The Price of a Life

Rani grew up with neglectful parents and a little brother who was treated like he could do no wrong. While she was often tasked with looking after him, receiving the blame for any and all misbehavior, her brother was given pats on the head for being such a strong-willed rascal.

It wasn’t the easiest time growing up, and as soon as she was able, she spent every minute out of the house, helping the miller with carrying sacks of flour, holding horses still for re-shoeing at the blacksmith’s smithy, and in the evenings, wiping down tables in the tavern.

Any excuse to stay away and earn some money was pounced upon without hesitation. She was soon known around town as the girl who accepted any job so long as someone paid her for it.

No matter how rough and tough it was, she lifted her chin stubbornly, and no matter how hard it became, she was determined to prove people wrong when they doubted her capabilities.

She learned who in town was corrupt and to be avoided, who would attempt to exploit her, and she learned how to recognize the glint in people’s eyes that promised nothing but pain and misery if they got their hands on her.

She learned just how hard she had to hit to take someone down, heart pounding with terror and adrenaline as she stood in a dark, damp alley. A stone smeared with blood in her hand as she stared down at empty eyes.

She learned just how deep she had to dig a hole to ensure no wild animals would dig the body back out, painful bruises blooming on her skin, sweat sliding down her back.

She learned fast, and she learned well. Her hands grew rougher than any other girl’s her age, she became stronger than many of the boys and she turned into a ruthless negotiator with a sharp intuition for those who wanted to exploit her.

Her parents rarely saw her, but the few times they caught her sneaking back home, they scolded her for being a terrible daughter who was never around, and insisted she ought to hand over some of her hard earned coin. They had housed and fed her for years, after all.

Rani moved out of her childhood home as soon as she was able and the blacksmith flagged her down for an apprenticeship right away. It was hard work, but she was used to that, and in the evenings, she still went around, doing odd jobs for a bit of extra coin.

"I heard that unruly brother of yours got tangled up with some unnatural folk," she heard her master say one day, almost half a year after having moved out of home.

They had some massive horses in today, and they behaved well under her steady and reassuring hands. She had learned early on that animals liked it when she gave them a feeling of comfort and security, that they liked her calm and quiet words.

"I genuinely don’t care," Rani answered, the black mare in her care snorting and finally relaxing, lowering her head a little with her ears perked.

She was a sweet one, but a different blacksmith had once badly hurt her while shoeing her, so now she got worried and scared easily. It was understandable, in Rani’s opinion. No one wanted to get hurt.

The blacksmith hummed, a low noise that seemed to rumble in his barrel chest. "No one’s seen him in a week; people think he ran into the Blood Lords."

Her hands stilled for a moment. Everyone knew of the Blood Lords, of the monsters that called the cursed city beyond the forest their home. Endless rumors surrounded that place, each one worse than the other. Anything and everything could be bartered away in that place, from souls to blood to even someone’s own children.

The Blood Lords never left their cursed city, and while some speculated it was because they couldn’t, they didn’t need to, either. Not when there were people desperate or foolish or arrogant enough to seek them out anyway, thinking they could weasel out a deal in their favor.

Rani had always thought that even her hardheaded brother knew better than to tangle with creatures that knew neither pity nor compassion.

"He’ll be back soon, I’m sure," she said, though a part of her was sinking like a stone headed for the bottom of a lake. She tried to ignore it. "He’s old enough to start adventuring away from town. He’s probably just trying to get to the king’s city, and he’ll turn around when he realizes it’s a bad idea."

The blacksmith hummed once more, low and skeptical, and Rani felt just as doubtful of her own words. What if her brother had truly been stupid enough to go to the cursed city? A place shrouded in eternal fog and with the taste of death so prominent in the air it made all but the most foolhardy or desperate flee in terror.

At least, it was like that according to rumors.

Rani focused on her work, but once she was sent away by her master, instead of seeking out one of the people who usually needed an extra hand at the end of the day, she headed to her childhood home. It was first time since she had moved out that she went back.

She half-expected her brother to pop out, scaring her half to death and laughing at her face and the angry-but-secretly-relieved lecture she’d give him. She half-expected the little shit to have been hiding somewhere, watching as people fretted and worried, giggling to himself.

What she found was her parents crying their eyes out. Even before they looked up and spotted her in the open door, their hopeful faces falling with painful disappointment upon seeing that it was her and not her brother, she knew the truth.

Her brother had, indeed, been stupid enough to get tangled up with the Blood Lords.

"You must save him," her mother began, tone half accusing and half an order, as though she blamed Rani for this situation.

Rani turned on her heel and strode away, angry and worried in equal measure. She had always gotten stuck with cleaning up her brother’s messes. Had always had to face the anger of anyone he had played a prank on, getting scolded in his place and being told to keep him in line. Because her parents had shrugged off their responsibilities whenever they could.

She was sick and tired of being dragged into their problems, into being blamed and told to fix it. Her parents were two perfectly healthy adults, they should handle this, for once.

She stomped all the way home, to the tiny little apartment over a general goods store she had rented. She passed by the alley where she had fought that terrible man last year, the rock she had used still lying where she had dropped it. Any blood on it had long since been washed away by rain and snow.

No one had ever found out what had happened to that man, nor had anyone really looked for him.

She owed her brother nothing. In fact, she had told him multiple times to be more careful with his pranks and jokes, that one day he’d bite off more than he could chew.

That he had sought out the Blood Lords for something was as laughable and nonsensical as a louse trying to tear out a wolf’s throat. What had he been thinking? Why had he felt the need to go to them in the first place?

She told herself that it was most likely already too late to save him. The Blood Lords took whatever they wanted; they were considered even worse than the fae knights that rode through the forest during full moon nights, luring the prettiest lads and lasses out of their homes to whisk them away forever.

The Blood Lords lived off of blood and souls and the screams of the anguished and tortured, their veins filled with dark magic and malice. According to rumors, at least.

But there was always a kernel of truth to rumors, wasn’t there?

Rani stared at her cramped little home, gritting her teeth, until an enraged snarl ripped free, and she grabbed her cloak and shoved some things into her satchel before stomping out the door again.

She knocked on the door of the blacksmith, and when he opened, he took one look at her before understanding filled his eyes. "Take iron," he said. "Just in case."

Her pockets were filled with iron pieces and a little salt bag and after a quick hug, her master squeezing her tight, Rani went to one of the farmers she helped occasionally. After dropping some coppers in the woman’s palm, she saddled a patient draft horse and rode off into the evening, rage still bubbling under her skin.

She considered turning around plenty of times during the journey, but something kept her on the road. Her brother was stupid, but he was young still. He annoyed the ever-living shit out of her whenever she saw him, but that didn’t mean she wanted him dead. Or for him to suffer until the Blood Lords were tired of him.

The fog was the first sign that she was getting close, the sun now touching the horizon, its color a deep, burning orange. The horse started to get restless, and it flinched at every odd and stray noise, and by the time Rani saw dark towers rising out of the forest, looking black against the setting sun, the horse was ready to bolt.

She dismounted and let the horse, which wasted not a single second to turn around and gallop away as fast as its legs would carry it go. Taking a bracing breath, she marched on, anger still hot like coals in her chest, successfully burning hotter than the cold pit of worry in her stomach.

She was scared of the Blood Lords, people would be fools not to be, but, well, she had made it this far already. Turning and running like the horse had would’ve made her feel like a coward.

On second thought, her brother might have grown up stupid because of her, since she was about to do the same incredibly foolish thing he had done.

Ghostly lights loomed out of the fog as the last of the sunlight disappeared, and Rani swore there were whispers around her, curious and maliciously amused. Sometimes, it felt like something tugged at the end of her cloak or nearly made her trip over her next step.

Rani reached the city at last, walking on undeterred, even though her heart was pounding in her chest.

A high wall made of black stone surrounded the city, the smell of iron heavy in the air. She had no desire to find out if it was because the stones were coated in blood or there were rusting metal decorations that were hidden by the fog.

Fear clawed up her spine now, and she reminded herself of all that she had survived already, her hands rough with hard work and her body strong.

She thought of the bloody rock and dragging a dead man through alleys until she made it out of town. Of a grave only she knew about and the knife she had always carried with her since then.

Grit had filled her veins since the day she had realized her parents neither loved nor cared for her. These Blood Lords would be no different; they’d be just as uncaring, just as pitiless. That was nothing new and neither was death.

She stepped forward.

There was a moment of strange silence as she passed through the open gate, not a single guard in sight. When she set foot into the city, a shiver as icy as the coldest winter night raked all across her skin, like the long exhale of a frost giant.

The city beyond the gate did not lie in eerie, oppressive silence as she had expected. Already after a few steps, she could hear it: the sound of parties and laughter, glasses smashing and people hollering. And of someone’s anguished scream that cut off sharply.

"A straggler," she heard someone murmur and flinched, glancing over to see two lovers entwined in an alley, their eyes focused on her and glowing like silver coins in the ghostly glow of an elegant street lantern. "You’re too late, little hare, you already missed the crowd, and it’s a long road to the plaza."

They smiled, sharp and hungry, and held out their hands, speaking in unison, "Join us, little hare, we can fulfill any desires you carry in your warm, soft flesh."

There was a strange tug along her bones, like something tried to ensnare her and draw her towards them. Rani stepped back sharply, the smiles of the monsters falling. They started to look angry now, and there was another, more insistent tug along her body, but Rani refused to be cowed, refused to give in.

She had spent her entire life fighting against other people who tried to dictate what she could and couldn’t do; she wasn’t going to give up now.

A sudden presence behind her made the two monsters flinch back into the shadows, eyes wide and terrified. They disappeared promptly, like wisps of smoke in the wind. Turning around, cold dread settling heavily into her stomach, Rani saw a horse-drawn carriage behind her.

How it had arrived without making a single sound was beyond her, but the horses did not look normal. Their ears were a little too long, they had no hooves but instead claws like a dragon, and when they gnashed their teeth, she saw fangs. They seemed to grin at her, their black, utterly lightless eyes fixed on her.

The door was opened then, and on the step leading up to it emerged a man, if he could be called that. Tall and smartly dressed, he looked cultivated and gentlemanly at first glance, but his eyes shone like flat, polished copper in the ghostly light of the lanterns, and ears like a wolf’s emerged from his head.

When he smiled, he revealed sharp teeth and even sharper, longer canines, making him look like a hungry beast just barely leashed and shoved into a largely human shape.

"Stragglers are rare, you are lucky I passed by," he said, voice a low purr that would have made a more easily tempted person feel all hot and bothered. Rani resisted the urge to frown at him.

The stranger leaned forward a bit, ears perking further, and his shiny, reflective eyes were intense enough to sear flesh from bone. "You are far from the plaza, where you should be if you wish to speak with anyone of importance. Care for a ride? Unless, of course, you’d like to wander and get devoured by the rabble."

"What will it cost me?" she asked, and he threw his head back, exposing his throat as he laughed, clearly delighted at her immediate, sharp question.

"What will you give me?" he asked in return, leaning a bit against the carriage door like he had all the time in the world and was greatly amused by her words, a grin on his face.

"How about I tell you why I am here? Though you cannot take or alter my memories or the emotions attached to them," she said, and his amusement grew.

"A paltry offer, had you not intrigued me first. Very well, come." He held out his hand, the grin on his face challenging. He thought she would not dare to step closer.

She reached out and gripped his hand, half surprised to find his skin warm instead of cold. She was further surprised when he neither squeezed her hand harshly like some unkind folk had in the past, nor did he yank her. He helped her into the carriage and closed the door, waiting until she sat comfortably before he knocked against the roof of the carriage.

The carriage, which had no one sitting on the coach, jolted into motion, the horses trotting on swiftly and without a single noise. The whole carriage was soundless, no rattling over cobblestone or creaking of wood and iron could be heard. It was more unsettling than she had thought it would be. The stranger turned to her with an expectant look, waiting for her to speak.

"My brother is an idiot," Rani found herself saying. She grew angry anew, the fury smothering the fear that had begun to grow within her since she had entered the city. "I don’t know what exactly he did, but I’m here anyway to help him go back home."

"Your love for your kin is a terribly tangled mess," the stranger mused, leaning his chin into his hand as he stared at her. His eyes were a dark red, and every time the carriage passed by one of the lanterns, that copper-coin shine flit through them.

A grin curled across his face. "You smell like blood. We rarely get killers who visit us with pure intentions."

"What can I say, I like to surprise people," Rani said flatly, and he grinned a little wider.

A sudden commotion ahead made her glance out the carriage windows, and she stilled when she saw a human woman being lured into one of the houses, the door thrown wide open and a merry party taking place inside. The woman had an empty smile on her face, her eyes filled with a strange, distant look.

"Only those with strong spirits may make it to the plaza," the stranger said as the door was shut behind the woman, and then the house vanished from sight as the carriage turned around a corner.

His gaze slid to her. "Your fancy iron trinkets in your pocket won’t help you here; we are not fae."

"I know." Rani eyed him grimly. "You are something far worse."

The stranger smiled, pleased and secretive, and said nothing more. But he didn’t have to, for, a moment later, the carriage pulled to a stop.

He gestured at her to leave. "There we are; go and join the other visitors before you miss your chance."

"You guys should put up a sign for your business hours; your customer service is atrocious," Rani answered as she opened the door and stepped outside, his amused laughter following her.

The plaza was a large, open space, dark trees with silver leaves planted around it, and a big fountain sat in the middle, which seemed to not be displaying waterworks but molten gold instead.

The gold flowed slow and thick, spilling forth from a statue, though not even the sluggish gold could hide something pulsing and fiery hidden within the fountain statue.

The statue was a strange thing, something that almost resembled a person but not quite, like two arguing stonemasons had worked on the project at the same time. It made her feel strange to look at it, like it wanted to draw her in, that tug back on her bones, so she wrenched her gaze away. Everything in this damn city indeed seemed to be cursed.

Rani then spotted people, normal people like herself, walking ahead of her and chattering excitedly. She saw haughty nobles and shifty thieves and a limping child with hopeless eyes, gnarly hands clutching onto his mother who walked with grim determination.

Rani wasn’t the only one who had come here, evidently, nor was she the only one with a goal in mind. She glanced over her shoulder and wasn’t surprised to find the carriage gone. It had departed as silently as it had appeared, carrying its strange owner away.

Gripping the strap of her satchel tighter, she hurried to catch up to the others, clinging to the heels of the group, staring around warily as they headed towards a grand building.

The building spanned the entire side of the plaza across from them, looming bone-white and fog-pale, reminding her of an estate-turned-court-house she had seen the one time her master had taken her with him to the capital. Only this place was even bigger, even grander.

Pillars made of polished marble lined the outside, carved flowers and vines winding up around them, and statues were placed in the spaces between: panicked horses leaping forward, each carrying someone on their backs like they had attempted to flee, only to get turned to stone mid-leap.

The faces of the people, young and old, big and small, atop the stone animals were filled with fright and despair.

"Welcome," someone ahead called out, voice raised to be easily heard across the plaza, and the group fell silent. Rani could not see who had spoken, but the voice had sounded as grand as the building, a smile hiding in its words. "It is my greatest pleasure and my greatest honor to welcome you all to the House of Dreams. Please, enter and enjoy your stay!"

Large double doors opened with a creak, and warm, golden light spilled out onto the foggy plaza. Music could be heard from within now, a merry jig mixed with laughter, and for just a moment, Rani felt an urge taking hold of her to go inside, to laugh and dance the night away. To lose herself.

She breathed and yanked her mind away from those alluring images, instead holding the memory of her stupid little brother close. Her anger rose, twining with her fear in a fierce waltz as she stared up at large, tall windows which were all night-dark despite the light falling through the open door.

Unease made her palms clammy, but she pushed onward, following the group that had hurried to get inside, excitement surrounding them like a visible thing. But some people in the group had grim, clear eyes, she noticed.

The mother with the limping child, a shrewd-looking noble, a shifty looking couple, and an elegant old woman with a cane. They all had a strong will etched into the lines of their faces, their shoulders set with determination.

They had come here for more than curiosity, for more than the arrogant thought that they were smarter than anything else in that building and could therefore out-trick tricksters and leave with a bounty of gold and wishes without giving anything up themselves.

Rani walked up the steps behind the group. As she approached the threshold of the manor, for a brief, wild second, her fear attempted to wrench her back around. It urged her to run and run and hope she’d make it back to the gate without being snatched up along the way.

She stepped into the building, and the door fell shut behind her. The absence of a heavy noise, the utter, gentle quiet it had been closed with, set her teeth on edge.

The entrance hall was even grander than the outside; polished white marble inlaid with gold gleamed all around them, creating a beauty that would have made all the kings and queens and the emperor across the sea gasp with envy and bitter jealousy.

A great crystal chandelier hung above them, casting a faint rainbow light over everything, and grand paintings hung on the walls, displaying people dancing, people partying, people laughing, and people entwined like lovers, their clothes slipping low to hint at what was going on without actually revealing anything.

There was a massive double door ahead and four smaller doors to the side. Those four doors remained closed while the double door swung open.

The same voice from before rung out once more, the person speaking still not visible, "Meet the owners of this House; they are eager to greet you. Please be polite and patient as they listen to your requests. Should you get bored, there are drinks and food available and dancing to while the wait away!"

Craning her head, Rani peered past the other people as much as possible as they walked forward, excited whispers rising and running together into a hum of voices and breathless giggling.

The room beyond the entrance hall could only be described as a throne room. Long and decadent, more crystal chandeliers lined the ceiling, and the walls were made of marble and gold, but this time, there were pillars inlaid with gold as well, holding up a truly ridiculously high ceiling.

More frightened-looking statues were placed throughout the room, tables with food and drink set up around them. Each statue was unsettling and in stark contrast to the shining beauty of the building.

Musicians played while groups of gorgeously dressed, masked people mingled at the sides, some dancing and some sipping from crystal glasses and eating delicate bite-sized foods. They waved and gestured, luring two people away from the group to join them.

Rani saw the reflection in their eyes, like flat coins, when they tilted their heads, not even their masks hiding it.

Banners hung between large windows, and there was a gold and red carpet leading up to the throne. Or rather, seven thrones, the largest placed right in the middle.

Rani did a double-take when she saw the man from the carriage sitting on one of the thrones to the left, his dark red eyes meeting hers, and he tilted the head in a deliberate manner to let her see the way they reflected the light like copper coins. His smile was sharp and greatly amused, his ears perked.

Looking away from him, she eyed the other six people on the thrones. They all looked different; some seemed human at first glance, others had horns growing from their hair or scales shimmering on their skin. Some had hooves for feet, and she swore one of the four women had no legs at all, that her long, sweeping black dress was filled with gently shifting shadows instead.

Those must be the famed Blood Lords, and in the middle sat their leader. A beautiful man, she had to admit grudgingly, with hair like spun gold and eyes like the summer sky and skin the sort of delicate paleness that many a known noble strived for.

He wore white, decadent clothes embroidered with gold and decorated with polished blue topaz the color of his eyes.

There was no crown on his head, but he might as well have worn one the way every gaze landed on him, the way the other Blood Lords flanked him like vassals. He must be their king, for there was no other power lords bow to, after all. Everyone knew that.

And as the crowd spread out a bit more as they approached, even the nobles among them growing demure as they stared in awe, Rani saw something kneeling at the Blood King’s feet.

At first glance, it looked like one of the wooden dolls puppeteers used during carnival week, prettily painted and with bendable joints so they could hop and dance when strings were pulled.

There were no strings on this puppet that was dressed like a servant, but it moved anyway, holding up a tray with food for the king, who reached out to snag a grape that looked like it was just a little too red to be normal.

Rani had dragged her little brother around by the ear, had helped him learn for school, had scolded him and bathed him and dressed him and gotten angry with him more often than not the older he got. She’d recognize her stupid, stupid little brother anywhere, no matter what shape he might take.

Her hands balled to fists, and she raised her gaze to meet bright, bright blue. The Blood King smiled, a gentle expression, so kind and benevolent it would have fooled someone who didn’t know what loveless eyes looked like.

The king extended a hand, blue jewels glinting on the gold rings adorning his fingers, and he gestured the group closer, still looking so very soft and kind and gentle.

Rani wanted to reach into her pocket and grip her knife. She wanted to carve that lie off his face until it revealed the monster beneath.

"Welcome," he spoke in a voice that would have made divinity weep, and Rani actually saw some people around her tear up. The king’s face gentled further, his smile turning sweeter and warmer, like a perfect summer day. She wondered how no one saw that his eyes were pitiless and compassionless. "Please, one after another, tell me why you came to me."

Rani hung back for a moment, watching warily as a noble woman stepped forward and dipped into a deep curtsy, her elegant dress pooling around her in a perfect circle.

"Please, none of that, I am not like your kings," the Blood King said. "No one must bow to me."

Rani wondered if the statues were made by him. If the despair on those frozen stone faces was what he lived off of. If he could hear the people captured within weep and cry and plead and beg. If, when no one was around to entertain, he let his benevolent mask slip.

She wondered what it took to kill him and get her stupid brother back.

The noble woman had come to request help for the debt her family was in, so that they may regain their glory and good standing. The Blood King lowered perfectly thick, golden lashes as he smiled kindly and regally dipped his head.

"In exchange for your presence at my side for as long as I live, I will grant your wish," he said, still so kind and sweet, and Rani wanted to vomit as the woman’s face lit up, enamored and hopeful, a delicate flush to her pale cheeks.

"Of course," she agreed immediately, mindlessly, her eyes shining with tears. "Thank you. Your kindness and generosity knows no bounds."

The Blood King smiled and delicately, elegantly, gestured to the side. "Please join the rest of my court for food and dancing until I am done here; such worries must have weighed heavily on your heart. You deserve some reprieve."

The noble woman curtsied once more before she flitted over to the waiting people who greeted her with smiles and eyes that shone like coins behind their gleaming, decorated masks.

One after another, the people stepped forward, each with a request of their own. Some stared up at the Blood King like he was a god made flesh, something eternal and celestial that had deigned to grace them with its presence.

Most people had come here to ask for fortune, but there were those with grimmer fates, as well. The mother with the limping child asked for her son to be healthy, the shrewd noble asked for help in preventing a terrible war, the shifty couple requested that bounties they did not earn be removed from their heads, and the old woman with the cane asked that the sickness plaguing her home be cured.

To the mother, the Blood King said, "A noble heart you carry; blessed be it. In exchange for your son’s health, I ask for nothing but your care for as long as I live."

The mother accepted grimly, giving her son’s hand a reassuring squeeze when he looked at her anxiously.

To the noble, the Blood King said, "Senseless death ought to be avoided; you are good for wanting that. In exchange for the evil king’s death, I ask for naught but your voice to council me for as long as I live."

The noble hesitated but accepted, wetting his lips nervously before he stepped aside to join the party along the walls. It was strange how despite all the revelry, the dancing and singing, somehow the noise was muted and downright quiet here on the carpet before the king.

To the couple, the Blood King said, "Carrying the blame for crimes not committed is ever so poisonous, a truly despicable fate. In exchange for clearing your names, I merely request that you each bestow a love’s kiss upon my hands to stay with me for as long as I live."

The couple blinked, taken aback and slightly confused, then exchanged a glance and a helpless shrug before they agreed.

To the old woman, the Blood King said, "Death trails after you; my heart weeps for your fate. In exchange for a cure, all I desire is the name of the disease, so it may stay with me for as long as I live."

The old woman didn’t hesitate, her fear for her home having worn her down to something tired and yet determined, and this man, this monster, was the only hope she had left. She agreed.

They all stepped off to the side, getting swept up by others in the room, being given delicate food to eat and crystal chalices to drink from. Rani was the last one left, and the Blood King gestured her forward.

As she stepped up to the stairs leading to the thrones, she was more than aware of red eyes boring into her, a curious grin hidden behind a smartly raised hand.

She was also very aware of her little brother, whose wooden head turned for the first time. She saw that he was weeping, a constant roll of tears that dripped down, drenching his little servant’s outfit and falling to add to the small pool already surrounding him.

She looked up to meet blue eyes which revealed that this man had never had a single, kind thought in his life. She was greeted with a benevolent, soft smile that never showed the monster’s teeth, and for all that he looked like perfection, like gold and sunlight and blue gems made flesh, like he had been crafted by all the loving gods in the world, she wanted to plunge her knife into his chest until the rancid blood hidden within spilled forth.

For the first time, the Blood King seemed to pause ever so briefly. "What brings you to my door, sweet one?"

Rani took a deep breath, gathered all the grit and courage and rage in her chest, all the ruthlessness and blood that stained her hands, and lifted her chin. "I want my brother back."

She gestured at the miserable little doll at his feet that was still weeping silently.

The Blood King lowered a hand, picking another grape, rolling it between his fingertips. He still smiled with endless kindness, his entire appearance urging her to sink to her knees for him. To adore him.

"Your brother came for his own contract. I’m afraid until it is paid off, there is nothing I can do," he said, voice heavy with apology, and the dip of his head, the lowering of his lashes, looked like genuine regret to anyone who didn’t know better.

"What did he ask for?" Rani asked because she had thought her brother had everything he could possibly want. Because her brother was the perfect golden child for her shitty, terrible parents.

"I’m afraid unless he gives me permission, there is nothing I can say. He has entrusted me with a dear wish of his, after all," the Blood King said mournfully and yet with great dignity, like he was a noble knight defending a lady’s honor.

There were no noble knights, Rani knew that much. Only men wearing iron and thinking themselves better for it. The knife weighed heavily in her pocket, hidden among the gifts her master had pressed upon her.

The Blood King brightened suddenly like he had had an idea that might solve everything.

"Unless you’d like to take his contract in his stead," he said and smiled, so sweetly and kindly she could taste stomach acid on her tongue. "All I ask is that you weep for me."

Like her brother was weeping. "Why?" she asked, and he exhaled, a soft, lovely noise.

"None of my creations could ever express anything once they changed," he said, reaching down and past the platter to brush perfect fingertips over her brother’s cheeks, gathering wetness, and Rani wanted nothing more than to hack his hand off. "So, if you can cry for me just as beautifully, I will let him go."

He looked back at her, his smile just a little wider than before, the sweetness on his face souring slightly. "Out of all the people here, you have met my eyes unflinching; why is that? I’m quite curious."

Everything here seemed to be run on bargains and intent, so Rani looked straight at him and said, "In exchange for me telling you, you will tell me a truth in return."

The Blood King pondered over that, and then gestured for her to go ahead, like he was doing her a great favor. The Blood Lord who had brought her here seemed to swallow a laugh, red eyes sharply attentive, while the rest of the Blood Lords glanced at her with a cold kind of curiosity.

"My parents never once loved me," Rani said, and the words came easily after years of wrestling with the truth. "I know what loveless eyes like yours look like."

"Hm," the Blood King hummed, and then he laughed and the perfect, sweet, demure facade cracked and broke. Sharp, sharp teeth gleamed in the light, and the gold embroidery and gems he wore shimmered in the light like metal and stone made flesh. "I see, I see; there is no fooling you."

When he looked at her now, his smile was cruel, but it was honest. "You like this more, don’t you? The truth over a pretty lie." Realization sparked in his eyes, which were still so very blue. "Of course, my little magic trick didn’t work on you. Your poor, poor brother, he thought he’d buy you some happiness with his misery. He wished so dearly to make you someone others loved."

Despite a part of Rani recoiling at the very idea of her brother trading anything for her sake, the rest of her understood all of a sudden what her foolish brother had likely done. He had tried to make sure their parents treated her well.

Of course, it hadn’t worked. Her parents didn’t love her, and Rani had learned to recognize such truths in people’s hearts through hard lessons, through bad bargains and terrible people and her desire to not be lied to.

"He’s an idiot," Rani said, looking right at the weeping doll that looked down, more tears spilling forth. "Our parents don’t matter if we have each other." The doll looked up sharply, and she pinned him with her best unimpressed look. "And this is the last fucking time you’re doing something this stupid, understood? You will listen to me at least this once, got it?"

And the doll nodded and wept even harder.

Rani looked back at the Blood King, who looked maliciously amused and coldly entertained.

"You’ll make a great pair," he mused. "Come, won’t you join your brother? He’s not getting out of his contract that easily, and this way, you can still be together."

Rani wasn’t a fool. She wouldn’t have made it as far in life if she had been. She had already gathered that the Blood King’s magic lasted only for as long as he lived. That he was collecting things, intangible things like love and council and care and illnesses, most likely to exchange them for other things he wanted more later.

As though he was a merchant bartering and gambling until he held the entire world in his palms.

She wondered how much of this cursed city was the Blood King’s doing, how much would change if he was dead. Most of all, however, she wondered how to get her knife into his chest.

"You still owe me an answer," she said, and he gestured for her to go ahead, no longer looking benevolent, but like he thought she was a cute little morsel. As easily crushed beneath his heel as anyone and anything else.

For just a brief second, Rani glanced to the side, meeting red eyes, and the Blood Lord tipped his head, eyes gleaming copper. She looked at the others around her, all their eyes reflecting the light strangely. All but the Blood King’s.

"What are your favorite flowers?" she asked, and the Blood King stilled, genuine surprise briefly blooming on his face.

It seemed like he pondered his answer for a moment before he said, "Nightshades."

"Then let’s make a pact," she said. "In exchange for me joining my brother, you will plant Nightshades with me outside the city." When the Blood King’s brow furrowed, she presented her empty hands and smiled grimly. "You said it yourself, your creations become unmoving. Isn’t there more joy when things stop being boring and repetitive? You can have both me and my brother this way."

He tapped the armrest of his throne, and Rani swore that every single soul present was holding their breath. Then his greed won out, and he smiled. "You have yourself a deal."

Rani felt magic settle around her, an invisible collar clicking closed around her throat, and the Blood King rose to his feet, all elegance and decadent robes that billowed around him as he stepped down the stairs to join her. He rubbed his fingertips together for a moment, before presenting his hands to her, two tiny seeds resting in his soft palms.

"One for you, and one for me," he said, and she took one, her heart still pounding, and her fingers feeling cold, his skin almost searing-hot in comparison.

"Perfect," she said, and he smiled, cruelly amused, like he knew the punchline to a joke he had only just started to tell and couldn’t wait for her to catch on to what the joke was about.

"Just a moment," he said and snapped his fingers. The bubble of gentle quiet that had surrounded the thrones burst, and Rani kept herself from flinching, forced herself to keep looking into blue eyes like summer skies as the people who had made deals began to scream and weep as they turned to statues.

The Blood King smiled, and for a moment, she swore she could see kisses of love pressed to his hands, a cloak of motherly care settling around him, and a terrible illness gathered in his palm, soaking into the Nightshade seed.

"My favorite noise in the world," he mused and reached out with his other hand, too-hot fingers grasping her jaw and lifting her chin a little further. "I can already tell that I will savor your despair. Nothing is more satisfying than breaking tough spirits like yours."

"We need to dig holes first," she said, reaching up to grip his wrist, and she knew she only pulled his hand away because he let her, not because she had any hope of forcing him. "For our plants."

"I wonder what trick you think you’ll have up your sleeve," he mused. "It will be entertaining to see you try. Very well, let us go."

He turned to leave, and the moment his back was to her, Rani looked at red eyes that stared at her like she was going to be both salvation and the greatest joke of the cosmos.

Soundlessly, she mouthed, "If you want to be free, you will help me."

Red eyes widened, and then an elegant hand was tightly clamped over a mouth to hide a too-wide grin that split his face apart, the Blood Lord’s eyes becoming a hungry, hungry red.

As she turned to follow the Blood King, she felt a sudden weight wrap around the knife in her pocket, and when she reached inside to touch it, ever so briefly, she felt like death reverently kissed her fingertips.

It made sense that this was the lord’s gift, considering that he was the one who had known just by looking at her that she had killed before.

Heavy doors fell shut behind her and the Blood King, the party continuing on despite new statues standing in their midst, anguish distorting stone faces and a little boy weeping as terribly as her stupid little brother wept, fingers scrabbling uselessly over white, cold marble as he cried for his mother.

They walked in silence, and Rani knew the Blood King was doing something, for the surroundings rushed past too fast. Every step seemed to clear an entire street until they stood at the gate. The wall still smelled like iron.

"The Blood Lords are yours, too, aren’t they?" she found herself asking as they cleared the gate, and something rattled above them.

A glance to the Blood King showed that fog was now hanging off his frame like a desperate lover, slipping down and trying to latch on anew with every step.

"Why don’t you give me a truth in exchange for another truth?" he asked, but Rani had a good guess as to what was going on here already. Besides, she couldn’t risk him asking what her plan was.

The fog belonged to him, as did the Blood Lords and the monsters of the city and the power he had gathered through each and every pact made; it was all his. She was willing to bet that the city itself belonged to him. That he had made a curse that kept everything locked up within its walls and at his mercy.

As soon as the earth turned soft and damp under her feet, she paused. "Here is good."

The Blood King gestured for her to go ahead, and she dug her fingers into loose dirt, pulling away a big fistful to drop the seed into the hole she had made. She looked up at the Blood King. "Your turn."

He smiled like he knew he could counter anything she had planned, but Rani was used to being underestimated. To being told she was useless, that she’d never amount to anything. That she’d never get anything done. Her parents certainly had loved to tell her as much, as had many others until she had proven them wrong.

There was grit in her veins and blood on her hands and death in her pocket, and as the Blood King gracefully sank down to a knee, she threw the big fistful of dirt in her hand into his face and pulled the knife free with the other.

He was cursing, his Nightshade seed dropped as his hands rose to wipe the dirt away when she plunged the blade into his chest. It went in so smoothly and easily that she knew the enchantment was doing its part.

The Blood King knelt frozen before her, staring at her wide-eyed as too-thick blood started to soak into his perfect white and gold bejeweled assemble.

"Oh," was all he said before the knife pulsed once in her hand, and his eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the dirt, dead and gone. Just like that.

She took a deep breath and wondered if she should bury him, another unmarked grave only she knew about.

"How did you know?" a voice behind her spoke up.

Rani looked over her shoulder to see the Blood Lord step down from his carriage, those unsettling horses staring at the cadaver like they wanted to eat it.

For just a moment, he looked like he savored it, being beyond the city walls, inhaling like someone finding fresh air after being stuck in a musty room for too long, before he asked her, "How did you know that you had to kill him outside the city?"

"Because every contract of his ended with "for as long as I live," and no one does that unless they’re really damn sure they won’t die easily or anytime soon." And the cursed city had been around a while already, while the Blood King looked no older than maybe thirty.

She rose to her feet, wiping dirt from her hand against her pant leg, and she eyed her bloodied hand unhappily before she added, "And despite everyone knowing of the Blood Lords, none of you ever leave."

"Indeed. I have just set foot past the wall for the first time in... hm, a while," he mused and offered her a handkerchief. There was something in his eyes she couldn’t name, but it threatened to pull her in, so she looked away.

His voice was quieter, darker, as he said, "I promised him when he tricked me into my shackles that, one day, death would walk through his doors, and he would leave with it, never to return."

Rani frowned at him. "So, I’m, what, a promise fulfilled?"

The Blood Lord reached out to wipe a stray drop of blood from her wrist, and his voice was low and edged in something sharp and inhuman as he answered, "You are so much more. Do you want his crown? His seat stands empty now."

Rani wasn’t stupid enough to fall for this. Everything about this place was bad news, and agreeing to anything, no matter how innocent or advantageous it seemed at first, was only going to ruin what good was left within her heart and soul.

"Keep it, destroy it, give it to someone else, I don’t care," she said. "I want nothing from you and yours."

As soon as she had finished speaking, the fog that laid over the city and surrounded it exploded outward, and she would have flinched away, if not for the Blood Lord giving her wrist an unexpected, stalling squeeze.

The fog passed over her and dispersed, and as she blinked and looked around, the Blood King’s body was nothing more than bones and ash.

"I knew you were something special the moment I saw you," the Blood Lord murmured, letting go of her hand. "No one’s ever looked at us and saw us as we were, you know. You saw the truth of our home even while it was so heavily enchanted that even mages got tricked and swallowed whole."

Rani had no idea what to say, she just wanted to grab her brother and head back home. In the end, she focused on just that, "Where is my brother?"

"Free, like everyone else. Come." The Blood Lord held out his hand, and just like earlier that night, she took it and was led into his carriage.

The House of Dreams was in uproar when they arrived, all the statues gone, all the people returned to flesh and blood, and even the animal statues had been people who had gotten transformed first before becoming stone. The gold fountain was gone, replaced by a mage stumbling around in confusion, dazed and looking a little singed.

As soon as Rani was helped down the carriage step by the Blood Lord, the doors flew open, and her brother rushed outside, crashing into her and weeping into her shoulder as his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"S-Sorry, I’m so sorry!" he wailed, and she was too tired to scold him again, so she just sighed and gave his head an awkward pat.

"Fuck you," she said, and he laughed wetly. "Why did you do something so monumentally stupid?"

He pulled back, wiping tears from his cheeks, looking ashamed and chagrinned, and she had to flick his forehead to get him to answer.

"I thought if I made Mom and Dad like you, you’d let me stay at your place," he whispered. "I know I’ve been a lot of trouble, but... I don’t want to be home anymore. It’s terrible there."

"You should have just asked me," she found herself growling at him, and he blinked up at her, eyes so wide and hopeful she was reminded all over again that he was still young. Still an idiot. Still just a boy who had been left alone with parents who no longer had a convenient punching bag. Who, at the end of the day, didn’t really love him either.

A boy who, now that she looked at it from a different angle, had acted out to try to get her attention. To keep her around, to try to bond with a sister who didn’t like him because of their parents' actions and not because of him.

She sighed, suddenly feeling terribly tired. "If you promise to stop causing so much trouble, I’ll let you stay at my place." He nodded, and when she offered her hand, he grasped it tightly. "Some trouble is okay, though; I’ll point out the people who need to be humbled."

At this a tentative, hopeful smile appeared on his face, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, turning back to the Blood Lord who had watched them with a satisfied grin.

"How much for bringing us home?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said, and upon her skeptical look, he held out his hand once more. "My debt to you is great, slayer of cursed kings. I will see it repaid, as will the rest of us."

Rani had no idea what that meant; she just wanted to go home and rest. "You owe me nothing."

He smiled in a manner that told her he wasn’t going to disagree verbally, and this time, she did roll her eyes, but she accepted his offered hand and stepped into the carriage with her brother on her heels.

The ride home passed quickly, and she didn’t ask how the Blood Lord knew where she lived; she was just glad to drag herself up the stairs, her brother still behind her. She tossed some furs and a pillow in front of the fire for him and collapsed into her bed.

She dreamed of red eyes that gleamed like copper and of sunlight and pure blue skies and of a city exhaling with relief as chains broke because a terrible evil laid slain at her feet.

Rani would have liked to say that her life returned to normal after a very not-normal night, but it seemed that was no longer her fate.

After helping her brother grab his things and move out, their parents raving and ranting at them, calling them ungrateful and spoiled and wicked, she had intended to go about her business as usual.

Only the gods-damned Blood Lords suddenly were everywhere. Whatever disguise they put on to avoid scaring the regular townsfolk, she didn’t get to see it.

They might not know pity or compassion, but they sure as shit knew gratitude. Rani was suddenly watching everything she said like a hawk because every stray comment seemed to be some kind of clue as to how they could repay her.

She complained about some rude customer? The man was downright falling over himself to apologize the next day, looking so terrified she was surprised he hadn’t wet himself.

A merchant had stiffed her at market day? The woman was handing her a sack of gold the next day, trembling all over and looking ready to have a heart attack.

She wanted a bigger place because sharing a one-room apartment with her brother got stuffy? Suddenly she was being offered the prettiest, best spots around town so cheaply it was ridiculous.

"Stop," she told the red-eyed Blood Lord the next time he visited the forge, brandishing pliers like they were some grand weapon. "Stop taking everything I say seriously. Sometimes I just want to complain, you know?"

He tipped his head thoughtfully, eyes shining like copper in the afternoon sun. Then he smiled. "Very well."

She should have known that wasn’t the end of it. Suddenly every hole in her clothes was gone like it had never existed. Every dented, cracked, or otherwise damaged item in her possession looked like it had been freshly made. Food no longer spoiled in her pantry, and water was always perfectly clear and fresh in her cup.

Her laundry always smelled just like she wanted it to, she no longer had any bad hair days, and mud refused to cling to her clothes and shoes. The one time she had tried to purposefully step onto horse shit, she watched it vanish before her boot could connect.

Well, then. She could live with that. That was fine and actually helpful, even.

Right up until the jewels and gems and richly embroidered clothes showed up. When she complained about that as well, the Blood Lord just shrugged, looking not the least bit sorry.

The ensuing argument ended with her tossing some rags at him and him ducking out of the forge, laughing, red eyes gleaming with delight. Her master just sighed and muttered something into his beard, but he sounded wryly fond, so she didn’t worry about accidentally annoying him.

Rani got to know all the other Blood Lords, as well, and despite knowing better, despite remembering all the damned rumors, she one day realized she thought of them as... friends.

Strange, weird friends who had the social graces of gremlins tossed down the well to grow up in dark muck, but friends nonetheless.

"Didn’t it occur to you that you changed us?" the red-eyed Blood Lord – she had started to think of him as her Blood Lord – asked when she had muttered about why so many morons were in her life. "When you broke the curse, when you took our oppressor from us? Don’t you know what our city was made of, originally, before he came along?"

Rani paused and thought back to that dark, foggy night, anger and fear entwined in her veins. The tugs of magic along her bones that she had yanked herself away from again and again.

"Determination and intent," she answered, and he smiled like she had hit the nail on the head.

"We can now return to how we were before that rancid king came and tricked us all," the Blood Lord said. "Haven’t you noticed?"

She paused and squinted at him, and he smiled at her, watching her right back. And she realized he was right, as she took the moment to properly meet his gaze.

There would never be pity in the Blood Lords, but... there was care, now. They cared. About her, at least, and each other, though she doubted it extended to other people beyond that. Maybe with time, one day.

"Huh," she said, and suddenly it no longer felt like something terrible and dark and forbidden to call them friends. She huffed, wryly amused, and asked, "Want to grab dinner together?"

He perked up and agreed immediately, promising to pick her up once her work was done.

Rani’s life settled into a new, strange normal at long last after that evening. The Blood Lords came and visited frequently, and for all that they were strange and weird still, their friendship was genuine. They became the sort of people Rani hadn’t known she had been looking for.

People who saw her, cared for her, and never judged her. People who, she later found out, had made it their life’s mission to make her life easier, and who got plenty of help from her brother in the process. She even found out that the reason her parents had been so uncharacteristically quiet was because of them.

Knowing that her parents were being paid back every ounce of misery they had caused probably shouldn’t be so pleasant. A better person might have asked them to stop, but Rani had always been different. Gritty and bloody, and the few people she cared about, she cared for deeply.

She had patched up her relationship with her brother who, now that he was away from home, grew into a person she actually liked. He still played pranks, but she saw him with some of the Blood Lords whenever he got into trouble and knew she didn’t have to worry. Furthermore, he had taken her advice to heart and only targeted assholes.

And then, of course, as things were finally going well, and she no longer had to fight for every scrap of goodness in her life, her heart went and did something stupid.

"I hate you," Rani declared as her Blood Lord came to pick her up after work. He wanted to take her on a ride outside of town, two of his monster horses at his side. His horses had grown to like her quite a bit, and she had to keep them from biting anyone who even vaguely upset her.

"My, I know now why you never lie," he said, and she stared at him sourly. His smile wasn’t soft, it would never be, but it was genuine and just for her. "Want to try that again?"

"Why don’t you go first?" she answered, and he stepped closer, warm fingertips gently touching her cheek. He would never be compassionate and kind like other people, but she never had to fear harm or thoughtlessness from his hands. He was nothing but truthful and honest.

"Gladly," he murmured and leaned in to brush a kiss against her lips. He pulled back to murmur in a low voice, "Still want to tell me you hate me?"

"So much," she whispered and tugged him into another kiss, before pushing him back a step so she could look at him. "You’re staying the night, if you want."

"Gladly," he purred and stepped back further, offering her a hand up into the saddle. "For as long as you’ll want me, you’ll have me."

What a dangerous promise to make when her answer was "for as long as I live." But, looking at him, he knew, and it seemed like it would be his answer as well, had she given him the same promise. Good.

This was one "for as long as I live" that she could promise easily and happily, at that.