LOGINFENRIC'S POVI watched Anwen leave the tent, and for several seconds, none of us moved.The others watched her too, all of our gazes following her until she disappeared beyond the canvas flap.My chest felt unbearably heavy as I watched her walk away, trying to hold herself together despite the tremor in her lips and the way her voice had shaken when she said she understood.Brave, yes—but devastated, frightened, and breaking. And somehow, she had still managed to hold herself together.I almost wished she hadn't.I wished she had thrown a fit, screamed at us, cried until she had no tears left, blamed us for allowing this to happen. I wished she had demanded that we do something—anything—to stop it.At least then, she wouldn't have had to keep it all inside.Instead, she had simply accepted it.And somehow, that broke us even more.The thought of another Scion touching her made my blood run cold.Anwen was mine. Ours.We had fought for her when Gadreel tried to take her, protected her
ANWEN'S POVThe words seemed to reach me from very far away.My mind went completely blank for several seconds as I stared at the three kings. They were all watching me, and I could see too many things in their expressions at once.Concern lingered in their eyes, but beneath it was something harder to miss: barely contained fury, and something else that unsettled me because it looked almost like reluctant acceptance.They clearly didn't want this.Yet whatever the High King had ordered, they had no choice but to obey.Finally, I found my voice."Present me?" I asked, my words trembling. "What does that mean?"None of them answered.Instead, Corbin stopped pacing and walked toward us until he stood behind the three kings. For once, there was none of his usual amusement on his face. No smirk, no teasing remark, not even the irritating little smile he always wore whenever he called me pest."The High King wants to inspect the surviving breeders," he said.I frowned. "Inspect?"The seriou
ANWEN'S POVRhydan folded his mighty wings as he dove toward the plateau, the sudden drop making my stomach lurch. I tightened my grip around one of the thick spikes along his back, pressing myself closer against his scales as the wind rushed past us.From this height, I could already see the camp spread across the snow-thinned earth, white patches breaking apart to reveal dark soil beneath. Winter was loosening its grip here, too.At the center of it all stood two figures waiting for us. Even from this height, I recognized them immediately.Brammon stood with his arms crossed, his stance as solid as the mountain itself. Beside him, Fenric lifted a hand and waved in my direction.I couldn't help myself. I lifted one hand from Rhydan's spike and waved back.Fenric's grin widened as he continued waving.Brammon waved, too—but his gesture was unmistakably telling me to stop. I could have sworn I heard him click his tongue in disapproval.After surviving Rhydan—a feat that apparently shou
ANWEN'S POVRhydan thrust inside, and I screamed.There was no gentleness in him now—if he'd shown restraint before, it was utterly gone. He slammed into me with a savagery that should have frightened me, but instead, I reveled in it. The door shook with each powerful stroke, my back pressed hard against the unforgiving wood, and all I could do was hold on, my nails digging crescents into the oak behind me as he drove into me."Yes," I gasped, my head falling forward onto his shoulder, already feeling the promise of his hot release spilling inside me. "Please."He went faster in response, his hips snapping against mine with brutal force. The door rattled in its frame, the sound of wood striking stone echoing through the room. And through the haze of pleasure, I remembered—they were still there. Fenric and Brammon, just on the other side of this thin barrier, listening to every sound, every scream, every slap of skin against skin.The knowledge sent fresh arousal surging through me. I
ANWEN'S POVRhydan's hands gripped my waist, hauling me from the spring with such sudden force that I squealed. My legs wrapped instinctively around his hips, my arms circling his neck as I clung to him.He climbed out of the pool, reached for the cloak I'd discarded earlier, and draped it over my shoulders. The fabric settled around me, covering me.He made no effort to cover himself.For a moment, he simply stood there in the torchlight, water streaming down the hard planes of his body, his arousal evident and unapologetic.He carried me out of the cave, the wind biting at my bare legs where they wrapped around his waist. We rounded the base of the mountain until we reached the entrance to Blackreach.He took the spiral staircase two steps at a time, moving with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. Guards and servants passed us, their expressions barely changing. Perhaps they were used to seeing him like this. Or perhaps they were simply too afraid to stare—or even risk a quick
RHYDAN'S POVI watched her seize, her body convulsing violently it seemed her bones might shatter against me. Her eyes had gone distant, hollow and unfocused, and for one horrible instant, I could no longer see Anwen in them."Anwen." My voice cracked, raw terror shredding my throat. "No!"The word echoed through the cavern, but she didn't hear me. Couldn't hear me. I did this to her.Just as I had done to the others before her. Their bodies had broken beneath the inferno of what I was.I had convinced myself it would be different with Anwen. That I would be different with her. Better.I swore I would control the beast this time, that I would leash the dragon and keep her alive.But I failed.My restraint shattered. Every spark of flame, every ounce of savage need, I had poured into her. And now she was burning from the inside.Now she was dying.I knew all too well what would happen next. I had memorized it in nightmares.The convulsions would give way to stillness, and then the blo
ANWEN'S POVTwenty years later.Monsters rule the world now.They don’t hide in shadows or lurk beneath beds. They sit in councils. They wear crowns. They walk our roads in broad daylight as if the world belongs to them.Because it does.They call themselves the Scions—magic wielders, shifters, and
BRAMMON'S POVI heard him before I saw him.The crack of wings split the air above my labyrinth, sharp enough to shiver through the stone beneath my feet. A heartbeat later came the reckless dive, ending in a heavy thud on the balcony overhead.I already knew—he was in a foul mood.Either Galenor h
ANWEN'S POVI woke with a shiver, pain lancing through my side like fire as darkness pressed in on all sides. For a moment, my mind betrayed me, dragging me back into the cramped, suffocating wagon compartment, the stench of fish and rotting wood clinging to my senses as sharply as ever.Then some
It hurt.A sharp, tearing brilliance bloomed beneath Azara’s skin as though her own light had turned against her.Radiants like her were not meant to bleed, nor to know agony such as this. Pain belonged to mortal flesh, to bone and blood and fragile breath. Not to beings wrought from pure illuminat







