Forgive me, my love.
One step. Two. I lifted my sword.
At least I could give him a quick death.Forgive me.
The trapper appeared behind him, forcing his head down while the guards held his arms, revealing his bare neck.
I swung my greatsword down in one powerful motion.
There was no snow on the bricks to muffle the sound of Alair’s head hitting the ground. Only ice. I did not slip.
The spectators retreated. The king and his guards. Edmund and Alize, if they had been foolish enough to stay. My mother did not touch me, but I knew she lingered nearby. She was all I had left now.
Alair’s clothing lay in a ripped heap, wet from the snow. Atop it was the bow, the one inheritance from his human mother. I had not even noticed him wearing it. He must have been heading out to hunt before… Before.
I forced myself to keep breathing through my nose as I retrieved the bow, even as the putrid scent of the black bile threatened to make me ill. I would remember every detail of this day. Forever.
The fae had stolen from me for the last time. I would have revenge on my father, no matter the cost. I would free my mother—and then leave this cursed continent to the death it deserved.
PART I
PEACE
They seek peace far and wide,
For a hurt they cannot mend.
No longer can they fight the tide.
Forgiveness starts within.
CHAPTER 1
KORYN
“Wake up, sweetling.”
As if it were that simple. My eyes were frozen shut, the tears I’d refused to let fall creating a film of ice that fused my eyelids in place.
I did not want to wake. Not when waking meant facing my reality.
A dark presence curled around the thought. The hairs at the nape of my neck lifted on an unnatural breeze. I was alone. They’d ripped away everyone and everything I’d come to care about.
But that dark presence lingered.
Sight would banish it. I tried—but my eyes were truly frozen shut. I dragged a hand from where it was pinned beneath my stomach, ignoring the tingling as blood began to flow to the limb again.
It hurt, the tiny shards of frozen ice refusing to melt, digging into the sensitive skin around my eyes instead. I kept rubbing. Pain and I were longtime companions. I welcomed the pain. It was the most minute in a thousand degrees of punishment that I deserved. I’d been so foolishly naïve. Four hundred years should have been enough to teach me the true nature of the world.But I’d let myself trust Garrick. I had believed Maura’s offer. I allowed myself to think that I could escape the bargain I’d made to save Kyrelle’s life. I wanted to find my place so desperately that I’d made mistake after mistake.
Now I was a captive. Worse, so was Isanara. I did not care what happened to Garrick.
I forced my eyelids apart before my heart could protest the veracity of that thought.
But even with my eyes open, blinking the world around me into focus,helingered.
I wanted to be alone. Alone was safer. For me and everyone else.
Even if he were a god.
