Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades, #1)

by Mai Corland

Hope pieces together dreams out of broken glass only for reality to come and smash them all over again. Hope is the cruelest punishment of them all. Because without hope, I know: it’s not her, you fool. It can’t be. It can never be. Because I killed her.

I was once a prized hunter—the best in Yusan, according to the king. And now here I am, in the badlands, in Fallow, and I am the prey.

Prince Euyn Hali Baejkin The Stables, one bell I have an offer for you

Gli is nine—the same age I was when I was taken. Well, not taken…sold. My parents were paid a handsome price for their eldest daughter.

“You remembered after forgetting, and that’s just as valuable as knowing the first time,”

Childhood is short, and delights are scarce for the poor in Yusan. Even scarcer for assassins like me.

I eye the sacks in the hideaway. Each contains five thousand gold mun. There are ten of them. It took ten years to get this much.

Looking back, I think it was my face that damned me. I study it in the gilded mirror of the powder room. Straight nose, heart-shaped face, flawless skin, and violet eyes. The Count searched the whole realm for perfection, young girls who would turn into stunningly beautiful women.

Seok learned of poison maidens while traveling far outside of the realm and decided to create his own. He called it a school for unwanted girls and hired Madame Iseul as headmistress, but it was the Count who was really in charge.

It was the Count who slit one girl’s throat when she rebelled. The Count who was responsible for the death of my lover.

The world will grab and pull at your humanity, try to strip you bare, but ultimately you decide whether to hang on or let go.

“Who is the mark?” I ask. “King Joon.”

All of Yusan believes that King Joon is a god king. His bloodline has ruled Yusan for a thousand years—we’re approaching the millennial celebration soon. And I’m well aware that some men are untouchable. I’m staring at one now.

As he’s had the last word, he walks out of his office, leaving me to wonder how the lives of two girls equals the death of a god king in his ledgers.

Mikail is alone. I’m briefly surprised, but then I remember that Mikail doesn’t need backup. There isn’t a more experienced killer in all of Yusan—or Khitan, for that matter. He’s not truly an assassin, though—that’s a rank far beneath him. He’s the royal spymaster.

The first and foremost being that Joon is known as a god king for a reason. He’s not divine, but he might as well be, since he has the crown of Yusan. The crown is a relic of the Dragon Lord, and it makes the wearer immortal.

“With Joon dead, you are the only heir to the throne of Yusan,” he says. “You’d be king. Help me, and the crown is yours.” The crown. The throne. It’s as tempting as it is impossible. As the youngest son of the old king, I’ve never been expected to rule Yusan.

“The Queen of Khitan.” And that catches me off guard. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from my sister.

Royo’s probably not traditionally attractive. Like if I closed my eyes and thought of a handsome man, it wouldn’t be him. But he’s much more attractive than I initially thought. His hair is just a little above shaved, his jaw hard, and his face scarred. He’s a warrior minus the battlefield.

“How’d you get my name?” His voice has the rumbling of thunder, and I find myself following like lightning. But the innkeeper sneezes and I’m reminded that this really isn’t the time to be horny.

Then he yanks his hands back like I burned him or something. It’s…sweet. He’s gentle. I’d expected something else when I heard about him. A bad man. A brute. And he isn’t one. I mean, yeah, he’s a violent killer, but no one’s perfect.

The second he touches me, a feeling rushes through me. Our hands fit together like a lock and key, but it’s more than that. He feels like home.

I trail off because I am well aware that people try to hurt girls. “Do people ask you to do that?” He shrugs. “Sometimes.” “But you say no?” He nods. Just so smooth. But he means it. I like that he draws a line. He has principles and sticks to them. Most people don’t. Not when they conflict with desire.

“Listen, lady, maybe you don’t know how this works. But I’m muscle for hire. A strongman. You give me the name of someone you want hurt, and I hurt him. You pay me half up front and the other half once it’s done. That’s it. I’m not a guardsmith. I don’t protect no one. I hurt them.” He mimes snapping a bone in two. Danger flashes in his eyes. Is it wrong that it’s kind of hot? Never mind. Not the point.

It’s a lot of money, way more than I should offer, but I stole it anyhow, so really, what’s the difference?

“No, because without his crown, King Joon will be mortal.” Royo’s brow wrinkles. “Joon isn’t a god?” I can’t help it—I scrunch my face. “No.”

Everyone knows the Dragon Lord united Yusan and ruled for hundreds of years. But only those closest to the throne know that five relics were left behind—the crown being one of them. The legend is that the Dragon Lord gave his crown to the first Baejkin king, but his ring, scepter, sword, and amulet fell into the other realms as he ascended to the Heavens.

He’s calling me a murderer. A mass murderer. “You…you believe all of that?” I squeeze the leather reins in my hand. He shrugs. “I have a funny way of believing things that are true.”

“Spare me the rationale in this heat, please, Euyn. I know who you are. I always have. And if you had to do it all over again, you would do the same thing—you just wouldn’t let the last one escape.”

She knows to sit on my right because I have less hearing on my left—a result of being dosed with Erlingnow poison.

We were poor, like the rest of our village, but we were happy. I never doubted that we were loved…right up until I was sold and Daysum was taken. But I suppose that’s the childhood I want to imagine, the lies I want to believe.

She arches an eyebrow, skeptical. But it’s true. I have no interest in romance. Not since the Count killed my lover. Loving is just another thing that Seok can hold over me. It is a liability at its core.

I put on my haughtiest face as I walk past, but I get a sinking feeling that I missed something vital.

Samroc are rumored to have excellent hearing. If I weren’t absolutely terrified right now, they’d be a great challenge to hunt. Something worthy of my skill. As far as I’m aware, no one has been able to bring one down.

I have an eerie feeling she will remember me. That the legend I heard of the birds tracking down the man’s entire family were true.

Euyn saved me. He risked his own life to distract the samroc so I could try to escape, and then he carried me when I couldn’t walk. Never underestimate a person’s ability to surprise you.

I’m not sure how many times I’m going to cheat death. I hope it’s more times than I have already, but I must be at seven or eight at this point. Eventually Lord Yama, the King of Hells, will win. But not tonight.

“Null,” I say. In this case, it means I feel no pain. It isn’t true, of course. I have an ungodly tolerance to laoli, but Euyn believes me. He tends to believe my lies.

Of course, Euyn doesn’t know that I’m Gayan. Or that his brother slaughtered my family when he put down the island’s rebellion nineteen years ago. He thinks I’m from Yusan, just like him. No one knows who I really am because I’ve lied my entire life—to Euyn most of all. At times I wonder if he’d love me the same if he knew the truth, but there are questions best left unasked.

Although I doubt he’d admit it, Euyn expected me to storm Idle Prison—the political dungeon under a monster-filled lake, literally the most secure place in all of Yusan—and rescue him. And when I didn’t, it meant that I didn’t love him.

I’m just not sure what good he expected to come out of both of us being dead. Sometimes revenge is a long game and, as much as you want a small win now, the larger victory needs time to manifest.

The youngest prince of Yusan would never have cared about some weapons, a frying pan, and old clothing, but Euyn does now. Deeply. I have to say, I like this new version better than the old.

Of course, the last thing I wanted to do was love him. And as attracted as I was to him, he was such a brat in the palace.

When he’d surprise me by being thoughtful or kind or sensitive, I’d fall for him a bit. The next thing I knew, I loved him. It didn’t even bother me that he was also a cruel man, because in the end, aren’t we all?

Euyn quickly removes his hand like he can’t afford to get closer to me. He thinks I’m the villain of our story. That I’ll betray him simply because I have before. Because I lie as easily as I breathe. And that all seems like terribly unfair character assassination to me. Accurate as it may be.

As the city fades in the distance, I get a feeling this is the last time I’ll ever see Umbria. I shake it off and go inside.

“You act like you don’t have a choice,” I say. “I have less than you think.” He smiles at me, and something in his face makes me believe him. The pain in his eyes, I suppose.

And it was Tiyung who grabbed my arm and dragged me back through the Xingchi forest as I begged to be let go. As I told him how his father had purchased twenty girls, twenty, and poisoned them and sold off their brothers or sisters to the brothels when they died. How I was one of the few survivors. I hate how unmoved he was. How he said nothing, forever pushing forward until we returned to Gain.

It’s what Tiyung did when we got to the Count’s villa that will forever make me hate him. He was the one who whipped Daysum. The one who said, “Is that all?” when the Count told him to stop. And then I resolve: once Daysum is free, I will kill Tiyung and send his head in a basket to the Count.

Gods on High, I still love him. As much as I ever did. Maybe a little more. I groan to myself. Only I, the greatest hunter in Yusan, would fall permanently in love with the man who can never be captured, who can never really belong to anyone. What a fate.