Not kill Tiana. Not kill the people Tatiana protected.
Kill. All. The secrets.
Including the ones Amarantha herself is keeping.
And she just handed me the weapon I’ve been waiting for.
Because she couldn’t be bothered to think through her own words. Because she’s so certain of her power that she never imagined her sword might cut both ways.
I keep my face blank. My thoughts buried. My satisfaction locked so deep she’ll never taste it.
I am the blade she sharpened against herself.
And she has no idea.
“Will that be all?” I bow, hoping like hell she sends me back. Back to Ash. Back to Orion. Back to the forest and the tavern and the people who kissed me goodbye like I mattered.
“Of course.” She waves a dismissive hand, already turning back to Davis, already forgetting me. “That will be all.”
The court dissolves around me.
I expect the forest. Expect Ash’s face, Orion’s hand on my neck, Kieran’s quiet solidarity.
Instead, I hit dirt beside a campfire.
In the Dark Forest.
Alone.
“Why are you here?”
I lift my head.
Tiana stares at me from across the flames. Jerky halfway to her mouth. Her eyes narrow with suspicion, with threat, with the particular wariness of a woman who has survived by trusting no one.
Kill all the secrets.
Amarantha’s secrets. The court’s secrets. Tatiana’s hidden heir sitting across a campfire with jerky halfway to her mouth.
I’ve spent my life learning to survive impossible situations.
Here’s another one.
“It’s a long story,” I tell Tiana. “And I’m going to need you to not kill me while I explain it.”
Her eyes narrow.
Fair enough.
34
Ash
I can’t breathe.
That’s not metaphor. My lungs have forgotten how to work. Every inhale catches on something sharp in my chest. Fear, rage, the bond to Finnian that’s gone quiet in a way that makes me want to claw through realms to find him.
“I hate this.” The words have worn grooves in my throat by now. “He’s withher. With that?—”
