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
AmvalAfter days and days of loneliness, pacing the confines of this mine and trying to convince myself the chart I scratched on the ground is nonsense again, someone finally speaks to me.“Amval?” Cirocco says through the mind-link.I leap to my feet. “Where are you?”“At the edge of the range,” he
“Yes. I spent the Festival of First Wind with you.”“I know that.” She waves my explanation aside frustratedly, and I realize she’s not dressed for dinner yet. “Ingrid sent me.”And my stomach drops again, fear and relief commingling in dizzying portions. “Why?”Joli looks around. “I…I don’t know if
AmvalWith my sister’s hand in mine, betrayal ringing in my ears, I scoot away from the crack in the floor. I don’t want to keep watching. Seeing Cirocco smooth out his expression into pleasantness and Ingrid struggling to do the same as they went to his room was enough for me.I want to go back to
In a valley between hills, the entrance to an old mine yawns. Joli darts inside, shifts, and shimmies into a set of clothes waiting for her at the mouth. As I shift and throw on some clothes from my bag, she lights a lantern hanging on the wall.“At this stage, I figure you have more to hide than I







