Mag-log inJace"I... I missed you, Sir Jace."The Sir Jace came out of her mouth the same way it had come out of her mouth at ten — small, careful, both words given equal weight, the way someone says a phrase they've practiced privately because they wanted to get it right. The voice on top was the new voice, the voice of a woman who knew what she was doing in a hotel room. Underneath was the other one. They were both in there at the same time and the sound of the two of them sitting in one mouth was something I was going to have to deal with later.I said it back to her. I said it because I wanted to hear it in my own mouth in the same room as hers."Sir Jace.""Yes."I let her chin go. I had to. My hand was about to do something else and I needed a second.I turned and walked three steps away from her, toward the table with the fruit on it, picked up an apple, put it back down. I rolled my shoulders out. The lodge had a smell that wasn't quite right — not bad, the right kind of cleaning soap,
JaceShe was picking at her fingers, working the knuckles hard enough I thought the skin was going to split, and she hadn't looked at me once since we'd come through the door.I'd put the keys on the side table and shrugged my coat off and watched her for the better part of a minute before I bothered to speak. She was standing about a foot from where I'd left her, in the middle of the long pale rug, in a soft green dress that had been chosen with more care than the rest of her morning had earned. The hem ended high on her calf. The sleeves came almost to her wrist. It was the kind of dress a girl puts on when she's trying to telegraph she didn't think about it, and she'd thought about it for a week. The light was coming through the back wall of windows in a flat northern way that put no shadows anywhere on her face, and she had her shoulders pulled up high enough that I could see the muscle running tight from her neck into her collarbones."Is that so?" I said, because she'd told me s
Sera“What? What are you apologizing for?”Mina backed away. Her boots scuffed against the rug. I watched her swallow, her throat working hard under the pale skin of her neck. She started shaking her head. It was a rhythmic, frantic motion. None of this made any sense to her. She came low again, crouching so our eyes were level, and she let out a nervous, jagged laugh that died the second it hit the air.“You’re hallucinating, Sera.” Mina’s voice was a forced whisper. She shook her head again, slower this time. “Elder Kael is not dead. I saw him. He was at the main halls today. He walked past the kitchens. He complained about the stew. What do you mean he’s dead?”I swallowed. My mouth tasted of iron and salt. My heart pounded against my ribs, a heavy, dull vibration that I could experience in the tips of my fingers. Dread sat at the bottom of my stomach like a cold stone. I shook my head, my jaw tight.“He is dead, Mina. I was there.”Mina scoffed. She moved closer, her eyes darting
Ten Years AgoJace"Stop pulling at your hem, Mina. You’re going to tear the stitches out, and your mother is already going to have a fit when she sees you’re missing a shoe."I didn’t look back at her while I walked. I kept my eyes on the stretch of road ahead, my boots crunching over the frozen grit of the market lane. I could hear her behind me—that uneven, skip-hop-dragging sound she made because one foot was bare and the other was still in a silk slipper. She sounded small. Pathetic, even. I had a heavy iron bar gripped in my right hand, the weight of it making my shoulder ache, and the front of my tunic was still warm and wet from where the dog’s blood had sprayed me."I lost the shoe," she whispered. Her voice was thin, vibrating with that leftover tremor from the crying. "She begged Alpha for months for those. She worked extra shifts in the infirmary. She’s going to be worried sick."I stopped. I didn’t turn around immediately. I just stood there, breathing in the cold air, tr
MinaI took the back stairs. The stone was damp, the air smelling of old earth and the wet moss that grew in the crevices where the sunlight never reached. I moved fast, my boots making a dull clack-clack-clack against the masonry. I bypassed the main courtyards, weaving through the narrow servant tunnels that ran like veins through the keep's lower levels.I reached the small iron door near the laundry chutes and slipped outside.The air was sharp. It bit at my face, the freezing mountain wind cutting through my tunic. I stayed in the shadows of the outer wall, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I pulled the phone from my pocket. My thumb hovered over the glass.I hit the contact.It rang once. Twice."Hey," he said.The sound of his voice hit me like a physical blow to the stomach. It wasn't the boy from the border market. It was a man. The rasp was heavier now, a slow, textured rumble that I felt in the soles of my feet."Jace," I whispered. My throat felt like it
Mina"You're taking the whole slab of cured venison, Mina? The head cook is going to have your head if the count is short for the midday stew."Marta was standing by the large wooden prep table, her arms dusted in flour up to her elbows. She didn't stop kneading the dough, but her eyes were pinned to my hands. I was currently shoving three large links of sausage and a heavy wedge of sharp yellow cheese into a piece of greased parchment."Marta, I haven't eaten since yesterday. I’m starving," I said. My voice came out too fast. I didn't stop packing. I reached for a handful of dried apples, my fingers fumbling with the wooden bowl."Starving? You ate enough for three men at the feast last night. I saw you with that flagon of ale. You were practically wearing it." Marta stopped kneading. She wiped a smudge of flour from her nose with the back of her hand. "Who are you taking all that to? Is there a guard you’ve finally decided to feed? Or is it for the Luna?"I gripped the edge of the t
Sera“What just happened?”"Forced healing takes fuel," Yvara explained. She paced in front of me. "It pulls energy directly from your reserves. It burns calories at a massive rate. In a battle of attrition, this will keep you alive, but it will also kill you if you aren't careful. You just got the
SeraNight fell fast, and with it, the temperature plummeted. We had three fires going, but the heat didn't seem to travel more than six inches past the flames. I sat on a log by the middle fire, pulling the wagon fur around my shoulders, shivering so hard my teeth were literally clicking together.
LyraShe ignored me. She dropped to her knees, her hands sliding down to the waistband of my trousers. She shoved her fingers inside the fabric, gripping my hips tight. With one sharp pull, she dragged the pants and my underwear down to my ankles. I stepped out of them, kicking my boots off in the
Lyra"Tell the girl to step into the room," he said."Leave her out of this," I said. My voice came out as a pathetic, raspy whisper. I cleared my throat, trying to find some spine. "She didn't do anything. It was my idea to come in here.""Tell her to step into the room," he said, his eyes going d







