‘We’ll escort you safely back, sir,’ the Sacred woman said to Arawn. ‘Eyes in the sky.’
Kinlear spun and walked off into the woods, the sound of his cane crunching against the snow. The other two Knights bid Arawn goodbye and fell into place behind Kinlear.
‘An interesting character, your brother,’ Ezer said, for Arawn was still at her side, watching Kinlear walk away.
‘Yes,’ Arawn said curtly. ‘As talented an Eagleminder as I’ve ever met, despite his … edges. But I suppose that’s the best way one can stand out, when you’re never to rule.’
Ezer glanced up at him. ‘Why wouldn’t he rule?’
Arawn sheathed his blade. ‘Because. He was born seconds after me. By Sacred law, he’s not permitted to wear the crown.’
She sucked in a breath.
‘Ezer.’
Her ears pricked up at the sound of the whisper as the wind skirted past her ears.
But there was no wolf that appeared, no danger in sight.
There was only Kinlear’s cloak as he walked away, softly glowing with gold runes as the wind tugged it from his hip. Enough to reveal the weapon sheathed there.
Ezer gasped.
Suddenly, she wasn’thereanymore, standing in the frigid north.
In her mind, she was back in her tower in Rendegard, curled in her cot and her chains as a sliver of moonlight kissed her scars.
BecauseKinlear, Eagleminder and second-born Prince of Lordach …
Hemust be the faceless man she had seen, every night in her sleep for the past two years.
And it was his weapon that she recognized.
His dagger, with its carved bone hilt, that killed her in those dreams.
Arawn led her and the few remaining survivors up the steep, snowy path north.
Walk,she told herself,the way Ervos once did.
She imagined his enormous body summiting this very path.
She was so close to resting. To warmth and a place to lay her head, for she didn’t give a damn anymore if it was in a soldier’s barracks or a seaside cell. She just wanted to sleep and slide back into her dreams.
To see the face of Kinlear Laroux and try to discover when – and why – he would kill her.
You’ll warn me,she thought to the wind.Won’t you?
It had never failed her before.
She almost wept at the sight of the two enormous black towers up ahead.
They were colossal twin onyx formations that sprouted right out of the forest floor. Runes glowed a soft gold upon every stacked stone: giant, curling script that was so otherworldly Ezer had to pause to take it all in.
It wasn’t just the stones. That rich, golden sheen emanated from the top of each tower and spanned outwards into the sky … a dome of golden light that coveredallof Augaurde.
The wards.
‘The Forest Gates,’ Arawn said, noting her stare. ‘There are six Gates surrounding the north, each one gifted by the gods on a Realmbreak long ago. This pair marks the southern entrance to Augaurde … theonlyspace in the north that is safe by nightfall.’
