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
AmvalI stand in front of Ingrid, my hands clasped in front of me because I’ve learned that, combined with the longer sleeves I told Nur I needed for religious reasons, is the best way to hide the occasional gestures I need to stir the wind around us. Only meeting her outside or by the high, arched
***“Come on,” Tek wheedles. “You said you would come out next time.”I rub the top of my veil, since I can’t run my hand through my hair. Yet another thing to get used to. My legs ache after an energetic, but ultimately useless, lunch with Ingrid where we tried to find anyone who remembered my last
I glance at her, but her back is still to me. She hasn’t said anything about how she feels about me, has only even called me her mate once. Another throb of instinct, like the one that nearly led me into my own memorial chamber, begs me to ask about it.But that would be beyond cruel. Lying to her l
Amval“In this life,” Halit intones with her hands raised, “pleasure and pain so often go hand in hand.”My foot slips, and I have to throw my hands out for a gust of wind to catch it before I topple off the side of the temple. No one looks up. Why would they? Most of the palace has been in the temp







