365 Days to Bond With the Cursed Beast King

sharp contrast to the stale beer and cheap perfume of the club where

ants who had never known fear, flanked by seven stran

He was sharp-edged, with a stack of aged books piled b

k into the cold stone of my chair. "I

of exasperation. "I'm Soren, the Royal Strategist

at bes

low heat rolling off his skin; banked no

at there, bracing his shoulders like a man who had been taking hit

by whom." His gaze flicked, toward the man on his left. "Lazryn h

urn into a dragon? I'm pretty sure I c

ever looked at the texts. "The affliction runs in three distinct stages. The first

the s

sentence that happened to bear his own name. "My mind peels away during the

d over the stone table. "

swered im

a broad-shouldered warrior near the end who stared at the floor, and at

," Soren said softly. "The be

, the air thick with tiny

the words out. "How

A single year from the onset of the second stage. Whi

his own countdown as if he'd swallowed the truth months ago and m

omething. A curse that specific means someone built a back door into it. Why

ess shadow of a smile. "You're sharper than

ich

" Soren said. "Freely g

at followed wa

d, the word tasting

at matters." Vyrn's rough

, and the banked gold fire in his iris

etween us to bend your mind or make you feel something y

rce it," I s

onviction. "Whatever this bond is doing to us, whatever it demands, I will

reason, I b

ous strangers and an impossible clock, the only truth in

d, the request tumbling out b

s narrowing slightly, before

his knuckles. I reached out and

cil room

ed into searing heat. I was standing

ts massive stone pillars cracked and leaning like b

r of it all,

d; feral, empty, and wild. Blood dripped from

a monster collapsing into the rubble of his own mind, with n

my hand away as if

ring against my ribs as the rea

ale with alarm, while half the cou

yn demanded, his voice s

voice trembling. "Alon

ned, heavier and

y face in the room, from the warrior, the strategist,

unreadable mask cracked, revealing s

is to him?"

the crack remained visible in his dark eyes. "