A Game of Malice and Greed

A GAME OF MALICE AND GREED CAROLINE PECKHAM SUSANNE VALENTI A Game of Malice and Greed A Game of Malice and Greed #1 Copyright © 2023 Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti Interior Formatting by Wild Elegance Formatting Interior Art by Stella Colorado All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. A Game of Malice and Greed/Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti – 1st ed. ISBN-13 - 978-1-914425-71-4 CONTENTS Preface 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 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Author Note Bonus Chapters Preorder Edition Bonus Chapters from Zodiac Academy Darius Bonus Chapter Also by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti This book is dedicated to all the readers who were raised on fairy tales and now need their stories to be just as magical, but with heart-pounding spice thrown in too. And if you’ve ever imagined a world where Aladdin was a dark hearted anti-hero covered in tattoos, the princess was a badass warrior, and the genie was a beautiful Fae forced to obey her master, then this one was made for you. Welcome to Osaria… A thousand years ago the Fae fell from the grace of the gods with a single lie. In that moment, a prophecy was spoken into the world with their only hope cast upon its wings. A glint of gold waiting in the gloom, A deadly garden, a sunken tomb. When a soldier glimpses beyond the veil, And a thief is tempted by a forgotten trail. A man of sin, and man of steel, Shall form a fragile, fate-bound deal. But temptation may lead men astray, While Herdat stirs among the Fallen Fae. Her dark servant shall gain eternal power, If the dead man wakes within the final hour. For the Prophet lingers in the deep, Waiting for his chance to reap. A vessel soaked in ink and blood, Shall face the hands of hungry gods. But all fates do not lie with men, For there is a power far greater than them. A princess with an arrow sharp as diamond flies, While a city watches as a beast of fury dies. And a Fae who never fell will shine, With a magic older than the dawn of time. All fates will twist and coil as one, Before the curse shall be undone. And a warrior born of sin shall rise, When the shell gleams, and they punish our lies. PROLOGUE TWENTY SIX YEARS AGO I heaved myself up the sharp rocks lining this side of the mountain, my skin splitting and blood spilling while the dark clouds closed in around me and my grey hair was tossed into my face by a foul-smelling wind. Even the weather was working against me here, out on the farthest reaches of the Greymorian Pass, the very edge of the world as we knew it, trying to keep me from the lost gods and their hiding places. But I’d been on this trail for months now, and I was certain I’d tracked one of them down at last. And not just any god. Herdat, the goddess of death and destruction, of vengeance and bloodshed. The very one I’d been seeking for so, so long. The cold bit into my old and weathered bones, the gnarled knuckles of my fingers crying out in pain as I continued to grasp the rocks above me and climb ever higher up the sheer rock face in this unholy place at the edge of the world. Nothing thrived here, not even birds sung in this barren place, and it was certainly no paradise fit for a goddess, more like a graveyard just waiting to claim another corpse. And perhaps that was what I was. My body was certainly closing in on the end of its days. But despite my age and ill health, I refused to give in to the call of death because I was still waiting to live. To truly serve in the name of the lost gods I’d spent my life worshipping. I cursed as the rocks cracked and shattered shards tumbled away beneath my feet, black stone cascading down into the chasm below and promising me a swift and brutal death if I fell. But I wouldn’t fall. I’d come too far to falter now. Fifty years living within the veil as a Priestess of the Lost. I’d suffered in my dedication to the gods who had long since abandoned us, hoping that they would see my devotion and reward it. But they hadn’t. And I’d grown tired of waiting for them to come to me and offer me what I desired, so now it was time for me to claim it for myself. I reached up once more and my fingers grasped smooth stone instead of sharp rock at last, a breath of relief escaping my lips as I heaved myself up before falling to my knees on the stone ledge at the tip of the world. I lifted my head as I gazed into the mouth of the dark cavern before me, the stench of death and blood within it enough to make me hope that I truly had found her at last. “Herdat!” I called, my limbs trembling with fatigue as I forced myself to my feet once more. It had been a week since I’d last eaten and the only water I’d consumed had