Silver and Blood

death has

of a collapsing body. It's silence - the kind that hits when

ment Lord Halric's throat

found neither. I held his gaze until the light drained out, then le

d was sharp and m

leeve, and turned toward the open balcony. My heartbeat

e the chamber doors. They we

past me as I dropped two stories into the manor's courtyard. My boots hit the co

ng out. "

y breath steamed in the cold air, my cloak snagging on thorns. I d

the broken fence. Past the

st t

e hot iron. I stumbled, gaspin

sed through g

cu

d with red-hot runes, jagged and writhing like living fire. The mark wa

w," I g

curse di

nished me - for what I was. Half-blood. Abomination. The

red. Voices b

. I landed hard in the frozen field beyond and dragged myself into t

idn't

s before I cou

from my belt. The liquid inside shimmered pale green. Not a cure

runk. My breathing slowed. The burn faded to a simmer. The

gger - curved, black steel, etched with blood

Fifty names.

he curse gr

frost clinging to bare branches like old ghosts. My legs ac

y. No one looked twice when I slipped down the

rred, half-blind, a

e it," h

didn

orridor, torchlight flickering against the damp walls. Th

e bloodied signet ring on the d

said. "No

g, then poured two gl

ored

like shit,

urse f

ke that was r

contracts faster than anyone

awa

oll toward me. Thick

ed. "Al

. You want out? Th

s brushed the scroll. Som

k. "You break the curse with this one.

me written in dark, sweeping ink

l V

kicked on

r of the Moo

ed. The clan that cursed my

're sending me af

Northern reaches. Traveling under false names.

around the scrol

every blade we have on your tail. And

thout ano

he door, Aric

top

et. He's the key. You

n't a

ow began to

n at the nam

l V

in throbbed-once,