A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3)

by Brigid Kemmerer

“On the contrary.” He takes my hand and kisses my fingertips. “You know all the ways to make me yield.”

Lia Mara lifts her chin. “I can manage.” “I have no doubt.” I lift her hand to kiss her knuckles, and she blushes. “Well,” she says coyly. “Perhaps you should not take too long.”

“She said I would have ordered you to fight until you couldn’t hold a sword.” I lean in, keeping my voice low. “She was wrong. I would have tied it to your hand.”

I lean against her shoulder, the edges of her weapons pressing into my curves, while she strokes my hair down my back. “There, there,” she says after a moment. “Tell me who I can stab for you.” I giggle and straighten, swiping at my tears. “You’re terrible.”

“You know,” she calls behind me, “for Harper, I would have done it for free.” She pauses. “I was curious how much it was worth to you.” “I would have given you ten times as much.” I think of the moment Harper plunged a dagger into Lilith’s chest. I have to put a hand against my midsection to shake off the sudden emotion. “For Harper, I would have given you everything.”

“You once told me that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light.”

“I’m not afraid,” he says, and there’s a breathless quality to his voice that makes me think that’s another lie. But then he adds, “I do not deserve it, Grey.” That pulls at a chord in my chest, and I frown. “You took her torments for me,” I say quietly. “Season after season. What you did to me cannot undo that.” “You stayed with me,” he says. “Season after season. Long after you should have fled. What I did—” His voice breaks. “What I did to you—” “It is over,” I say. “It is done.” Because it is. “One poor choice shouldn’t undo a thousand good ones.”