ログインOn 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
I won. Sahin has always been a pushover, if you know how to talk to him, and Iltas’s mother threw herself on me, weeping.For now, I push that thought away and keep searching. The curtains in the carriage are stained but whole, and one of the benches is stll clean. I wrench it out and toss it in a p
Once one has made a choice, it can’t be unmade. I grab either side of the split fabric and pull, baring her chest completely. She opens her mouth to object, but I press my lips to the newly visible skin, and her complaint turns into a moan. I concur. The taste of Ingrid’s bare skin almost overwhelms
And it still may be the pleasantest drive I’ve ever taken, despite the hard bench and the jostling of these back roads. On the second day, everyone takes to the same carriages instinctively, the window slides open, and the careful balancing act of how much I miss them and how much I need to protect
Ingrid“I still don’t understand,” Joli says as we disembark in Kubilay.I follow her gaze to Amval, who is unloading bags from one of the carriages. “I told you, I didn’t trust the other groom. There is someone missing from the stables, and we don’t know how that’s related.”Joli shrugs. I bite my







