Page 1 of The Divine and the Cursed

Chapter One

Arianna

Fate isn’t always kind.

Her father’s grief-stricken eyes flashed through Arianna’s memory as she sloshed through the freezing puddles. Chains rattled and thunder cracked across the dreary sky, rumbling in long, low waves.

She’d understood that at a young age.

Arianna shivered from the rain beating against her back, her teeth chattering so hard she was sure they’d break, but this wasn’t the worst thing she’d endured.

Nor would it be the last.

She remembered when those eyes were kind. A time when laughter crinkled the corners, and they sparkled with such vibrance. But they’d turned cold. Distant. Much like the eyes of the slaves marching in single lines, chains swinging between their frozen forms. She walked among them, her wrists long since scarred from the iron shackles that restrained her in more ways than one.

How she yearned to feel her magic again.

That rush in her veins that brought life and strength. The power that divided their race from the humans and dark creatures prowling in the mountain forests.

Arianna glanced at her shackles, watching droplets hit the unrelenting metal before falling to the damp earth.

Iron didn’t burn the way humans seemed to think it would. It did far worse, repressing their magic with a thick veil that separated a Fae from the natural force that ran through their blood. Not even the strongest could break it. And she’d had her shackles for sixteen months.

It felt like drowning.

It was unusual for a half-breed Fae to possess magic, but slavers knew better than to take chances. One wrong move could spell disaster, wrecking their entire business.Ifthe slavers survived.

Though not as quick as pure-bloods, half-breeds still possessed strength that exceeded a humans’, which was likely another reason they kept the slaves half-starved.

Sixteen long months.

I’ll find you.

When? She wanted to scream into the chilling breeze. Maybe it would carry her words to the male who’d made that promise so long ago.

The memory shimmered like a dream. Another distant thought, like that terrible day had happened to someone else entirely and all the luxuries she’d once taken for granted—bodies emerged from the trees like wraiths, tearing Arianna from her reverie. Their battle cries sent chills shooting down her spine as they charged straight for them, the fading sun reflecting off the steel in their grip. It was all Arianna could do to hit the ground fast enough.

Horrific screams echoed across the small clearing, followed by vicious growls and snapping teeth. Bodies fell, voices pleaded for mercy, and though her body had frozen a moment ago, Arianna drew a breath, yanked on the chain connecting her to the other slaves, and forced her small group toward the nearest wagon.

Hide, she told herself.Keep your head low. Stay—a warrior plunged his blade into the slave closest to her, spilling his blood across the ground. The warrior twisted, scarcely glancing at his victim, and sliced the throat of the next. Fear coiled in her gut. Arianna slipped and scrambled back, desperate to separate herself from the chaos. The chains tugged, heavy with the weight of limp bodies.

Her heart seized when the male turned toward her.

Her magic. She needed her magic.

He lifted his sword, but another body crashed into him from the right, knocking the Fae male to the ground. A jagged piece of wood protruded from the male’s torso, blood already pooling around the wound. He howled in both pain and fury.

The slave who’d impaled him was older, stronger than most of them. Arianna owed him for all the times he’d come to her aid. He took a shaky breath, glaring at the dying male as if he were the worst piece of scum to walk the earth, then grabbed a spear from the ground.

Arianna recognized the look in his eye. The set of his jaw. A male, half-breed or no, who was ready to kill to defend his own. An arrow flew straight through his throat.

Breath left her. His eyes flew open wide, and the half-breed sank to his knees with a strangled gasp. He reached for the arrow lodged in his windpipe and a single tear rolled down his face before his head struck the ground with a dull thud.

Arianna turned away and clenched her teeth.Run, she willed herself. But chains still dangled from her wrists, preventing her escape.

Arianna’s gaze darted to the left, then to the right. Too many. Too many eyes to escape, too many bodies to fight. She swallowed the fear seizing her heart and crawled toward the fallen slave, chains rattling in her wake.

He lay motionless, eyes wide and hollow. Arianna’s breathing came too fast, and her hands shook uncontrollably. She covered her ears and clenched her eyes. They were dying. Screaming. Roaring.What should I do?A strangled sob escaped her lips.Talon—

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