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
FinnI sit on the edge of a thin straw mattress in a tiny room, one of many honeycombing what was once a playhouse. Crooked nails jut from equally thin walls, clearly constructed as quickly as possible when the townsfolk discovered they were going to be hosting their new queen and a not insignifican
FinnCorwyn spits me out at the feet of the team of guards, all in Tansy Beach indigo, who helped him subdue me. My arm burns, but it’s nowhere near as bad as my mark, which feels like it’s sinking white-hot claws into my heart. I have to go back. Xandra needs me.A shift tingles in the back of my m
“If you don’t know what you’re saying, I’d rather just leave.” I either need to lie down or walk to clear the remains of the fuzz from my head. The thick smell of herbs in here is pleasanter than the cellar, but fresh air is what I need.“Fine, then you get the shitty version.” He sits up, resting h
XandraThe only still points in the room are Finn’s ice-blue eyes, wavering with an indecision that threatens to gut me.Twins. The only explanation for why this pregnancy has already been so hard on me, an explanation so obvious I should have seen it coming. Corwyn’s mother was Father’s twin. They







