Page 13 of The Fated and the Damned
Her lips wobbled, eyes brimming once again, but she lifted her chin and nodded.
“Good. I need you to tell the táltosok patrolling nearby to meet us outside the temple. Then go and fetch my mother, Erika, and Lukasz. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” she answered meekly. Then stronger, “Yes.”
“Go,” I whispered, and she grabbed one of the candles and flew out the door, leaving me alone with Dante.
We stared at each other in silence, the tension between us so tangible a knife could cut it. He stood just an arm’s length away, his eyes unreadable as he gazed at me.
“Thank you,” I breathed, laying a hand on his chest. He stiffened ever so slightly beneath my touch. It felt like a thousand words went unsaid as the silence stretched. He placed his hand on my own, warm and calloused, and we just stood there. Seconds passed, but it could have been an eternity.
“Kitarni, I …”
I held my breath as I waited for something—anything—to mend this rift between us. But my heart fractured even further as he closed his mouth and shook his head. Anger rippled through me. How could I be so stupid? I’d shut him down in the sparring ring back in Mistvellen, still too angry to let him in, but now we were alone together at last and he couldn’t muster a few words? I’d get more substance from a damn rock. At least they didn’t break or betray. How could I ever trust him again? He had taken my heart and crushed it beneath his boot. I knew better than to pick up those pieces only to give it to him again.
Tears glimmered in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I had spent too many on Dante already, shed over countless nights and idle moments when alone.
We had so much to say, but as I pulled away, the window closed, my heart breaking further apart, crumbling into ash. I looked into his eyes, drowning in pain and sorrow and regret, but it was too late for us now. He had his chance, and I couldn’t wait for words that would never come. A future that would never pass.
“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Don’t shut me out again.”
I gaped at him, opening my mouth to spew vitriol when Caitlin stirred on the ground, groaning softly as she came to. Dante moved immediately, placing one of his swords—still black with the demon’s blood—against Caitlin’s neck. “Say the word and I will end this wretched creature.”
A part of me wanted to see her blood drench the ground, to see justice brought to Léna, to the coven and to myself. I was so angry. It would have been too easy to let her bear the brunt of it, but it would be a kindness to end her life so quickly. Caitlin needed to pay for her crimes, and there was only one punishment befitting her treachery.
“No.” I shook my head, my lips curling as I glanced at the miserable creature. “She will be tried the witch way. By burning at the stake.” My gaze slowly shifted to Dante, and I knew he could see the conviction there. “Bring her to the square. This ends tomorrow.”
I turned on my heel, feeling as though I was turning my back on everything that was. Just before I stormed out the door, I heard Dante speak.
“You were born to lead, Kitarni. I know you will rule well.”
Those words sank like a stone in my stomach. I wanted to scream at him, to shake some sense into him, but I paused, anger roiling within me, hands balling into fists.
“You’re right, Dante. I will rule,” I said quietly. “By your side. A thousand worlds away, and none.”
FIVE
Dante
“Youidiot!”Andrássaid,glaring at me as we stood guard at the outskirts of the village. “You stupid, hard-headed fool. You—”
“I get it,” I growled, pacing back and forth like a caged animal, only my cage was of my own making. “I made a mistake.”
András scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically, his face dark under the gloomy sky. “Made a mistake?! You had the perfect opportunity to make amends and you pissed all over it. The wolf lord of Mistvellen, cowering before a woman scorned. Please. Dante, if you lose her, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I said, storming over until I was inches away from his face. “Not a day goes by where I don’t think about what I did. How I didn’t try hard enough to keep her safe or why I didn’t just tell her the truth. Every hour, every minute spent apart from her isagony. She will never trust me again. And even if she did, I wouldn’t deserve it anyway.”
András looked at me for a long minute as we faced off, until suddenly he swung, his fist connecting with my jaw with a loud crack. “Pull yourself together man. You’ve had plenty of time to mope about your actions and, quite frankly, I am over your moods. You’re like a bear woken mid-hibernation.” He huffed. “The Dante I know would make things right and forge a way forward.Stopworrying about the past andstartthinking about how you can make up for everything you’ve done. By the gods, man, she’s going to be your bloody wife.”
I rubbed my jaw, staring at him in surprise. It took a lot to rile András, but I couldn’t blame him. I’d been poor company for the last few months, and the only way I’d managed to work through my misery had been by focusing all my attention—and perhaps aggression—on hunting cultists and securing my city’s safety. A bear awoken indeed, and the cult kept on poking it.Me.
Every time we freed a kidnapped witch, a little piece of my soul seemed to stick back together, though nothing would ever clear the mark my mother had left on me. I’d never hurt a witch, but I hadn’t stopped the atrocities against them either. My mother’s little blood rituals were proof of that. It wasn’t until my father had confessed his plan to have me married to Kitarni that I knew she was the one they’d been looking for.
I hadn’t meant to care for her, but before I knew it a few insults, shared fights and a shared bed had me realising I was in over my head. From the moment I’d met that wild flame, I’d been burned, and I wanted to walk right back into her fire. I’d never wanted to cage her, but I should have tried harder to keep her safe, to keep her far from my mother’s reach. I may as well have sunk that blade into Kitarni’s chest myself. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
“Kitarni has made it very clear she doesn’t want to repair things. She will go through with the wedding, but it won’t be for me.”
“You’re still not getting it.” András sighed, slapping a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. “It’s not about you. It’s not even about her. Together, you’re unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with. I believe your fates are wound together and, regardless of your feelings, the gods have bigger plans for the two of you. The choice you must make is whether you want to follow that fate or deny it. For both of your sakes and the rest of our damned souls, I hope you choose the former, because something tells me you’re both the key to our kingdom’s survival.”
