I spread my arms open to greet them. "Welcome home." They each gave me a big hug.
"We saw Theo today," Micah said, shrugging his coat off his shoulders. He didn't need it since his body could keep warm on its own, but he used it to blend in.
"And how is he?" I asked. I didn't care and asked merely as a token gesture.
"He's doing okay. He's back being a merchant. Your father might be a scumbag but he's good at bartering. Shortages create the best markets for salesmen."
"I'm just happy we're not under the same roof.” I bit the side of my cheek. “Did you check up on the ingorias?”
“They’re wild, as usual.”
The mansion had no place to keep my babies, so Rylan and the others had released them in the forest close to town. The princes helped me check on them every day or two, and we had a special place where the ingorias and I met regularly.
Gaius slumped onto a chair. “How’s Frederick with the carrots?”
“He’s making chaos in the kitchens,” I replied.
The famine wasn't as bad as the first time we had arrived. The people knew Aereala would come soon to save them. But to be safe, they'd already saved for the winter since the last famine gave them a huge scare.
I searched around. "Where's Kael?"
Kael busted through the door and flung his dagger down. A dagger? He wasn't supposed to carry any. He'd convinced a baker to hire him—and by convinced, I mean threatened. Daggers and bread didn’t go well together.
"Fired again?" Micah asked, smirking.
Kael growled. "He wanted me to knead dough for the whole day!"
"What else would you expect?" I asked. This was the tenth job he'd tried. He usually didn't last more than a few days. Three was the record. He got fired from the tailor after five minutes.
"Something more fun," he grumbled. "I could cook the bread with my fires, but he said I was burning them, and flour was in short supply. Why do people eat bread, anyway? It tastes like paper."
Gaius sniffed. "What did you do to the poor baker now?"
"Nothing. He said I could stay if I wanted to. Just sit there and wave at girls to invite them into the store. But the only girl I want to wave at is Sera. So, I got mad and took out my dagger. He almost shit himself, and I thought I shouldn't scare the poor fellow too much, and I left."
"You're a big bully," I said to Kael.
He forced me away from Gaius, who was mindlessly keeping his hand on my back, and pulled me flush against his body. He dragged my mouth to his. "Let's fuck so I can forget this terrible day. You're the only thing making this worth it."
Heat shot to my belly.
"Dinner's ready!" Frederick shouted from the kitchens.
I gave Kael a brief pat over the head and pulled myself away. "After dinner. We don't want the food to get cold. Frederick spent a long time on it."
Kael squinted at Frederick and snarled. Frederick was not the least bit threatened.
"Oh, calm your dragon balls," Frederick said.
"I'll get Rylan," I said. He was chopping wood at the back of the house. We lived in a large house. Not a mansion by any means, but enough to accommodate ten people comfortably. Rylan dressed as a farmhand, but he still looked like royalty. It was difficult to hide his regal stature.
I strode to him. "I think that's enough firewood." A heap as tall as me had piled up next to him.
"Just wanted to get as much done as possible," he said. "And we could sell some for extra change." He dropped his ax on the next log. The metal flew downward with a loud thump. He split the log in one clean motion.
I stared at him, admiring the small details of his features. His light smile, the braid next to his glinting earring, the texture of his hair, the little crinkle between his brow that wasn't quite a frown.
He noticed me staring. "What?"
I grinned. "You're always wound up over stuff. You look just as serious chopping wood as when you ruled Constanria. These kinds of activities are supposed to be calming for the mind. You don't have to overthink it."
"I just want to make you comfortable. Take care of you. It's refreshing when I don't have a kingdom to worry over. Just you."
"I'm fine by myself. I won't be happy, though. Not without you men around."
Rylan picked up a strand of my hair. He tucked it behind my ear. I caught the sorrow behind his expression. Then his eyes lit up. "Want to try?"
"Try what?"
"Chopping wood. I can see you're getting bored. A lady of luxury you are not."
“Can't say I miss the endless amounts of work that much." I was reading for pleasure again. It felt like centuries ago since I last did that.
"Come on." Rylan picked up my wrist and wrapped my hands around the handle of the ax. His warm body pressed up behind me. His breath tickled my earlobe, sending tiny little shockwaves from where it touched to the tip of my toes. "I'm sure you'll be good at it."
"Yeah." I laughed. "If it's anything like chopping carrots, I’m guessing I'll be horrible. You don't have to guide me." His presence was more distracting than helpful. "I know how to wield a blade. I think I can handle an ax."
"It's somewhat different."
"Use my core, right? That's what Kael keeps telling me.”
Rylan kissed my neck. He wasn’t being a good tutor, distracting me with his little gesture. “Are you sure you're not going to do it?"
"Chopping wood? Why not?"
Rylan shook his head behind me. "Not that. I'm talking about black magic."
"Oh, that."
I told him what happened with Gaean. During the fight with Vancel, Gaean wanted me to use the dark art, and Aereala didn't. We concluded my using black magic would interfere with the goddess's ability to use me as a vessel, therefore lengthening my lifespan. But the goddess wouldn’t be able to descend, and the people, my princes included, would die of a famine.
"You're asking me to kill somebody, Rylan."
"I know."
"And yet you want me to?"
"If you can stay with us."
My grip over the ax handle tightened. "It would be meaningless. I'd go crazy from it. It'd eat me up inside. I'm happy now. Happiest than I'd ever been."
"It won't last."
“Destroying myself just to hold on isn't the answer."
Frederick flounced out the door. He bore a grumpy face. When it came to his cooking, he could be such a nag. "Are you coming for dinner or what?"
"Be right there!" I called back.
Rylan stepped back. "All right then, Sera Cadriel, show me what you're made of. Use your core, as Master Kael has repeated so many times."
I winked at him, quickly pushing away our conversation about black magic from my mind. I lifted the ax over my head and threw it down. It split the log into two. My work wasn’t perfect. The halves, when they fell from the rock and slumped onto the icy ground, weren't divided equally.
I beamed at Rylan, who smiled back.
But our smiles faded when thunder boomed through the skies, accompanied by lightning.
Annex
Types of Dragon-kind
Hidrae
Full-sized dragon shifters, known to be the most powerful of their kind. They can shift into dragons as large as those of ancient times. They are highly uncommon, and so far, the only known hidrae are a handful of nobles, and those of the royal family. They also bear the traits of drerkyn when they half shift.
Draerin
They can shift into dragons as well, albeit of a variety much smaller than hidrae. They also bear the traits of drerkyn when they half shift.
Drerkyn
Dragon-kind with half-dragon forms when they shift. They can sprout wings, horns, and talons.
Darmar
The weakest dragon-kind, only able to bear superficial traits when they shift, such as yellow eyes or patches of scales. They have slightly stronger constitutions than humans. They used to be rare but have become numerous over the last thousand years, since they have higher birth rates.<
br />
Beasts
Geckari
Large, lizard-like creatures that are used as a form of transport, especially for large loads.
Ingor
Wolflike creatures who are commonly raised in select conditions. The effort it requires to raise them makes them very expensive.
Ingoria
Cousin to the Ingor. They are larger, rarer versions, found in the wild.
Dynfowl
Chicken-like creatures.
Inca
Ugly canines who are often lazy and large. Perfect as livestock, and a meat that is often eaten by the upper middle class.
Draeox
A creature that looks like a bull.
Balebeast
A subspecies to the draeox that is faster, smaller, and more sinewy.
Piegfowls
A species of bird with blue plumage. They function as messenger birds, with a good homing sense that allows them to travel back to wherever they have been imprinted, no matter where they are.
Wyngoat
A mountain goat with three horns.
Mammotharians
Mammoth-like creatures that travel in groups through Beyestirya.
Bengolian Feline
Mythical cats that are now extinct.
Places
The Drae Lands
The entire continent of dragon-kind. Thousands of years ago, under the rule of the Dragon Mother, it was known as Ayesrial.
Gaia
An entire continent of humans, said to have been abandoned thousands of years ago by order of Rayse Everstone, first dragon king of Constanria. The event is known as the Great Separation.
Beyestirya
A country of dragon-kind bordering Constanria. It is a landlocked country, and its outer regions are facing the worst of the high summer, causing a food shortage in the inner regions. Most of the country faces winter ten months out of sixteen.
Kaldaross
The capital of Beyestirya. It is half the size of Raynea.
Raynea
The capital of Constanria.
Constanria
A country of dragon-kind that borders the Black Ocean. It’s the largest kingdom in all of the Drae Lands. Previously ruled by King Gisiroth Everborne, currently ruled by Rylan Everborne.
Dragon Keep
The previous stronghold of the first king, Rayse. Found in Gaia.
Languages
High Dragon Tongue
The ancient language spoken by the old dragons.
Common Tongue
The language spoken by all Constanrians.
Historical and Other Figures of Note
The Dragon Mother
The old, false goddess of Constanria. She had a million-year reign over the region, suppressing it with her lust for power and intense use of soul magic.
Constance Everstone
The first queen, who started the Great Separation and built the Drae Lands to what it is today.
Rayse Everstone
The first king of the Drae Lands.
Aesryn
The previous ruler of the Drae Lands, who kept it under her dictatorship for a million years. She was defeated by Constance and Rayse Everstone.
Sect of the Holy Pair
The main religion of Constanria, although there are outliers who also worship the Dragon Mother and Constance. They believe in the two gods—Aereala and Gaean.
Aereala
The female god of the Holy Pair. She is said to control the heaven and the skies.
Gaean
The male god of the Holy Pair. He is said to control the earth.
Everadraes
Draerins loyal to the royal family, sworn to protect the Everborne name.
Spells
Invongar respodalis vin garlis ron siras—A failed spell.
Plantia Involuntis—A spell used to invigorate herbs.
Arcio involus—A spell used for plant growth.
Plantia arcio—Another failed spell.
Glacilis provoto—An ice spell.
Illusio volantaris—An illusion spell.
Paraci involuntis—A successful spell, to increase the rate of plant growth.
Lucio—A basic light spell.
Es rea misreagou—The spell used to harvest bright souls.
Kisla misreagou—The spell used to harvest dull souls.
Couela misreagou—The spell used to store souls in soul beads.
Juraca borivilia—A spell to make bombs out of metal objects.
Prasei Diodori—A barrier spell.
Prasei diodori sores—Sera’s new variation for the barrier spell.
Miscellaneous
Gaeanea Root
A starchy herb that has poisonous properties but a sweet aftertaste. Humans are the most susceptible and can die within an hour of ingesting the herb.
Hydrocus
A large fish with a bulbous head. Said to be rare in Constanria.
Grinche Grass
A vegetable similar to lettuce.
Atira
An elevator.
Acecia Berries
Berries dragon-kind use as contraception. It ruins the womb of a woman temporarily, and it is not yet known if it has any lasting effects on childbirth. Studies are still being carried out for it.
Fireoak
A type of oak.
Magic
Soul Magic
An ancient artform that was banned by Constance Everstone. The magic works by harvesting souls and chanting spells to use them. Many spells were lost through the ages, after the ban on the art.
Dark Magic
Corrupted soul magic, which utilizes the spells of sentient beings, namely humans and dragon-kind. Immensely powerful but also said to drive the user mad.
Soul Beads
Beads used to store souls for easy casting.
Bright Souls
Each being contains two kinds of souls: bright souls and dull souls. Bright souls contain the select and unique properties of the creature it belongs to.
Dull Souls
Dull souls are the main essence of all creatures. Every creature has them, although to varying amounts.
Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed the third book of the Sera’s Curse series. The fourth and final book is currently going through edits and should be out by early January if all goes well. Check out my social media for updates!
For giveaways, swag, early ARC copies and announcements, you can follow me on my Facebook or Facebook group here: https://bit.ly/2KySdV6
https://www.facebook.com/ClaraHartleyBooks/
And, if you haven’t downloaded your copy of Golden Embrace (novella from the Soul of a Dragon universe), you still can by joining my mailing list here. I will also be writing some free RH short stories for this newsletter, but I haven’t announced anything yet. The plot bunnies keep chasing me!
http://eepurl.com/dk8WTH
Keep reading for a preview of Harem of Sin, another RH series of mine.
Valerie
When I was younger, my mother told me she’d make me kill my own brother, and that she’d kill me right after. That was ten years ago. Maybe more. I can’t quite remember the details, but I know that, as a frightened girl, I nearly shit my pants. That woman was crazy. So, I took Jared out of her crazy house and fled for our lives.
I went through a laughable foster system. We were down on our luck, and somehow, I ended up here, working in a strip club.
I don’t like dancing for these men. A lot of them are drunk. Most of them aren’t attractive. They let themselves go years ago. Now they have coffee-stained teeth and beer bellies, and some look like they haven’t washed their clothes in days. They don’t stir anything in me, and I feel like a mechanical doll when I display myself for them.
There’s music pounding through the club. The lights flash different colors and form patterns on the ground. It’s a small club, a humble one, though I’m not sure if that’s the right word to describe a strip club.
/>
A few—and by that I truly mean a laughably small amount—of the men aren’t bad looking. They’re studs in their prime, wanting to have a good time. But they see me as an object to play with. Nothing more. A pair of tits and ass to ogle and grope. Maybe wank their dicks off to once the show’s over.
I don’t help them with the second part. Some girls do, and I don’t blame them, because the economy is bad and lots of them come from shitty backgrounds like I do. The club manager, Anya, is making it even harder for us because she keeps ripping us off every night. For these girls, sleeping with men is an easy time for easy money, and I can’t say it’s not tempting.
But I have my boundaries…
For now.
I’m a sucker for the money. There’s never enough of it. And Jared somehow landed himself in the hospital a couple days back. My twin brother gave me the scare of my life. The nurses called me and told me he wasn’t going to make it, but when I got there, he made a miraculous recovery. That day was a bitch of a rollercoaster. He’s supposed to check out tomorrow morning, and I’m happy to have him back, but he’s bringing home a huge bill that insurance isn’t going to cover, so I need to talk to the club manager about a raise.
Fall of Dragons (Sera's Curse Book 3) Page 28
