LOGINOn 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
My leg aches, a throbbing reminder of exactly what yesterday entailed. “Kieran said you were all confident Moonlight Hollow wouldn’t try something that far over the border any time soon.”“We were.” She has one leg of her pants up and wobbles as she tries to hop into the other.Instinct fires before
“You mean how am I going to hide it?”I shake my head.She exhales sharply, loose hair swinging. “You know magic, then? Or you’re an apothecary? Anything I can actually use?”I yank on the binding, pulling it so tight she hisses. “I’m the fucking father, and we can’t just waltz out of here without a
FinnA couple of days, Kieran said when we left. We’ll be in Tansy Beach for a couple of days, maybe a week. Enough to get the soldiers settled, to make sure they actually tried peace like they promised, to be certain they have the military capabilities to not simply get our people killed. When I wa
My stomach drops. Duels have been illegal in Tansy Beach for nearly a century now, based on the first declaration of King Pavao—my grandfather. Corwyn would have known that, but Finn wouldn’t have.Discussion ripples through the dining hall. Father’s gaze flashing across the assembled crowd is calcu







