Mag-log inOn a whim, I try to roll him over, not expecting the iron cage of his arms to so much as shift. But he flips easily with a soft noise of surprise. I pull back, worried.“Apologies.” He smiles ruefully and taps the bandage on his face—on the side I rolled him to. “I think this will take some getting
“Oh.” I glance at Amval. Cirocco waits by his shoulder, clearly about to demand something similar. All the pressures of life suddenly descend back into place. With Kaloni dead, Amval has no rival for the crown. There’s going to be a coronation and then months of cleaning up what happened here. I’m g
Ingrid“The Goddess’ will is often far more complicated than any of us can guess,” Halit says, blood streaked on her cheek from the arrow she took to the shoulder before fleeing the altar.Laughter ripples through the temple. I know, from my second march up here, that the healthy hold up the wounded
And that is his mistake. The heartbeat he wastes on gloating gives me just enough time to slash at his unprotected throat, tearing through fur and old scar tissue.Blood waterfalls onto me, hot and fast. I wriggle out of the way before he crumples. Dead.Or at least it seems so. My halved vision mak
Amval“She will never be ready to marry my brother!” I shout as I storm into the packed temple, a sword lifted high above my head and a trail of allies collected from every corner of the palace behind me.Gasps ripple through the crowd, buoying my name forward. Ingrid turns, her jaw falling slack. T
I suck in a breath through my gritted teeth as Halit intones about the complexities of fate, how perhaps Amval dying was all part of Her cosmic plan for Cirocco and I to end up together. Maybe it was part of Her cosmic plan for me to punch a holy woman in the mouth.No. Joli is counting on me. Light
FinnA few days after Xandra and I talked outside the wall, I dive at Lieutenant Sime with my jaws open wide. He rolls out of the way with a soft grunt, reddish fur just whistling through my teeth.“Good,” General Zdenko says. “Now, push that advantage.”An advantage isn’t one until you push it, Fat
XandraI don’t intend anything when I kiss Finn, other than to steal his words away. They taste like my first sip of sourplum brandy, warm as the covers on a cool night but burning all the way down. Safe and terrifying in a single breath.So I try to swallow them with the ginger-and-moss taste of hi
FinnXandra wakes me in the morning by crawling out of the hollow in the tree to be noisily sick outside. My stomach churns. Empty. And I have no idea what is or isn’t safe to eat in this part of the world.Worse, I don’t know if she was awake enough to realize how badly I responded to her last nigh
But somehow I make it to the top and scramble in through the open window—another superstition.Inside looks more like a barracks than a noble’s bedroom, except for the number of beds. A carpet that clearly used to cover the floor has been rolled up and leans against the wall. The fireplace lays dark







