Reign of Blood and Poison Read online

  Reign of Blood and Poison

  The Aermian Feuds

  Frost Kay

  Contents

  Also By Frost Kay

  Kingdoms of Aermia

  Part I

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Part II

  Prologue

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Epilogue

  Sage

  Jasmine

  Sage

  Hardcovers

  Let’s Chat!

  Reign of Blood and Poison

  Copyright © 2021 by Frost Kay.

  First Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any format or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  For information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book go to www.frostkay.net

  Cover by Combs

  Copy Editing by Madeline Dyer

  Proofreading by Holmes Edits & Red Ninja Edits

  Created with Vellum

  Also By Frost Kay

  THE AERMIAN FEUDS

  (Dark Epic Fantasy)

  Rebel’s Blade

  Crown’s Shield

  Siren’s Lure

  Enemy’s Queen

  King’s Warrior

  Warlord’s Shadow

  Spy’s Mask

  Court’s Fool

  Prince’s Poison

  * * *

  THE TWISTED KINGDOMS

  (Epic Fantasy/Fairytale Retelling)

  The Hunt

  The Rook

  The Heir

  The Beast

  The Hood

  * * *

  DRAGON ISLE WARS

  (Epic Fantasy)

  Court of Dragons

  * * *

  DOMINION OF ASH

  (Post Apocalyptic Fantasy)

  The Stain

  The Tainted

  The Exiled

  The Fallout

  The Chosen (2022)

  * * *

  MIXOLOGISTS & PIRATES

  (Sci-Fi Fantasy)

  Amber Vial

  Emerald Bane

  Scarlet Venom

  Cyan Toxin

  Onyx Elixir

  Indigo Alloy

  This book is for all the readers who have stuck with me from my very first book. Your experiences in life and your willingness to share them is what helped me to create real characters that stick with you long after the book is finished. Love you guys!

  Kingdoms of Aermia

  Part I

  The Spy’s Mask

  Prologue

  Monsters.

  Torment.

  The myths and legends she’d once been told in the dead of night as a prank by friends weren’t supposed to be real. It was all fun and games, a thrill. But what those innocents didn’t understand was there were things in life, real things that rivaled any scary story. Hell and demons of their own making.

  Sage wished what had befallen those around her was just a story, a fable to dismiss from her mind. But life was a cruel, fickle, and beautiful being that had no rhyme or reason. One never knew when whims would bless or curse you. Just the smallest detail could tip the scale.

  From the beginning, life seemed to rage against Sage, a constant force that wore her down to her very bones. There were many paths for the rebel princess to travel, and they all led to one outcome:

  Blood.

  War.

  Chapter 1

  The Warlord

  Zane smiled as he watched the Aermian army scurry about like ants as they built their camps. They had thought they were so clever. But they were just children really, playing at being warriors. They had no idea what the future held.

  Ignorant.

  They were ignorant of his spies. Ignorant that their greatest enemy walked among them. A leren among babes.

  He stilled and glanced over his shoulder as awareness tingled over his skin. His sixth sense. She was near. He narrowed his eyes at the approaching royal party. The crown prince led the group, but Zane didn’t care. He only had eyes for one person: the goddess in armor and war paint.

  “Sage,” he whispered, his tone thick with covetousness. His consort stole his breath away, her beauty so bright it felt like it burned him where he stood. A spark of pride lit inside his chest at the Tia paint that adorned her face in savage strokes that he couldn’t help but find lovely. He never imagined he’d see her in his people’s war paint. Possession and something darker wriggled in his chest.

  Ours, the voices in his head whispered.

  Fierce. Bold. Deadly. A dark queen he couldn’t wait to get his hands on.

  Zane kept his head bowed as the group passed him. His fingers
brushed her cloak for one second before he receded into the bustling camp, just another Aermian soldier following his orders. He could steal her away now, but that would be too easy.

  His consort had challenged him, and Zane loved a good fight. No, he wouldn’t take her this day. He’d wait for her to surrender, and it would be all the sweeter.

  Zane adjusted his cloak and grinned.

  Soon enough, she’d bow to him. All he needed was a little patience. His consort would grace him with her presence soon enough.

  Then, he’d destroy her world.

  Chapter 2

  Sage

  Her legs wavered as she approached Ezra. Her mind was screaming at her to stop, to turn back, but no matter how much she struggled, Sage found herself standing before the Sirenidae, the warlord’s heat at her back as a thousand pairs of bloodthirsty eyes watched them. The large sword swayed slightly as she hefted it up, the tip hovering against the pale skin of the healer’s neck.

  Ezra smiled at her, his mouth twisting in a way that seemed like he was laughing at her, before he began to weep at her feet.

  “I’m sorry,” she choked out, hating that her fingers wouldn’t release the blade. “This is not how it’s supposed to be.”

  His cries cut off as he looked up, his eyes changing from magenta to black. “Murderer,” he hissed.

  Sage jerked as if he’d slapped her. “I don’t want to do this. I can’t do this,” she pleaded.

  “You have to,” the warlord whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her neck.

  The hair on her arms rose, and her stomach rolled as she cringed away from the body leaning over her from behind. “Leave me alone!”

  “If I can’t escape you, how is it fair that you escape me?”

  She stumbled a step closer to Ezra, her blade slicing dangerously close to his neck. Tears burned the back of her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall. How could she cry for herself when she was the one committing the crime?

  “It’s okay, Sage,” Ezra whispered, his voice strangely hollow. He leaned closer to the blade, the sword biting into the delicate skin, just below his hammering pulse. “I knew what you were when I saw you.”

  She cried out as he impaled himself on her sword. “No, no, no, no,” she screamed, releasing the sword and falling to her knees. Ezra’s mouth pursed as his blood pooled and spilled over his lips.

  “He’s not the only monster,” Ezra whispered as he fell to the ground, his white hair turning red as it splayed around him.

  Sage held up her shaking hands and stared at the blood that coated her palms. She was a killer.

  A hand cupped her chin and forced her to stare at the warlord.

  He smiled, flashing sharp fangs as he brushed a bloodstained finger along her bottom lip. “You’re perfect for me.”

  “I’m nothing to you.”

  He tsked and knelt so they were at the same eye level. “On the contrary. Like calls to like.” He jerked his chin to the right. “Look at the ruin you’ve caused.”

  Sage turned and screamed as bodies upon bodies lay in heaps around her.

  She jerked awake and sat up, her heart racing. Her nightgown clung to her body, soaked with sweat. Her own breaths were heavy in her ears as she tried to orientate herself. A lantern hung from the ceiling of her sprawling tent, giving off just enough light for her to see Tehl’s still form next to her.

  Sage placed a hand over her pounding heart and tried to calm it down. You’re not there. You’re safe. It had been two weeks since she’d arrived at the camp, and each night, her nightmares had escalated.

  Throwing back the blankets, she rolled out of the makeshift bed, quickly donned her leather breeches and boots, and tucked her nightgown into her pants.

  “Are you all right?” Tehl asked, his voice rough with sleep.

  Sage peered over her shoulder at her husband who stared at her with concern. “I’m fine.”

  “You were talking in your sleep. I don’t think you’re fine at all. Plus, Sam says when women use the word ‘fine,’ it means the exact opposite.”

  She turned fully and crawled across their pallets to peck him on the lips. “Well, your brother doesn’t usually give the best advice,” she joked. She cursed internally at how, even to her own ears, her tone was off.

  Tehl cupped her left cheek with his right hand and smoothed his thumb along her cheekbone. “I’m worried for you, love.”

  “I’ll be all right.” She had to be. There wasn’t another choice.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Hold me when I get back?”

  He stretched and kissed her softly. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Sage reached up and squeezed his hand before crawling out of the bed and moving through the tent in the direction of the door. She retrieved her discarded cloak from the simple wooden chair in the corner and threw it on to ward off the night’s chill.

  Tehl’s voice caused her to pause as she lifted the tent flap.

  “Be safe.”

  “Always.”

  Guilt assaulted her as she stepped into the crisp night air. Puffs of white steam escaped from her mouth. Damn. It was getting colder every night, and the weather in the plains was more frigid than anything she’d ever experienced in her life.

  Sage stomped her feet a few times and lifted the cloak’s hood to protect her neck from the chilly air, nodding at the two guards stationed outside their tent. Garreth whispered something softly to the other guard and stepped away from them, moving to Sage’s side—her silent sentinel.

  Without one word, they began their walk through the camp, and her protection detail melted from the shadows and fanned out to circle her. Fires burned low, softly crackling—the only sound except for the occasional snore and the rustle of her cloak in the breeze.

  “Rough night?” Garreth asked, his voice no louder than a whisper.

  Sage nodded, her chest tight. She couldn’t get Ezra’s hate-filled face out of her mind. Reaching the edge of the camp, she acknowledged the guards on the perimeter patrol with a tip of her chin and continued her walk. By now, the men were used to her unusual nightly routine.

  They paced around the enormous camp until they reached their destination. A huge rock sat at the forefront of the camp, an old relic of the Mort Wall that was never used. She clambered up the side and plopped down. Garreth followed suit, only pausing to make some sort of signal to her protection detail.

  At one time, she would have begrudged the extra men, but now she appreciated their protection and Garreth’s discretion. She understood their necessity. Sometimes one had to give up a little freedom to stay safe. Plus, she rarely spotted the men that trailed her everywhere she went.

  Seemingly satisfied, he sat beside her and loosely clasped his fingers between his legs.

  A black shadow solidified below the rock and blinked reflective golden eyes. Sage smiled at Nali. The leren had made friends with the men easily. At first, they’d been wary of her, but after they’d been introduced to the fiilee, the maneater was considered the lesser of evils.

  Nali chuffed and then slunk into the meadow, disappearing like a ghost.

  “Still unnerves me,” her guard muttered.

  “Mistress of the night,” Sage said.

  “What I wouldn’t give to have stalking skills like that.”

  A smile touched her lips. The man already did. “Your skills are nothing to snub your nose at. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re akin to Nali.”

  Garreth snorted. “What gave it away? Our temperament?”

  She laughed, the sound surprising her, but, almost immediately, she sobered as she stared at the far-away lights of the Scythian camp. The fires burned brightly just beyond the Mort Wall, casting ghoulish shadows into the night.

  He was there.

  A shiver worked down her spine. He’d be watching her as surely as she was watching him.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  No, she didn’t, but when she ope
ned her mouth to say just that, something else came out instead. “I murdered someone.”

  The silence hung between them. She continued to stare blankly at the Scythian camp, waiting for Garreth’s judgement.

  “War is a nasty thing. We’re all capable of things we never thought possible.”

  True, but not applicable to her situation. “He was my friend.” Her whispered confession tore her heart.