A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)(8)

Thol’s grin widened, and he glanced at my brother. “Hi, Tibris.”

“Hey.” Tibris liked Thol, but he still gave him a warning look. I elbowed him, and he rubbed at his stomach with a smirk, disappearing into Mama’s room.

Stepping out of the house, I closed the door behind me.

Already, my cheeks were heating again.

Thol smiled at me as if he found me particularly cute.

It was mortifying, that’s what it was. I wasn’t some innocent, inexperienced young girl who’d never spoken to a man before. I’d had more than one lover over the years. But something about Thol turned me into a stuttering fool.

He stepped closer and clasped my hand in his. His hand was large and warm and everything I’d imagined. “Prisca. Will you take a walk with me tomorrow morning?”

I smiled. After all the time I’d spent thinking about Thol, at least this part was easy. “Yes. I will.”

“I’ll be waiting for you in the square.” With a final grin, he released my hand, tucked his hands in his pockets, and strolled away.

I watched him go, my body suddenly lighter than air.

But reality intruded, bringing me sharply back to the ground.

Thol’s father was head councillor for our village.

He’d traveled to the city multiple times. And according to rumors, he’d even met the king.

The king who would happily burn me alive on Gods Day.

Thol was the kind of man who never walked past a beggar without dropping a coin. The kind of man who hunted—not just for his family, but for some of the poorest families in our village. The kind of man who never used his father’s reputation to make his own life easier.

I could lose myself in fantasies about what it would be like to stay in this village and marry Thol. Both of us knew how to work hard. Together, we’d work until we could afford to live in one of those big houses. Then we’d have children and grow old together. A nice, quiet life.

Except, that life will never happen. Because staying in this village will mean you die. Painfully. And your family too.

My shoulders slumped. Mama was right.

There was no point in even spending time with Thol. It would just make it harder when I left.

The village was awakening as I walked toward Herica’s bakery. Villagers brushed their stoops, gossiped with neighbors, called their children in for breakfast.

I attempted to push Thol out of my mind and contemplated Tibris instead. Poking my nose into his business was the perfect distraction. What was my brother keeping from me with his letters to Vicer? Why exactly had Vicer mentioned Crawyth?

The ruin lay directly inside our southern border—close to the fae lands. Just decades ago, it was known as a place of learning—where those from all kingdoms came to study, to live, to thrive.

Then the fae came. No one knew why they’d turned the city to rubble. I’d heard multiple theories, but the most popular was that the mad fae king wanted the city for himself. When our king chose not to comply, the fae king’s vicious brother burned the city to ashes with his horrifying powers.

Halfway to the bakery, I began shivering. I’d left my cloak at home. I picked up the pace as the bakery came into view. The squat wooden building had been continually patched up over the years, but for me, it was a second home.

Herica would be gone already today after beginning her baking before dawn. I’d clean the floors and surfaces, while Thol’s younger sister Chista sold the remainder of today’s bread.

The bakery door was cracked, and I pushed it open. Kreilor stood with his back to me, but I’d recognize that thick neck anywhere.

Dull panic spread through my belly like mold. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced over his shoulder with a smug smile. Someone moved behind him, and I took a step closer, craning my neck. Chista. Kreilor’s hand encircled her wrist, and her face was wet with tears.

Fury punched into me, and I swiped the broom from where I’d left it leaning against the wall.

“Chista, go,” I said.

Kreilor just laughed. This was yet another way to strike out at Thol. But Kreilor was too much of a coward to challenge him directly. Instead, he was targeting Thol’s sister.

It was all just a game to him.

He pinned me with a predatory stare, and I took a deep breath. “Think carefully, Kreilor. I’m not afraid of you.”

His gaze dropped to my throat, where my thumping pulse betrayed me.

“Oh, Prisca. We both know that’s not true.”

Kreilor stepped closer, dragging Chista with him. I readied my broom, prepared to use it like a staff.

“Think about this,” I told him. “Think about what you’re doing here.”

“You think I’m behaving abnormally? Thol has everything,” he hissed.

My gaze met Chista’s. She was a few years younger than me. We’d never talked much, but in that look, I caught wild hope. I was the one she was counting on.

Maybe I could make Kreilor focus on me. I let my voice drip disdain as I sneered at him. “That’s what this is about? You’re jealous of Thol?”

Kreilor’s hand tightened around Chista’s wrist, and she winced.

“Be careful how you speak to me, Prisca. I know about your creditors. I know just how much it cost to keep your father alive, and how you and your family barely have enough to live on after paying those creditors each month. What do you think will happen when I tell everyone I caught you attempting to steal from this bakery? When no one else will offer you work, and your family is begging in the village square?”