Servant of Magic

All magic requires a sacrifice. This time, magic is asking too much.

Cali's newly won magic is wreaking havoc within her, taking control with its twisted power. Its source was from not one, but two murdered princesses, and though gone from this world, those princesses aren't giving up their power without a fight.

This wasn't part of the deal. Cali is determined to break her bargain with Undine, to rid herself of their magic's taint. It's the only way to master this ability that's trying so desperately to master her instead.

But going back on that sacrifice could mean Cali will lose everything she has given so much to gain.

Get swept away with the tide of action and adventure, soak in the star-crossed romance, and lose yourself in the pages of the third installment of USA Today bestselling author Cortney Pearson's Curse of the Pirate series.

Chapter One

The moon offered only a slice of light from its waxing-crescent smile. A cloudless night such as this welcomed as much of that light to spread where it might, illuminating open pathways in the palace gardens and turning tight corners into shadow.

The stars twinkled overhead, adding their silent applause to the arena, but no matter how loud their sparkle, no matter how the moonlight pooled and poured on the hedges and bramble, the flowers slumped in their beds, ignoring the light that had once made them glimmer and shine.

Cali paced the garden’s deadened pathways with a brick where her heart should be. This garden, with its enchanting pathways begging to be wandered, its tufted shrubberies and blooms that had so mesmerized her with their flaring blossoms glittering like stolen jewels, were now ashen, more akin to the underside of rocks.

She ran her fingers along the pallid, tortured vines and left a sigh at every turn she took. She had won Bae’s tournament. As the kingdom of Lunae Lumen was now his, once she married him, it would be hers as well.

She really was a princess of death.

Cali crouched before a drooping gloom-gathering of hydrangeas. They’d once been a favorite of hers, reminding her of mounds of colored popped corn. Their puff-like blossoms were no longer carefree and light, seeming to float away from the branch at any possible moment.

These were stony, heavy, drooping against the rest of the plant with a burden the leaves couldn’t manage to carry.

Cali lifted one of the devastated blossoms. It prickled her bare skin, reflecting the loss burrowing inside her.

She couldn’t forget the moment the flowers’ glow had vanished. Bae had been crowned king, effectively stealing the position from her cousin, Soraya. In the process, the moonlight had stolen Lunae Lumen’s crowning glory, the power it had once granted the land to set it apart from all others.

It seemed, since that moment, anything in Lunae Lumen that had held any light for Cali—her newfound friendship with the other princesses, her relationship with Soraya, the hope Cali held for her homeland—was gradually dimming as well. Some had completely been snuffed out.

“There you are.” Bae’s voice held the ability to addle her senses just like always. He stalked down the dreary, deadened grass toward her.

Every step he took scorned the wandering, manicured trails as though he had no intention of following any path others laid out for him.

The sight of him wrapped her veins around its fingers and sent her blood into a tangled frenzy. Bae was a blessed reminder that not everything in her world had gone dark.

Though he wore all black as though he’d borrowed night’s cloak, he was the only thing that held any kind of gleam for her in this suddenly bleak land. A land once so vibrant with glistening colors and decadent majesty, it entranced her. The food so tantalizing, the colors so luxuriant, the people so friendly, the ocean so forbidden, and its pirate oh-so tempting.

Cali clenched her teeth in an effort to slow her rapid pulse. It was as though her heart wanted her to move faster, to make straight for him. Her reaction to him shouldn’t be a surprise. This garden was where it had all started for her. This was where she first began falling for him.

It had just been a little more sparkly then.

“Out here all alone?” Closing in at her side, Bae stroked her arm with his fingertips.

The touch sent shivers up her spine. Considering the warm night’s humidity curling her hair against her neck, that was saying something.

Bae’s blue eyes gleamed like smoke in the moonlight, and his lips wore the kind of smile that let her know his thoughts weren’t all decent. His gaze lingered on her with something like adoration and the twinkle of mischief only he could spark.

There was something else there, too, though. A wariness she’d seen only once before, on the day he’d taken her sailing and she’d failed to display the magic he had hoped for.

They were under no attack here, but that wary gleam had been resident in his gaze since she’d awoken in his arms a few days ago. Since she’d destroyed the boundary and their world had doubled in size.

Cali suspected the change had something to do with the misgivings tormenting her as well. Two princesses were dead. Soraya refused to leave her room or answer any of Cali’s knocks or messages. Arabella was being contained in the prison cells below the palace for nearly killing Bae during the tournament’s final task.

Undine Daray was an unwelcome resident in the palace itself. Now that the sea witch had lost her magic, she no longer had the ability to appear at will and had nowhere else to go.

But the biggest change of all was taking place inside Cali.