A Crown of Cursed Hearts (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns #3)

46. Vexxion

46

VEXXION

T he body hanging on the wall was not my mother.

And despite the way the image blazed across my mind, it was not Tempest, either.

I knew this, yet I dropped to my knees and cupped my face in my palms. Stark, raving madness roared through me. It would consume me and leave nothing behind except a wisp of a body that could be filled with hatred and molded.

Knowing and believing were two different things, each vying for domination.

Tempest lifted her head, and her tortured gaze met mine. Blood clawed its way down her face in a twisting pattern I couldn’t erase from my mind.

“Whispers will reveal what shadows keep.” Pain gutted her voice. “Remember.”

Remember. . .

“The pleasure is all mine, tiny storm,” I called after her, watching as she rushed from my side, aiming for the fortress aerie. “Just like you soon will be.”

Even then, I could tell that she’d change me for the better. I was frightened and enthralled, and nothing and no one could keep me away.

I was snapped in another direction.

“Elegant,” I said softly, adoring the regal tilt of her head and the strength in her eyes. “Refined.”

Each word I spoke to her echoed around me, and I remembered more. I was flooded with memories of our first kiss, the time I gave into my overwhelming need and laid her gently on the floor of the aerie to give her pleasure. Of dancing in Weldsbane’s ballroom while she smiled up at me with such pure love that it pierced my heart and left me bleeding.

“Lovely. Flawless!”

She was all this and more.

Holding her in a tub while she wept silent tears. Wishing with all my might that I could take on her burdens and carry them for her so she could feel only joy.

Teasing her while teaching her about her endless power, the gift she would one day use to finally bring peace to our world.

Carrying her to our bed and loving her, feeling her emotions wash over me, remaking me anew. Because she loved me, I was worthy.

“Exquisite,” I whispered to her back as she walked away from me at the fortress.

It struck me with a force that shattered my soul. Her loss had carved an unfillable void within me, yet the depth of my love for her strengthened me in ways I’d never imagined. Her profound, pure adoration was imprinted on my every thought and breath.

I would no longer let the world take that away from me.

“To lose all hope or dare to take the leap,” she said as she hung on the wall. “Which will you choose, Vexxion?”

Which, which, which?

In the dungeon of my mind, her body slumped against the wall as life slipped from her.

She wasn’t there. Neither was my mother. This was a path I could’ve chosen but hadn’t.

I wept because the one true path I followed was leading me to the place I belonged.

In Tempest’s arms.

I cried out in agony for what I’d forgotten.

For what had been stolen .

I was worthy of goodness and right.

The words galloped through me, picking up speed.

Of kindness and trust.

Of the love of this woman I was fated to adore for this lifetime and beyond.

Yes.

Magic welled around me, a pulsing mass, a swirl of a mad dance I joined, spinning fast enough to make the cavern walls blur.

I came to a stop, panting in the darkness.

The core of Weldsbane Court called out to me in a sharp cry, the words piercing my skin. My heart. My soul .

“Are you?” it asked in a voice cratered with time unending. “Truly. Are you?”

“I am,” I croaked.

“Tell us then.”

“I. Am. Worthy,” I bellowed, the words echoing around me. They came back to hit me hard. I had to center my feet to maintain my ground.

A guttural cry scraped through the room, that of a monster who could no longer grab what didn’t belong to him.

The core of my court’s power, as beautiful as a sunset, as pure as a child’s soul, as exquisite as the love I felt for Tempest, slammed into me.

And I swallowed it down.