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
“What’s your goal here?” I hiss. “With your fancy little outfit, your hair styled, and your confession? What do you want from me?”“I missed you,” he says frankly.There it is again—something in the mouth and eyebrows that doesn’t match the prince I met that night. Something more like the man I keep
IngridWhen I wake up the next morning to a note from Amval already sitting on my windowsill, my mark hums the song we danced to last night. I barely feel tired, even though I know we stayed up late. I hum to myself as I open it.Has Corwyn been visiting Yakup?I shake my head and fold the note back
I hate these fucking games.Finally, without us ever diving deeper into a subject than the very top layer, the final course arrives. Flaky pastry layered thick with chocolate, cut into neat squares.Kaloni offers me one. “What about you?”“What about me?”“When you realized your mate was a crown pri
The hug she gave me when I told her she never had to ask made me feel a little like an actual big sister.So I’ve earned at least this much. I let my eyes flutter shut as she reads.***Someone is shaking me. I lurch up, and my head screams—but slightly quieter than before. Joli pulls her hand back,







