heat of Kael's body. The air in the chamber was quiet, but not emp

was

adn't felt in years-alive and sore, like something inside her had shifted. Not just her fle

ered, watching f

y did n

thoughts were already tangled in t

ught-but the wo

as afraid of her. Of what she made

o one stopped her. The halls were empty, the torches unlit.

hern battlements, where t

llowing in the wind, golde

h after," Amara s

"I didn't trust

d n

ng p

ill d

but she didn't flinch. "You don't get to retreat ev

ou touched something in me no one

thing that fee

gaze fierce. "The pa

"I didn't want to hurt you. I didn'

ra said. "An

her, words caught in t

d answer, a bell tol

n

ic

e ti

. "That's the

does i

t means someone breac

ed to ice. "A

dy moving. "Either way, they'll

ep, his stride quick and purposeful. The shadows flinch

more-low and resonant, like a

elt before a scrying basin. The water inside shimmered li

yes pale as frost. "At the edge of

sion darkened

"Black with red si

breath

rn

ther. She hadn't seen him since the massacre

e said, heart pounding. "They

gaze narrowing. "They shouldn'

asin. One of the riders dismo

struck her

ne," she

the route. The one with the

her sharply.

him to ge

urned. "Then

way he'd said 'No one ever comes back'-it wasn't a wa

sh what Raven

o find som

e image

d into the light of t

at the

e grabbed the edge of the

ali

a breath, a p

They're using her. To draw

as no longe

ld see was

Pale.

she said, voi

clenched. "

n't c

could

eady did. Seven years ago.

" Kael said, cutting

n to kill. The monster who haunted her nig

oing this

ce was low. "

e basin, where the f

e said. "Let's give

-