I stuffed my face into my pillow. Trying to make sense of it all was only making my head pound harder.
Apparently, my groom-to-be was the son of the táltos leader—the wealthiest and most powerful family in their clan. I snorted. Well, if they expected a dowry, they wouldn’t get one. Our humble cottage was larger than most, but it had little in the way of luxury and I hardly expected the men there would know what to do with doilies or flowered tablecloths.
I wondered, why me instead of Eszter? She was more beautiful, meeker and milder, and less likely to cause trouble. Everyone loved her. Not to mention she was younger.
At twenty-one, I was well past that. While most men in the human world traded their daughters as child brides, witches and táltosok preferred to wait until the witch came into their prime—usually after her eighteenth birthday when her power blossomed.
But, given a witch rarely tied herself to anyone, I supposed I was the exception to the rule. Some of our coven preferred the company of other witches, or just weren’t interested in sex or procreation at all. We were all different here and our freedom of choice suited us just fine.
Sometimes, if a witch fell in love with a táltos, they gave up their coven or clan altogether and eloped elsewhere.
So why? Why marry me off at all? Mama had never seemed bothered by money, power, or influence. Granted, this marriage would mean my family would be set for life—and ensuring a future for Eszter would be theonlyreason I’d consider it—but Mama was an elder of our council, a respected witch in the community.
There was something she wasn’t telling me, and I was damn well going to find out. But not today. I had other answers to hunt—a different quarry.
I crawled out of bed, almost yelping as I stripped off my bed clothes and quickly dressed in attire fit for hunting. The cold floor bit my toes as I padded around my room and I strained my ears for any sounds of Mama waking, but the house remained quiet. In the floor-length mirror, I glimpsed the scars on my back.
Three dark, jagged streaks swept down my spine. Ugly, crude things that pulsed, refracting the light. An unnatural magic slept beneath my skin. Death would come for me one day or,worse, his ex-girlfriend would. I sighed, rubbing my temples as I looked at my reflection. My hazel eyes were dull, the black circles under my eyes a testament to lack of sleep. My olive skin was pale, causing the freckles across my nose to stand out. Even my dark brown hair was a mess of knotted coils this morning. I thrust it into a tight braid, shoved my feet into fur-lined boots, then slung a wool wrap over my shoulders.
Time to go.
Creeping silently along the stone floors of the cottage, I snatched some bread, a few apples and some aged cheese, stuffing them into my satchel. Then, carefully, I plucked out the few blades we kept stored in a chest and donned them, strapping one around my leg for quick access. I couldn’t shoot a bow and arrow for the life of me, but under the tutelage of my teacher, Erika, I’d practiced throwing daggers for a while now. I always hit my mark.
Peeping my head into Eszter’s room, I smiled at her sleeping form. Buried beneath her covers, she lay spread-eagled and drooling, her hair covering most of her face. It satisfied a small part of me to see she wasn’talwaysso ladylike.
It was better that she hadn’t awoken, for I had no plans to bring her with me despite this trek being her idea. Regardless of what Mama had said, I was going into the woods and Iwouldfind Hanna. I tried to ignore the voice in my head that prompted,dead or alive?
Mama was right on one account. It was unsafe for Eszter—for anyone who didn’t know their way among the roots and streams of theSötét Erdo. The bowels of that forest never saw the sun, the trees there were so thick that blackness reined and supernatural things dwelled. TheDark Woodseemed a fitting name. Most would find that frightening and steer clear. Which, of course, is why I loved it.
If you knew where to look, one could find small glades dotted with wildflowers and ponds near the trees bordering the thickest part of the wood. Magical places that sang to my soul. Water faeries often frequented the small lakes, and while some faeries were mischievous, evil things, most weren’t worrisome at all. I’d even grown friendly with a few.
Unfortunately, my path was unlikely to lead to any pockets of paradise today. If Hanna was with the táltos clan, Farkas, by duty, would have escorted her home. I highly doubted she would have run away without a coin to her name or more clothes on her back. She was in one of the more popular circles of the girls my age here and her mother made good coin from her apothecary. Why leave?
Hanna must be in the woods.
