The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

Blood and Bones

Blood drips to the grass beneath her boots as Alicia stands, the needles that press against every inch of her flesh digging deeper when she takes a step forward.

Sebastian and his entourage gather at the bottom of the hill, a wave of reckoning that approaches the grand duke. His cane clacks on the gravel, his chin held high, and a circlet of gold nestles amongst the dark curls of his hair. Beside him are the members of the Council of Muovea, finely dressed men and women who have been forbade families and property, their sole duty to the country they serve.

When the royal family is consumed by strife, the council are the next to take command. And the grand duke foolishly denied them.

Alicia limps towards them and Sebastian greets her with a hand to her elbow, steadying her as his golden gaze flicks over her face, creases forming in his midnight skin. As a reassurance, Alicia offers him a strained smile before facing forward and walking beside the Prince of Muovea.

Within the grand duke's eyes ignites a spark of uncertainty. She sees it and relishes it like it's the first rays of sunshine on a winter morning.

"A warrant for your arrest," one of the councilmen call, a large man of bulging muscles and dark skin. Alicia danced with him a few times, and carried their drunken king on their shoulders a few times more. Isiah Batech, the one who Alicia gave the grand duke's journal, knowing it'd be in good hands.

"On what grounds?" the duke asks, that uncertainty igniting into fury. He doesn't drop his gun, nor does he tell his soldiers to lower theirs.

"I have with me a written confession from a scientist who helped you manufacture the Reaper's Curse. You're under arrest for enacting two counts of genocide and attempting another."

Alicia's gaze widens as she looks at Sebastian, a smirk playing on his lips. The scientist? The scientist that Alicia knocked unconscious and stole from? "He confessed?" she asks.

"He was all too willing to get out from beneath the duke's thumb. Though a friend of yours helped persuade him. Lena, I believe."

A surge of joy fills her at the name, and Alicia's gaze darts to the rebels behind the duke. She can't see Lena amongst them, but a small piece of her knows she's with her people and is grinning as they bring to her the duke's fall.

"Genocide?" Sergey shouts, his sharp features twisting, those thin lips lifting in a snarl. "I'm trying to save Muovea. Those creatures out there—" he waves his gun towards the wall where the fighting continues beyond, a clash of wild growls and crunching bones, "—those Ghuls are the real enemy. Not me."

"You have exiled people that weren't sick to cover your atrocities," Isiah continues and Alicia lifts her chin, willing the duke to meet her gaze, to see the consequences of his actions staring him in the face.

He may have broken Alicia, destroyed her entire world, killed her pa and her brother, but he didn't win.

"My atrocities saved lives!" he shouts, spit flying from his lips, the rage on his face like a frothing storm.

"Seize him," one of the council order, and Alicia wishes she could have been the person to utter that command.

"No!" the duke shouts, raising his gun, but one of the soldiers at his side hits the weapon from his grip and grabs his arm, twisting it behind his back. The tide has changed and it's clear the duke no longer carries the power needed to control an army.

Alicia wills all those soldiers to make the right choice and to continue doing so, but she's all too aware of what survival demands of person.

"You can't do this. These people are abusing dark magic they have no idea how to control."