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
XandraLieutenant Hana grabs one end of the rope binding Finn and I together, yanks, and the whole tie comes undone in a heartbeat. But even as Vedran’s glamor shimmers into nothingness, as the other boats appear on either side of us, I can still feel the scrape of that sailing rope on my skin. Unde
I take a deep breath. “And I will help you, however I can.”A smile lights up her face in a way that makes everything else worth it. I lower her onto the bed and claim her mouth.Xandra arches up into me, the growing swell of her stomach pressing between us. I groan. She needs to be carefu—Her word
Finn“What?” Luna Maris struggles up onto her elbow, sleep clouding her eyes and strands of her hair stuck to her cheek.“Denidor, Mother,” Xandra says urgently. “And Corwyn. They are working against the entire kingdom to not only create this war but drag it out as long as possible.”I stand by the
There it is. I’m sure Xandra is right—a full search would turn up enough to prove what Denidor is doing. The bark is an old method, but it wasn’t that difficult to figure out. And Luna Maris doesn’t have the guts to take that risk.“But—”I step forward and put a hand on Xandra’s shoulder. “We all n







