JUNE ZEILRAN knows one thing: he is destined to live a quiet life in the servant's quarters as a half-blood in a territory of fairies. When the Imperial High Queen offers him a job he cannot refuse, he is thrown into a world of secrets and murder t...
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No loose ends.
That was the rule. How had June forgotten about it?
He stumbled out of the Imperial Palace, fingers clawing at his hair as pain racked his limbs and made it harder to breathe. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. She's the only one he had left. He couldn't lose her too.
Nevrin...
He turned back to the Imperial Palace's direction. That wench. She shouldn't be the one in power. She should be rotting in Pidmena's realm, her soul burning in agony for all eternity. Using him to gather blood on his hands in place of hers wasn't enough. She had to take everything away from him too.
May the gods' curse be upon her. May it be upon all of them.
He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't.
His curse thought otherwise. It sent him to his knees, pain ripping through his body like a rainstorm that didn't let up. His throat closed up. The more he fought, the more it did. He couldn't—
I don't want to die.
He wrenched his eyes open. When had he closed it, even? The cobbled streets of Edgerift greeted him, urging him to take the necessary steps to get back to where he belonged. Home. He had to go home. To do what?
Kill Riza Zeilran.
The more dominant voice raged through his mind, the magic lacing through those words making it impossible to think of anything else. Home. He had to get home.
No.
He should run, tell his mother to never look for him. Dwanzeig sounded good. It's a good place to hide until the curse fades with time or once he figured out a way to break it. If he's lucky, the pain might kill him faster that way. His legs started moving. Dwanzeig. And if possible, the ends of the world. He had to get away before he hurt another person.
"Ankina?"
His head snapped up as his gaze rested on his mother's familiar face. What...
What was he doing here?
"Are you alright?" Concern scrunched her face. She stepped towards him. He inched backwards.
"Don't..." he breathed through the pain riddling his mind with meaningless images of him keeling over and dying. He couldn't let her see any of that. Get away. He should get away. What was he doing here? "Don't come near me."
Riza Zeilran knitted her eyebrows. "What's wrong?"
Everything was. Everything was so colossally wrong from the root. He shouldn't have come here. He shouldn't have come into her life. He opened his mouth to speak but his knees buckled and he fell forward. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders. He squirmed against Riza's grip.
"Stay still, will you?" his mother cursed. "Let's get you home."
"No!" June attempted to push her away but the curse made it impossible to move unless it was to wrap his arm around her neck and draw her blood. "Please. Let me go."
