Midnight's Curse Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Midnight's Curse (Beyond the Tales, #2)

  Books by Tricia Mingerink

  CHAPTER ONE | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TWO | Alexander

  CHAPTER THREE | Daemyn

  CHAPTER FOUR | Elara

  CHAPTER FIVE | Daemyn

  CHAPTER SIX | Alexander

  CHAPTER SEVEN | Elara

  CHAPTER EIGHT | Alexander

  CHAPTER NINE | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TEN | Elara

  CHAPTER ELEVEN | Alexander

  CHAPTER TWELVE | Daemyn

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Elara

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN | Alexander

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN | Elara

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN | Daemyn

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | Alexander

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | Elara

  CHAPTER NINTEEN | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TWENTY | Elara

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | Alexander

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | Elara

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | Alexander

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | Elara

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | Daemyn

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | Alexander

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE | Elara

  CHAPTER THIRTY | Alexander

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE | Elara

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO | Daemyn

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE | Elara

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR | Alexander

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE | Alexander

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX | Elara

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN | Daemyn

  Map of Tallahatchia

  DECEIVE

  Don’t Miss the Next Adventure

  Poison’s Dance

  Midnight’s Curse

  Copyright © 2019 by Tricia Mingerink

  Triciamingerink.com

  Published by Sword & Cross Publishing

  Grand Rapids, MI

  Sword & Cross Publishing and the Sword & Cross Publishing logo are trademarks of Tricia Mingerink. Absence of ™ in connection with Sword & Cross Publishing does not indicate an absence of trademark protection of those marks.

  Cover by Savannah Jezowski of Dragonpenpress.com

  Edited by Word Marker Edits

  www.wordmarkeredits.com

  All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in written reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and settings are the product of the author's over active imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, events, or settings is purely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  TO GOD, MY KING AND Father. Soli Deo Gloria

  Books by Tricia Mingerink

  The Blades of Acktar

  Dare

  Deny

  Defy

  Deliver

  Destroy: A novella

  Decree

  Deceive (coming Fall/Winter 2019)

  Beyond the Tales

  Dagger’s Sleep

  Midnight’s Curse

  CHAPTER ONE

  Daemyn

  DAEMYN RAND SLICED his paddle into the swift-flowing Onohio River as it pressed against the canoe’s birchbark sides, wild and alive and thrumming deep in his bones as if begging him to remember what it was like to embrace life instead of a numb existence. Life awaited ahead, where Rosanna, his curse-breaking princess, said she’d meet him.

  In the canoe’s prow, Zeke, Daemyn’s great-great-grandnephew, wielded his own paddle, the fringes on his buckskin shirt swinging with each movement. He set a steady rhythm, one well-practiced from the miles they’d canoed across the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia, searching for the princess who would wake the high prince from his cursed sleep.

  In the center, wedged between the packs of their personal items, the awakened and crowned High King Alexander of Tallahatchia clung to the sides of the canoe as if unnerved by the river’s swift current. If this scared him, then the rapids ahead would be downright terrifying. Though it could simply be Alex’s disorientation. He’d slept through decades of war and woken to splintered kingdoms far different from the ones he’d known a hundred years ago.

  This would be Alex’s first attempt at a diplomatic mission to unite the kingdoms under his rule and hopefully prevent another war from further tearing the kingdoms apart. Alex had chosen to start with Neskahana, probably to honor Rosanna and her family for their loyalty that led to breaking the cursed sleep. And, perhaps, due to Daemyn’s hinting it was a good idea.

  Four canoes with Alex’s eight guards swooped swift and sure ahead and behind. Everything in Daemyn longed to push the canoe harder, faster, outrace the river and the guards to reach that next bend.

  They swept into the curve, and Daemyn fought the press of the river, centering the canoe in the current. When he glanced up, there on a rock promontory stood two women, one with her long black hair in a braid and the other with her black curls tied back from her face. They wore beaded buckskin shirts and leggings.

  Princess Rosanna and her maid and bodyguard Isi Degotaga waved. Then Rosanna, with a running leap, dove from the promontory in a perfect, fearless arc before plunging into the river.

  On the rock, Isi shook her head, turned, and raced down from the rocks with the surefootedness of a deer.

  With a gasp, Rosanna surfaced a few yards from Daemyn’s canoe, her black hair glistening, and her bronze skin glowing with the river water. Daemyn leaned into the paddle, turning the canoe toward her. He itched to jump into the river himself and swim toward her, but he couldn’t without tipping the canoe and spilling both Zeke and Alex into the river with him.

  As they neared, Daemyn let his paddle fall flat against the river instead of dipping it in edge-first, showering Rosanna with a light spray of water. “That was a mighty fine leap, Princess.”

  She grinned and flicked her hand, sending a spray of water in his direction. “It isn’t that high. Besides, is that any way to greet a princess?”

  “Princess?” Zeke splashed water in her direction. “I reckoned you for an otter. Maybe a fish.”

  “A fish?” Rosanna swiped her hand through the water. The wave washed over the side of the canoe, drenching Zeke’s sleeve.

  A few drops spattered Alex, and Alex grimaced, scrubbing at his face with the back of his hand.

  “Your Majesty! I’m so sorry.” Rosanna clapped a hand to her mouth, but Daemyn couldn’t tell if it was from horror that she splashed the high king or to hide her laughter. “It seems I’m always getting you wet.”

  Daemyn wasn’t sure if he wanted to grin at that or shudder. Three months ago, Rosanna awakened Alex by pouring a canteen of water over his head. The moment she’d done that, Daemyn had rapidly died of old age. The ninth of the many times he hadn’t stayed dead.

  “I will dry.” Alex straightened his shirt and his expression into his official, cordially blank mask. “It is a pleasure to meet you again, Princess Rosanna.”

  Rosanna bobbed her head, still treading water next to their canoe. “I’m glad you could come, Your Majesty.” Her gaze flicked to Daemyn.

  The river had to be cold, even this late in the summer. Daemyn dipped his paddle in. “Reckon we’d best get a move on and finish the welcomes on the bank before your teeth set to chattering.”

  Rosanna flashed a grin before she stroked toward the rocks. Daemyn curved the canoe in behind her, though he was able to cut the corner across the current sharper than she did as they swept around the promontory into the still water
sheltered by the rocks.

  As they reached the shallows, Zeke hopped from their canoe first, and Daemyn was only a moment behind him. The water squished through his moccasins, cold yet not bitter. Refreshing after the warmth of the sun beating on him.

  Daemyn glanced between the shore and Alex, his body tensed. A hundred years ago, when he’d been Alex’s manservant, he would’ve been expected to hold the canoe while Alex hiked to the bank.

  But all he wanted to do was leave Alex to fend for himself and dash to where Rosanna squished her way from the river farther downstream.

  Alex shifted his legs over the side and fumbled his way out of the canoe. At least he’d gotten better than the first time when he’d tipped the canoe over. Grabbing the canoe, Alex glanced up. His smile was a mite hesitant, but it was there. “Go on. I have the canoe.”

  Daemyn shifted, every muscle tensed to dash to Rosanna, but duty to Alex tied him in place. It wouldn’t hardly be right at all, leaving his high king standing knee-deep in the muddy river while he ran off.

  Zeke had already made it to the bank, where he swung Isi off her feet, both of them laughing.

  Captain Taum, the captain of Alex’s guards, splashed toward them. He’d be there in a moment. Daemyn wouldn’t have to leave Alex unattended for long.

  Alex huffed out a breath and waved toward Rosanna with one hand while gripping their canoe with the other. “Go. Do I have to make it an order?”

  “Reckon not.” Daemyn forced himself to release the canoe. He spun, only to find Rosanna already racing toward him, stepping high through the shallows. He managed only two strides before she leapt at him, clasping her arms around his neck. He had to wrap his arms around her waist and swing her from the water to keep them both from toppling from her momentum.

  Her face pressed against his shoulder as he held her, her braid still dripping and her buckskins seeping cold water. When she glanced up at him, she grinned. “This is how you greet a princess.”

  “Is it?” With her face only inches from his, it was tempting to lean in and kiss her. But he hesitated. They were surrounded by her guards, Alex’s guards, Zeke, and Isi.

  It wasn’t only that. He wasn’t sure he could put his hesitation into words.

  With something like a laugh, Rosanna stretched, planted a kiss on his jaw, then leaned back to set her feet on the semi¬-solid ground of the river’s mucky bottom. But she didn’t step out of his hold, nor fully release him. “I missed you. That was far too long.”

  “Yes.” Daemyn held her close, savoring the feel of her in his arms. A reminder that she was real. His future. Not just another person he would watch outgrow and out-age him while he remained stuck at twenty-one.

  What would their relationship be like now that it wasn’t defined by the quest to wake Alex? Where did they go now that they weren’t bonded by the adventure of it? It was her courage that had drawn him to her. She’d left without looking back. Kept going when things fell apart. Held him together when he fell apart.

  In some ways, he was still falling part and trying to put the pieces together. When he was with her, he thought he knew who he was. He was the Daemyn Rand he saw in her eyes, and that month she’d spent at Castle Eyota before she’d returned to Neskahana with her father and his army had been one of the best of his life.

  Then he’d been alone at Castle Eyota again.

  Not totally alone. Zeke had refused to leave, and there had been Alex.

  That was part of the problem. Alex was the past Daemyn had left behind decades ago. Whenever Daemyn was with Alex, he felt more like the quiet, unassuming manservant he’d trained to be back when he’d been Jadon Rand.

  And yet Zeke was still there, reminding Daemyn of who he was now. Or, at least, who he was supposed to be.

  Was he Jadon? Bland. Obedient. Unnoticed.

  Or Daemyn? Confident. A leader. Someone an entire family looked up to.

  He cleared his throat and stepped back, growing aware of the cold water squishing between his toes inside his moccasins. “I brought you something.”

  “You did?” Rosanna clasped his hand, her fingers cold after her swim in the river.

  Glancing around, he spotted his canoe drawn up on the bank. After they tromped from the river, he fished in his pack and drew out a leather-wrapped bundle. “For our canoe.”

  Rosanna unwrapped the bundle to reveal a coil of spruce roots, all stripped and pulled apart into the strings that were used to stitch pieces of birch bark together when making a canoe. “These are perfect. I have a whole stack of birch bark in the shed I’ve set aside. We can start working on it while you’re here.”

  Their canoe. It was an old Tallahatchian tradition, going farther back even than the past Daemyn had lived as Jadon, that a couple who intended to get married would build a canoe together. It wasn’t something often done anymore, but he liked that Rosanna valued old traditions.

  “Look what Zeke brought me.” Isi dashed toward them, a similar leather-wrapped bundle grasped in both hands. She shoved it at Rosanna. “Look. Fabric. From Guyangahela. Feel it. Have you ever felt fabric that soft before?”

  Rosanna reached out and ran her fingers over the silk Zeke had traded a whole stack of furs for. Her eyes widened. “We’ve had some silk here before, but never that fine.”

  “What did Daemyn bring you?” Isi peered down at the package. “Spruce roots? You’ve been separated for two months and the most romantic thing he brought you was spruce roots?”

  Should he have gotten her silk like Zeke had for Isi? His chest tightened. What if Rosanna wanted something more than a few roots he’d dug from the ground?

  “They’re just what I wanted.” Rosanna smiled and reached for his hand again.

  When she squeezed his fingers, his heart beat harder, though less in the panic from a few moments ago and more at her nearness. How he’d missed her. Her smiles and understanding. The way she strolled through the forest seeing each tree and fold of the land with wonder.

  “If you want silk, His Majesty brought some silk and linen along as part of a trade gesture from the king of Guyangahela to your father.” Daemyn glanced from Rosanna to where Captain Degotaga, Isi’s father, welcomed Alex to Neskahana.

  Rosanna hugged the package of spruce roots with her free hand. “This is the best gift you could have brought me.”

  Something in him relaxed. He’d thought so, but for a moment he’d been worried he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did.

  She glanced past him, her nose wrinkling. “I probably should officially welcome the high king but we’re going to do all that stuff all over again at the castle. Unless...” Rosanna’s frown quirked upward. “Captain Degotaga, can you see to getting the high king and his guards safely through the rapids? Daemyn and I might as well set off now.”

  Captain Degotaga turned in their direction, eyes sharp.

  Daemyn didn’t flinch away from that gaze. A few months ago, he’d earned Captain Degotaga’s respect enough to be entrusted with Rosanna’s safety when a Tuckawassee war party caught up to them. But since then, he’d broken a guard’s unwritten code by falling in love with the princess he’d been charged to protect.

  After one last piercing look, Captain Degotaga nodded as if satisfied and motioned to Rosanna’s knot of guards. “Chogan, Ilma, Nikan, and Otho. Scout ahead of the princess.”

  “Yes, sir.” The guards hurried to their canoes with Chogan and his wife Ilma setting off in the first canoe, Nikan and Otho shortly after them. If it weren’t for the presence of Alex and his guards, it would’ve been all too like the familiar pattern they’d set during their weeks of travel together.

  And yet everything was different. Then Daemyn had been stuck under the weight of a hundred years of not-aging, burdened by the task he’d been given to lead the promised princess to wake Alex. Now he was courting Rosanna. That journey had been a task. This one was personal.

  Leaving his side, Rosanna took his paddle from his canoe and held it out to him. “Think yo
u can steer through the rapids?”

  Daemyn accepted the paddle, the wood worn to a smooth shine. Her words were light. A challenge. But there was something buried underneath, like a test he didn’t dare answer wrong.

  On the way to Castle Eyota a few months ago, they’d fallen into a rhythm with him in the canoe’s stern and her in the prow. It was, perhaps, expected.

  He might be the expert when it came to most of Tallahatchia, but this was her river. No one knew these waters better than Rosanna and her guards after shooting these rapids several mornings a week for years. In this case, the wise decision meant stepping aside so she could do what she knew best.

  “This is your river.” Daemyn found himself smiling. “You steer.”

  “Really?” Rosanna’s face lit up, and the tightness in his chest eased. He’d made the right choice. She headed for a canoe with a line of blue paint and beadwork around the top edge.

  Together, they lifted it from the bank and carried it into the shallows. Daemyn settled into the prow, then kept the canoe steady by shifting his weight as Rosanna slid in and grabbed her paddle.

  When she met his gaze, her grin was mountain-wild. Strands of her black hair fell from her braid to frame her face while her river-deep brown eyes glinted. “Ready?”

  She was a girl to ride the river with, and it reminded him that, right now, he didn’t have to be the invisible manservant silently killing the mountain side of himself.

  That twinkle in her eye set the daring in his own blood surging. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Always, Princess.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Alexander

  HIGH KING ALEXANDER stood on the bank of the Onohio River in annoyingly wet moccasins and watched while he was abandoned to the hands of near strangers.

  First Jadon and Princess Rosanna, then Jadon’s nephew Zeke and the princess’s maid Isi, hopped into canoes and flew off downriver. As if they were excited to face the harrowing stretch of rapids for which this river was known.

  He shouldn’t care. He was fine. He had plenty of guards around him, and it wasn’t Jadon’s job anymore to be at his every beck and call.