do.
PART ONE
The Fire-Bringer
CHAPTER 1
Elide Lochan’s breath scorched her throat with every gasping inhale as she limped up the steep forest hill.
Beneath the soggy leaves coating Oakwald’s floor, loose gray stones made the slope treacherous, the towering oaks stretching too high above for her to grip any branches should she tumble down. Braving the potential fall in favor of speed, Elide scrambled over the lip of the craggy summit, her leg twanging with pain as she slumped to her knees.
Forested hills rolled away in every direction, the trees like the bars of a never-ending cage.
Weeks. It had been weeks since Manon Blackbeak and the Thirteen had left her in this forest, the Wing Leader ordering her to head north. To find her lost queen, now grown and mighty—and to also find Celaena Sardothien, whoever she was, so that Elide might repay the life debt she owed to Kaltain Rompier.
Even weeks later, her dreams were plagued by those final moments in Morath: the guards who had tried to drag her to be implanted with Valg offspring, the Wing Leader’s complete massacre of them, and Kaltain Rompier’s final act—carving the strange, dark stone from where it had been sewn into her arm and ordering Elide to take it to Celaena Sardothien.
Right before Kaltain turned Morath into a smoldering ruin.
Elide put a dirty, near-trembling hand to the hard lump tucked in the breast pocket of the flying leathers she still wore. She could have sworn a faint throbbing echoed into her skin, a counterbeat to her own racing heart.
Elide shuddered in the watery sunlight trickling through the green canopy. Summer lay heavy over the world, the heat now oppressive enough that water had become her most precious commodity.
It had been from the start—but now her entire day, her life, revolved around it.
Fortunately, Oakwald was rife with streams after the last of the melted mountain snows had snaked from their peaks. Unfortunately, Elide had learned the hard way about what water to drink.
Three days, she’d been near death with vomiting and fever after gulping down that stagnant pond water. Three days, she’d shivered so badly she thought her bones would crack apart. Three days, quietly weeping in pitiful despair that she’d die here, alone in this endless forest, and no one would ever know.
And through it all, that stone in her breast pocket thrummed and throbbed. In her fevered dreams, she could have sworn it whispered to her, sang lullabies in languages that she did not think human tongues could utter.
She hadn’t heard it since, but she still wondered. Wondered if most humans would have died.
Wondered whether she carried a gift or a curse northward. And if this Celaena Sardothien would know what to do with it.
Tell her that you can open any door, if you have the key, Kaltain had said. Elide often studied the iridescent black stone whenever she halted for a needed break. It certainly didn’t look like a key: rough-hewn, as if it had been cleaved from a larger chunk of stone. Perhaps Kaltain’s words were a riddle meant only for its recipient.
Elide unslung her too-light pack from her shoulders and yanked open the canvas flap. She’d run out of food a week ago and had taken to scavenging for berries. They were all foreign, but a whisper of a memory from her years with her nursemaid, Finnula, had warned her to rub them on her wrist first—to see if they raised any reaction.
Most of the time, too much of the time, they did.
But every now and then she’d stumble across a bush sagging with the right ones, and she’d gorge herself before filling her pack. Fishing inside the pink-and-blue-stained canvas interior, Elide dug out the last handful, wrapped in her spare shirt, the white fabric now a splotchy red and purple.
One handful—to last until she found her next meal.
Hunger gnawed at her, but Elide ate only half. Maybe she’d find more before she stopped for the night.
She didn’t know how to hunt—and the thought of catching another living thing, of snapping its neck or bashing in its skull with a rock … She was not yet that desperate.
Perhaps it made her not a Blackbeak after all, despite her mother’s hidden bloodline.
Elide licked her fingers clean of the berry juice, dirt and all, and hissed as she stood on stiff, sore legs. She wouldn’t last long without food but couldn’t risk venturing into a village with the money Manon had given her, or toward any of the hunters’ fires she’d spotted these past few weeks.
No—she had seen enough of the kindness and mercy of men. She would never forget how those guards had leered at her naked body, why her uncle had sold her to Duke Perrington.
Wincing, Elide swung her pack over her shoulders and carefully set off down the hill’s far slope, picking her way among the rocks and roots.
Maybe she’d made a wrong turn. How would she know when she’d crossed Terrasen’s border, anyway?
And how would she ever find her queen—her court?
Elide shoved the thoughts away, keeping to the murky shadows and avoiding the splotches of sunlight. It’d only make her thirstier, hotter.
Find water, perhaps more important than finding berries, before darkness set in.
She reached the foot of the hill, suppressing a groan at the labyrinth of wood and stone.
It seemed she now stood in a dried streambed wending between the hills. It curved sharply ahead—northward. A sigh rattled out of her. Thank Anneith. At least the Lady of Wise Things had not abandoned her yet.
She’d follow the streambed for as long as possible, staying northward, and then—
Elide didn’t know what sense, exactly, picked up on it. Not smell or sight or sound, for nothing beyond the rot of the loam and the sunlight and stones and the whispering of the high-above leaves was out of the ordinary.
But—there. Like some thread in a great tapestry had snagged, her body locked up.
The humming and rustling of the forest went quiet a heartbeat later.
Elide scanned the hills, the streambed. The roots of an oak atop the nearest hill jutted from the slope’s grassy side, providing a thatch of wood and moss over the dead stream. Perfect.
She limped for it, ruined leg barking, stones clattering and wrenching at her ankles. She could nearly touch the tips of the roots when the first hollowed-out boom echoed.
Not thunder. No, she would never forget this one particular sound—for it, too, haunted her dreams both awake and asleep.
The beating of mighty, leathery wings. Wyverns.
And perhaps more deadly: the Ironteeth witches who rode them, senses as sharp and fine-tuned as their mounts’.
Elide lunged for the overhang of thick roots as the wing beats neared, the forest silent as a graveyard. Stones and sticks ripped at her bare hands, her knees banging on the rocky dirt as she pressed herself into the hillside and peered at the canopy through the latticework of roots.
One beat—then another not even a heartbeat after. Synced enough that anyone in the forest might think it was only an echo, but Elide knew: two witches.
She’d picked up enough in her time in Morath to know the Ironteeth were under orders to keep their numbers hidden. They’d fly in perfect, mirrored formation, so listening ears might only report one wyvern.
But these two, whoever they were, were sloppy. Or as sloppy as one of the immortal, lethal witches could be. Lower-level coven members, perhaps. Out on a scouting mission.
Or hunting for someone, a small, petrified voice whispered in her head.
Elide pressed harder into the soil, roots digging into her back as she monitored the canopy.
And there. The blur of a swift-moving, massive shape gliding right above the canopy, rattling the leaves. A leathery, membranous wing, its edge tipped in a curved, poison-slick talon, flashed in the sunlight.
Rarely—so rarely—were they ever out in daylight. Whatever they hunted—it had to be important.
Elide didn’t dare breathe too loudly until those wing beats faded, sailing due north.
Toward the Ferian Gap—where Manon had mentioned the second half of the host was camped.
Elide only moved when the forest’s buzzing and chittering resumed. Staying still for so long had caused her muscles to cramp, and she groaned as she stretched out her legs, then her arms, then rolled her shoulders.
Endless—this journey was endless. She’d give anything for a safe roof over her head. And a hot meal. Maybe seeking them out, if only for a night, was worth the risk.
Picking her way along the bone-dry streambed, Elide made it two steps before that sense-that-was-not-a-sense twanged again, as if a warm, female hand had gripped her shoulder to stop.
The tangled wood murmured with life. But she could feel it—feel something out there.
Not witches or wyverns or beasts. But someone—someone was watching her.
Someone was following her.
Elide casually unsheathed the fighting knife Manon had given her upon leaving this miserable forest.
She wished the witch had taught her how to kill.
Lorcan Salvaterre had been running from those gods-damned beasts for two days now.
He didn’t blame them. The witches had been pissed when he’d snuck into their forest camp in the dead of night, slaughtered three of their sentinels without them or their mounts noticing, and dragged a fourth into the trees for questioning.
It had taken him two hours to get the Yellowlegs witch to break, hidden so deep down the throat of a cave that even her screams had been contained. Two hours, and then she was singing for him.
Twin witch armies now stood poised to take the continent: one in Morath, one in the Ferian Gap. The Yellowlegs knew nothing of what power Duke Perrington wielded—knew nothing of what Lorcan hunted: the other two Wyrdkeys, the siblings to the one he wore on a long chain around his neck. Three slivers of stone cleaved from an unholy Wyrdgate, each key capable of tremendous and terrible power. And when all three Wyrdkeys were united … they could open that gate between worlds. Destroy those worlds—or summon their armies. And far, far worse.
Lorcan had granted the witch the gift of a swift death.
Her sisters had been hunting him since.
Crouched in a thicket tucked into the side of a steep slope, Lorcan watched the girl ease from the roots. He’d been hiding here first, listening to the clamor of her clumsy approach, and had watched her stumble and limp when she finally heard what swept toward them.
She was delicately built, small enough that he might have thought her barely past her first bleed were it not for the full breasts beneath her close-fitting leathers.
Those clothes had snared his interest immediately. The Yellowlegs had been wearing similar ones—all the witches had. Yet this girl was human.
And when she turned in his direction, those dark eyes scanned the forest with an assessment that was too old, too practiced, to belong to a child. At least eighteen—maybe older. Her pale face was dirty, gaunt. She’d likely been out here for a while, struggling to find food. And the knife she palmed shook enough to suggest she likely had no idea what to do with it.
Lorcan remained hidden, watching her scan the hills, the stream, the canopy.
She knew he was out there, somehow.
Interesting. When he wanted to stay hidden, few could find him.
Every muscle in her body was tense—but she finished scanning the gully, forcing a soft breath through her pursed lips, and continued on. Away from him.
Each step was limping; she’d likely hurt herself crashing through the trees.
The length of her braid snapped against her pack, her silky hair dark like his own. Darker. Black as a starless night.
The wind shifted, blowing her scent toward him, and Lorcan breathed it in, allowing his Fae senses—the senses he’d inherited from his prick of a father—to assess, analyze, as they had done for over five centuries.
Human. Definitely human, but—
He knew that scent.
During the past few months, he’d slaughtered many, many creatures who bore its reek.
Well, wasn’t this convenient. Perhaps a gift from the gods: someone useful to interrogate. But later—once he had a chance to study her. Learn her weaknesses.
Lorcan eased from the thicket, not even a twig rustling at his passing.
The demon-possessed girl limped up the streambed, that useless knife still out, her grip on its hilt wholly ineffective. Good.
And so Lorcan began his hunt.
CHAPTER 2
The patter of rain trickling through the leaves and low-lying mists of Oakwald Forest nearly drowned out the gurgle of the swollen stream cutting between the bumps and hollows.
Crouched beside the brook, empty skins forgotten on the mossy bank, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius extended a scarred hand over the rushing water and let the song of the early-morning storm wash over her.
The groaning of breaking thunderheads and the sear of answering lightning had been a violent, frenzied beat since the hour before dawn—now spreading farther apart, calming their fury, as Aelin soothed her own burning core of magic.
She breathed in the chill mists and fresh rain, dragging them deep into her lungs. Her magic guttered in answer, as if yawning good morning and tumbling back to sleep.
Indeed, around the camp just within view, her companions still slept, protected from the storm by an invisible shield of Rowan’s making, and warmed from the northern chill that persisted even in the height of summer by a merry ruby flame that she’d kept burning all night. It was the flame that had been the difficult thing to work around—how to keep it crackling while also summoning the small gift of water her mother had given her.
Aelin flexed her fingers over the stream.
Across the brook, atop a mossy boulder tucked into the arms of a gnarled oak, a pair of tiny bone-white fingers flexed and cracked, a mirror to her own movements.
Aelin smiled and said so quietly it was barely audible over the stream and rain, If you have any pointers, friend, I’d love to hear them.
The spindly fingers darted back over the crest of the rock—which, like so many in these woods, had been carved with symbols and whorls.
The Little Folk had been tracking them since they crossed the border into Terrasen. Escorting, Aedion had insisted whenever they spotted large, depthless eyes blinking from a tangle of brambles or peering through a cluster of leaves atop one of Oakwald’s famed trees. They hadn’t come close enough for Aelin to even get a solid look at them.
But they’d left small gifts just outside the border of Rowan’s nightly shields, somehow deposited without alerting whichever of them was on watch.
One morning, it had been a crown of forest violets. Aelin had given it to Evangeline, who had worn the crown on her red-gold head until it fell apart. The next morning, two crowns waited: one for Aelin, and a smaller one for the scarred girl. Another day, the Little Folk left a replica of Rowan’s hawk form, crafted from gathered sparrow feathers, acorns, and beetle husks. Her Fae Prince had smiled a bit when he’d found it—and carried it in his saddlebag since.
Aelin herself smiled at the memory. Though knowing the Little Folk were following their every step, listening and watching, had made things … difficult. Not in any real way that mattered, but slipping off into the trees with Rowan was certainly less romantic knowing they had an audience. Especially whenever Aedion and Lysandra got so sick of their silent, heated glances that the two made up flimsy excuses to get Aelin and Rowan out of sight and scent for a while: the lady had dropped her nonexistent handkerchief on the nonexistent path far behind; they needed more logs for a fire that did not require wood to burn.
And as for her current audience…
Aelin splayed her fingers over the stream, letting her heart become as still as a sun-warmed forest pool, letting her mind shake free of its normal boundaries.
A ribbon of water fluttered up from the stream, gray and clear, and she wended it through her spread fingers as if she were threading a loom.
She tilted her wrist, admiring the way she could see her skin through the water, letting it slip down her hand and curl about her wrist. She said to the faerie watching from the other side of the boulder, Not much to report to your companions, is it?
Soggy leaves crunched behind her, and Aelin knew it was only because Rowan wanted her to hear his approach. Careful, or they’ll leave something wet and cold in your bedroll next time.
Aelin made herself release the water into the stream before she looked over a shoulder. Do you think they take requests? Because I’d hand over my kingdom for a hot bath right about now.
Rowan’s eyes danced as she eased to her feet. She lowered the shield she’d put around herself to keep dry—the steam off the invisible flame blending with the mist around them. The Fae Prince lifted a brow. Should I be concerned that you’re so chatty this early in the morning?
She rolled her eyes and turned toward the rock where the faerie had been monitoring her shoddy attempts to master water. But only rain-slick leaves and snaking mist remained.
Strong hands slid over her waist, tugging her into his warmth, as Rowan’s lips grazed her neck, right under her ear.
Aelin arched back into him while his mouth roved across her throat, heating mist-chilled skin. Good morning to you,
she breathed.
Rowan’s responding grumble set her toes curling.
They hadn’t dared stop at an inn, even after crossing into Terrasen three days ago, not when there were still so many enemy eyes fixed on the roads and taprooms. Not when there were still streaming lines of Adarlanian soldiers finally marching out of her gods-damned territory—thanks to Dorian’s decrees.
Especially when those soldiers might very well march right back here, might choose to ally themselves with the monster squatting down in Morath rather than their true king.
If you want to take a bath so badly,
Rowan murmured against her neck, I spotted a pool about a quarter mile back. You could heat it—for both of us.
She ran her nails down the back of his hands, up his forearms. I’d boil all the fish and frogs inside it. I doubt it’d be very pleasant then.
At least we’d have breakfast prepared.
She laughed under her breath, and Rowan’s canines scratched the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. Aelin dug her fingers into the powerful muscles of his forearms, savoring the strength there. The lords won’t be here until sundown. We’ve got time.
Her words were breathless, barely more than a whisper.
Upon crossing the border, Aedion had sent messages to the few lords he trusted, coordinating the meeting that was to happen today—in this clearing, which Aedion himself had used for covert rebel meetings these long years.
They’d arrived early to scope out the land, the pitfalls and advantages. Not a trace of any humans lingered: Aedion and the Bane had always ensured any evidence was wiped away from unfriendly eyes. Her cousin and his legendary legion had already done so much to ensure the safety of Terrasen this past decade. But they were still taking no risks, even with lords who had once been her uncle’s banner men.
Tempting as it might be,
Rowan said, nipping her ear in a way that made it hard to think, I need to be on my way in an hour.
To scout the land ahead for any threats. Featherlight kisses brushed over her jaw, her cheek. And what I said still holds. I’m not taking you against a tree the first time.
It wouldn’t be against a tree—it’d be in a pool.
A dark laugh against her now-burning skin. It was an effort to keep from taking one of his hands and guiding it up to her breasts, to beg him to touch, take, taste. You know, I’m starting to think you’re a sadist.
Trust me, I don’t find it easy, either.
He tugged her a bit harder against him, letting her feel the evidence pushing with impressive demand against her backside. She nearly groaned at that, too.
Then Rowan pulled away, and she frowned at the loss of his warmth, at the loss of those hands and that body and that mouth. She turned, finding his pine-green eyes pinned on her, and a thrill sparked through her blood brighter than any magic.
But he said, "Why are you so coherent this early?"
She stuck out her tongue. I took over the watch for Aedion, since Lysandra and Fleetfoot were snoring loud enough to wake the dead.
Rowan’s mouth twitched upward, but Aelin shrugged. I couldn’t sleep anyway.
His jaw tightened as he glanced to where the amulet was hidden beneath her shirt and the dark leather jacket atop it. Is the Wyrdkey bothering you?
No, it’s not that.
She’d taken to wearing the amulet after Evangeline had looted through her saddlebags and donned the necklace. They’d only discovered it because the child had returned from washing herself with the Amulet of Orynth proudly displayed over her traveling clothes. Thank the gods they’d been deep in Oakwald at the time, but—Aelin wasn’t taking any other chances.
Especially since Lorcan still believed he had the real thing.
They hadn’t heard from the immortal warrior since he’d left Rifthold, and Aelin often wondered how far south he’d gotten—if he’d yet realized he bore a fake Wyrdkey within an equally fake Amulet of Orynth. If he’d discovered where the other two had been hidden by the King of Adarlan and Duke Perrington.
Not Perrington—Erawan.
A chill snaked down her back, as if the shadow of Morath had taken form behind her and run a clawed finger along her spine.
It’s just … this meeting,
Aelin said, waving a hand. Should we have done it in Orynth? Out in the woods like this just seems so … cloak-and-dagger.
Rowan’s eyes again drifted toward the northern horizon. At least another week lay between them and the city—the once-glorious heart of her kingdom. Of this continent. And when they got there, it would be an endless stream of councils and preparations and decisions that only she could make. This meeting Aedion had arranged would just be the start of it.
Better to go into the city with established allies than to enter not knowing what you might find,
Rowan said at last. He gave her a wry smile and aimed a pointed look at Goldryn, sheathed across her back, and the various knives strapped to her. And besides: I thought ‘cloak-and-dagger’ was your middle name.
She offered him a vulgar gesture in return.
Aedion had been so careful with his messages while setting up the meeting—had selected this spot far from any possible casualties or spying eyes. And even though he trusted the lords, whom he’d familiarized her with these past weeks, Aedion still hadn’t informed them how many traveled in their party—what their talents were. Just in case.
No matter that Aelin was the bearer of a weapon capable of wiping out this entire valley, along with the gray Staghorn Mountains watching over it. And that was just her magic.
Rowan played with a strand of her hair—grown almost to her breasts again. You’re worried because Erawan hasn’t made a move yet.
She sucked on a tooth. "What is he waiting for? Are we fools for expecting an invitation to march on him? Or is he letting us gather our strength, letting me return with Aedion to get the Bane and raise a larger army around it, only so he can savor our utter despair when we fail?"
Rowan’s fingers stilled in her hair. You heard Aedion’s messenger. That blast took out a good chunk of Morath. He might be rebuilding himself.
No one has claimed that blast as their doing. I don’t trust it.
You trust nothing.
She met his eyes. I trust you.
Rowan brushed a finger along her cheek. The rain turned heavy again, its soft patter the only sound for miles.
Aelin lifted onto her toes. She felt Rowan’s eyes on her the whole time, felt his body go still with predatory focus, as she kissed the corner of his mouth, the bow of his lips, the other corner.
Soft, taunting kisses. Designed to see which one of them yielded first.
Rowan did.
With a sharp intake of breath, he gripped her hips, tugging her against him as he slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss until her knees threatened to buckle. His tongue brushed hers—lazy, deft strokes that told her precisely what he was capable of doing elsewhere.
Embers sparked in her blood, and the moss beneath them hissed as rain turned to steam.
Aelin broke the kiss, breathing ragged, satisfied to find Rowan’s own chest rising and falling in an uneven rhythm. So new—this thing between them was still so new, so … raw. Utterly consuming. The desire was only the start of it.
Rowan made her magic sing. And maybe that was the carranam bond between them, but … her magic wanted to dance with his. And from the frost sparkling in his eyes, she knew his own demanded the same.
Rowan leaned forward until they were brow-to-brow. Soon,
he promised, his voice rough and low. Let’s get somewhere safe—somewhere defensible.
Because her safety always would come first. For him, keeping her protected, keeping her alive, would always come first. He’d learned it the hard way.
Her heart strained, and she pulled back to lift a hand to his face. Rowan read the softness in her eyes, her body, and his own inherent fierceness slipped into a gentleness that so few would ever see. Her throat ached with the effort of keeping the words in.
She’d been in love with him for a while now. Longer than she wanted to admit.
She tried not to think about it, whether he felt the same. Those things—those wishes—were at the bottom of a very, very long and bloody priority list.
So Aelin kissed Rowan gently, his hands again locking around her hips.
Fireheart,
he said onto her mouth.
Buzzard,
she murmured onto his.
Rowan laughed, the rumble echoing in her chest.
From the camp, Evangeline’s sweet voice chirped through the rain, Is it time for breakfast?
Aelin snorted. Sure enough, Fleetfoot and Evangeline were now nudging at poor Lysandra, sprawled out as a ghost leopard by the immortal-burning fire. Aedion, across the fire, lay as unmoving as a boulder. Fleetfoot would likely leap on him next.
This cannot end well,
Rowan muttered.
Evangeline howled, "Fooooood!" Fleetfoot’s answering howl followed a heartbeat later.
Then Lysandra’s snarl rippled toward them, silencing girl and hound.
Rowan laughed again—and Aelin thought she might never get sick of it, that laugh. That smile.
We should make breakfast,
he said, turning toward the camp, before Evangeline and Fleetfoot ransack the whole site.
Aelin chuckled but glanced over her shoulder to the forest stretching toward the Staghorns. Toward the lords who were hopefully making their way southward—to decide how they would proceed with war … and rebuilding their broken kingdom.
When she looked back, Rowan was halfway to the camp, Evangeline’s red-gold hair flashing as she bounded through the dripping trees, begging the prince for toast and eggs.
Her family—and her kingdom.
Two dreams long believed lost, she realized as the northern wind ruffled her hair. That she would do anything—ruin herself, sell herself—to protect.
Aelin was about to head for the camp to spare Evangeline from Rowan’s cooking when she noticed the object atop the boulder across the stream.
She cleared the stream in one bound and carefully studied what the faerie had left.
Fashioned with twigs, cobwebs, and fish scales, the tiny wyvern was unnervingly accurate, its wings spread wide and thorn-fanged mouth roaring.
Aelin left the wyvern where it was, but her eyes shifted southward, toward the ancient flow of Oakwald, and Morath looming far beyond it. To Erawan reborn, waiting for her with his host of Ironteeth witches and Valg foot soldiers.
And Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen, knew the time would soon come to prove just how much she’d bleed for Erilea.
It was useful, Aedion Ashryver thought, to travel with two gifted magic-wielders. Especially during piss-poor weather.
The rains lingered throughout the day as they prepared for the meeting. Rowan had flown northward twice now to track the progress of the lords, but he hadn’t seen or scented them.
No one braved the notoriously muddy Terrasen roads in this weather. But with Ren Allsbrook in their company, Aedion had little doubt they’d stay hidden until sunset anyway. Unless the weather had delayed them. Which was a good possibility.
Thunder boomed, so close that the trees shuddered. Lightning flashed with little pause for breath, limning the soaked leaves with silver, illuminating the world so brightly that his Fae senses were blinded. But at least he was dry. And warm.
They’d avoided civilization so much that Aedion had hardly witnessed or been able to track how many magic-wielders had crept out of hiding—or who was now enjoying the return of their gifts. He’d only seen one girl, no older than nine, weaving tendrils of water above her village’s lone fountain for the entertainment and delight of a gaggle of children.
Stone-faced, scarred adults had looked on from the shadows, but none had interfered for better or worse. Aedion’s messengers had already confirmed that most people now knew the King of Adarlan had wielded his dark powers to repress magic these last ten years. But even so, he doubted those who had suffered its loss, then the extermination of their kind, would comfortably reveal their powers anytime soon.
At least until people like his companions, and that girl in the square, showed the world it was safe to do so. That a girl with a gift of water could ensure her village and its farmlands thrived.
Aedion frowned at the darkening sky, idly twirling the Sword of Orynth between his palms. Even before magic had vanished, there had been one kind feared above all others, its bearers pariahs at best, dead at worst. Courts in every land had sought them as spies and assassins for centuries. But his court—
A delighted, throaty purr rumbled through their little camp, and Aedion shifted his stare to the subject of his thoughts. Evangeline was kneeling on her sleeping mat, humming to herself as she gently ran the horse’s brush through Lysandra’s fur.
It had taken him days to get used to the ghost leopard form. Years in the Staghorns had drilled the gut-level terror into him. But there was Lysandra, claws retracted, sprawled on her belly as her ward groomed her.
Spy and assassin indeed. A smile tugged on his lips at the pale green eyes heavy-lidded with pleasure. That’d be a fine sight for the lords to see when they arrived.
The shape-shifter had used these weeks of travel to try out new forms: birds, beasts, insects that had a tendency to buzz in his ear or bite him. Rarely—so rarely—had Lysandra taken the human form he’d met her in. Given all that had been done to her and all she’d been forced to do in that human body, Aedion didn’t blame her.
Though she’d have to take human form soon, when she was introduced as a lady in Aelin’s court. He wondered if she’d wear that exquisite face, or find another human skin that suited her.
More than that, he often wondered what it felt like to be able to change bone and skin and color—though he hadn’t asked. Mostly because Lysandra hadn’t been in human form long enough to do so.
Aedion looked to Aelin, seated across the fire with Fleetfoot sprawled in her lap, playing with the hound’s long ears—waiting, as they all were. His cousin, however, was studying the ancient blade—her father’s blade—that Aedion so unceremoniously twirled and tossed from hand to hand, every inch of the metal hilt and cracked bone pommel as familiar to him as his own face. Sorrow flickered in her eyes, as fast as the lightning above, and then vanished.
She’d returned the sword to him upon their departure from Rifthold, choosing to bear Goldryn instead. He’d tried to convince her to keep Terrasen’s sacred blade, but she’d insisted it was better off in his hands, that he deserved the honor more than anyone else, including her.
She’d grown quieter the farther north they’d traveled. Perhaps weeks on the road had sapped her.
After tonight, depending on what the lords reported, he’d try to find her a quiet place to rest for a day or two before they made the last leg of the trek to Orynth.
Aedion uncoiled to his feet, sheathing the sword beside the knife Rowan had gifted him, and stalked to her. Fleetfoot’s feathery tail thumped in greeting as he sat beside his queen.
You could use a haircut,
she said. Indeed, his hair had grown longer than he usually kept it. It’s almost the same length as mine.
She frowned. It makes us look like we coordinated it.
Aedion snorted, stroking the dog’s head. So what if we did?
Aelin shrugged. If you want to start wearing matching outfits as well, I’m in.
He grinned. The Bane would never let me live it down.
His legion now camped just outside of Orynth, where he’d ordered them to shore up the city’s defenses and wait. Wait to kill and die for her.
And with the money Aelin had schemed and butchered to claim from her former master this spring, they could buy themselves an army to follow behind the Bane. Perhaps mercenaries, too.
The spark in Aelin’s eyes died a bit as if she, too, considered all that commanding his legion implied. The risks and costs—not of gold, but lives. Aedion could have sworn the campfire guttered as well.
She had slaughtered and fought and nearly died again and again for the past ten years. Yet he knew she would balk at sending soldiers—at sending him—to fight.
That, above all else, would be her first test as queen.
But before that … this meeting. You remember everything I told you about them?
Aelin gave him a flat look. Yes, I remember everything, cousin.
She poked him hard in the ribs, right where the still-healing tattoo Rowan had inked on him three days ago now lay. All their names, entwined in a complex Terrasen knot right near his heart. Aedion winced as she jabbed the sore flesh, and he batted away her hand as she recited, Murtaugh was a farmer’s son, but married Ren’s grandmother. Though he wasn’t born into the Allsbrook line, he still commands the seat, despite his insistence that Ren take up the title.
She looked skyward. Darrow is the wealthiest landowner after yours truly, and more than that, he holds sway over the few surviving lords, mostly through his years of carefully handling Adarlan during the occupation.
She gave him a glare sharp enough to slice skin.
Aedion lifted his hands. Can you blame me for wanting to make sure this goes smoothly?
She shrugged but didn’t bite his head off.
Darrow was your uncle’s lover,
he added, stretching his legs out before him. For decades. He’s never spoken once to me about your uncle, but … they were very close, Aelin. Darrow didn’t publicly mourn Orlon beyond what was required after the passing of a king, but he became a different man afterward. He’s a hard bastard now, but still a fair one. Much of what he’s done has been out of his unfading love for Orlon—and for Terrasen. His own maneuvering kept us from becoming completely starved and destitute. Remember that.
Indeed, Darrow had long straddled a line between serving the King of Adarlan and undermining him.
I. Know,
she said tightly. Pushing too far—that tone was likely her first and last warning that he was starting to piss her off. He’d spent many of the miles they’d traveled these past few days telling her about Ren, and Murtaugh, and Darrow. Aedion knew she could likely now recite their land holdings, what crops and livestock and goods they yielded, their ancestors, and dead and surviving family members from this past decade. But pushing her about it one last time, making sure she knew … He couldn’t shut the instincts down to ensure it all went well. Not when so much was at stake.
From where he’d been perched on a high branch to monitor the forest, Rowan clicked his beak and flapped into the rain, sailing through his shield as if it parted for him.
Aedion eased to his feet, scanning the forest, listening. Only the trickle of rain on leaves filled his ears. Lysandra stretched, baring her long teeth as she did so, her needlelike claws slipping free and glinting in the firelight.
Until Rowan gave the all clear—until it was just those lords and no one else—the safety protocols they’d established would hold.
Evangeline, as they had taught her, crept to the fire. The flames pulled apart like drawn curtains to allow her and Fleetfoot, sensing the child’s fear and pressing close, passage to an inner ring that would not burn her. But would melt the bones of their enemies.
Aelin merely glanced at Aedion in silent order, and he stepped toward the western side of the fire, Lysandra taking up a spot at the southern point. Aelin took the northern but gazed west—toward where Rowan had flapped away.
A dry, hot breeze flowed through their little bubble, and sparks danced like fireflies at Aelin’s fingers, her hand hanging casually at her side. The other gripped Goldryn, the ruby in its hilt bright as an ember.
Leaves rustled and branches snapped, and the Sword of Orynth gleamed gold and red in the light of Aelin’s flames as he drew it free. He angled the ancient dagger Rowan had gifted him in his other hand. Rowan had been teaching Aedion—teaching all of them, really—about the Old Ways these weeks. About the long-forgotten traditions and codes of the Fae, mostly abandoned even in Maeve’s court. But reborn here, and enacted now, as they fell into the roles and duties that they had sorted out and decided for themselves.
Rowan emerged from the rain in his Fae form, his silver hair plastered to his head, his tattoo stark on his tan face. No sign of the lords.
But Rowan held his hunting knife against the bared throat of a young, slender-nosed man and escorted him toward the fire—the stranger’s travel-stained, soaked clothes bearing Darrow’s crest of a striking badger.
A messenger,
Rowan ground out.
Aelin decided right then and there she didn’t particularly enjoy surprises.
The messenger’s blue eyes were wide, but his rain-slick, freckled face was calm. Steady. Even as he took in Lysandra, her fangs gilded with firelight. Even as Rowan nudged him forward, that cruel knife still angled at his throat.
Aedion jerked his chin at Rowan. He can’t very well deliver the message with a blade at his windpipe.
Rowan lowered his weapon, but the Fae Prince didn’t sheathe his knife. Didn’t move more than a foot from the man.
Aedion demanded, Where are they?
The man bowed swiftly to her cousin. At a tavern, four miles from here, General—
The words died as Aelin at last stepped around the curve of the fire. She kept it burning high, kept Evangeline and Fleetfoot ensconced within. The messenger let out a small noise.
He knew. With the way he kept glancing between her and Aedion, seeing the same eyes, the same hair color … he knew. And as if the thought had hit him, the messenger bowed.
Aelin watched the way the man lowered his eyes, watched the exposed back of his neck, his skin shining with rain. Her magic simmered in response. And that thing—that hideous power hanging between her breasts—seemed to open an ancient eye at all the commotion.
The messenger stiffened, wide-eyed at Lysandra’s silent approach, her whiskers twitching as she sniffed at his wet clothes. He was smart enough to remain still.
Is the meeting canceled?
Aedion said tightly, scanning the woods again.
The man winced. No, General—but they want you to come to the tavern where they’re staying. Because of the rain.
Aedion rolled his eyes. Go tell Darrow to drag his carcass out here. Water won’t kill him.
It’s not Lord Darrow,
the man said quickly. With all due respect, Lord Murtaugh’s slowed down this summer. Lord Ren didn’t want him out in the dark and rain.
The old man had ridden across the kingdoms like a demon from hell this spring, Aelin remembered. Perhaps it had taken its toll. Aedion sighed. You know we’ll need to scout the tavern first. The meeting will be later than they want.
Of course, General. They’ll expect that.
The messenger cringed as he at last spotted Evangeline and Fleetfoot within the flame’s ring of safety. And despite the Fae Prince armed beside him, despite the ghost leopard with unsheathed claws sniffing at him, the sight of Aelin’s fire made his face go deathly pale. But they are waiting—and Lord Darrow is impatient. Being outside Orynth’s walls makes him anxious. Makes us all anxious, these days.
Aelin snorted softly. Indeed.
CHAPTER 3
Manon Blackbeak stood at attention by one end of the long, dark bridge into Morath and watched her grandmother’s coven descend from the gray clouds.
Even with the plumes and pillars of smoke from the countless forges, the High Witch of the Blackbeak Witch-Clan’s voluminous obsidian robes were unmistakable. No other dressed as the Matron did. Her coven swept from the heavy cloud cover, keeping a respectful distance from the Matron and the extra rider flanking her massive bull.
Manon, her Thirteen in rank behind her, made no movement as the wyverns and their riders landed on the dark stones of the courtyard across the bridge. Far below, the rushing of a filthy, ruined river roared, vying with the scrape of talons on stone and the rustle of settling wings.
Her grandmother had come to Morath.
Or what was left of it, when one-third was nothing more than rubble.
Asterin hissed in a breath as Manon’s grandmother dismounted in a smooth movement, scowling at the black fortress looming above Manon and her Thirteen. Duke Perrington was already waiting in his council chamber, and Manon had no doubt his pet, Lord Vernon, would do his best to undermine and shake her at every turn. If Vernon were to make a move to be rid of Manon, it would be now—when her grandmother was seeing for herself what Manon had accomplished.
And failed to do.
Manon kept her back straight as her grandmother strode across the broad stone bridge, her steps drowned out by the rush of the river, the beat of distant wings, and those forges working day and night to equip their army. When she could see the white in her grandmother’s eyes, Manon bowed.
The creak of flying leathers told her the Thirteen had followed suit.
When Manon lifted her head, her grandmother was before her.
Death, cruel and cunning, waited in that gold-flecked onyx stare.
Take me to the duke,
the Matron said by way of greeting.
Manon felt her Thirteen stiffen. Not at the words, but at the High Witch’s coven now following on her heels. Rare—so rare for them to track her, guard her.
But this was a citadel of men—and demons. And this would be an extended stay, if not permanent, judging by the fact that her grandmother had brought along the beautiful, dark-haired young witch currently warming her bed. The Matron would be a fool not to take extra protection. Even if the Thirteen had always been enough. Should have been enough.
It was an effort not to flick out her iron nails at the imagined threat.
Manon bowed again and turned in to the towering, open doors to Morath. The Thirteen parted for Manon and the Matron as they passed, then closed ranks like a lethal veil. No chances—not when the heir and the Matron were concerned.
Manon’s steps were near-silent as she led her grandmother through the dark halls, the Thirteen and the Matron’s coven trailing close. The servants, through either spying or some human instinct, were nowhere to be found.
The Matron spoke as they ascended the first of many spiral stairwells toward the duke’s new council chamber. Anything to report?
No, Grandmother.
Manon avoided the urge to glance sidelong at the witch—at the silver-streaked dark hair, the pale features carved with ancient hate, the rusted teeth on permanent display.
The face of the High Witch who had branded Manon’s Second. Who had cast Asterin’s stillborn witchling into the fire, denying her the right to hold her once. Who had then beaten and broken her Second, thrown her into the snow to die, and lied to Manon about it for nearly a century.
Manon wondered what thoughts now churned through Asterin’s head as they walked. Wondered what went through the heads of Sorrel and Vesta, who had found Asterin in the snow. Then healed her.
And never told Manon about it, either.
Her grandmother’s creature—that’s what Manon was. It had never seemed like a hateful thing.
Did you discover who caused the explosion?
The Matron’s robes swirled behind her as they entered the long, narrow hallway toward the duke’s council chamber.
No, Grandmother.
Those gold-flecked black eyes snapped to her. How convenient, Wing Leader, that you complain about the duke’s breeding experiments—only for the Yellowlegs to be incinerated days later.
Good riddance, Manon almost said. Despite the covens lost in the blast, good rutting riddance that the breeding of those Yellowlegs-Valg witchlings had stopped. But Manon felt, rather than saw or heard, her Thirteen’s attention fix on her grandmother’s back.
And perhaps something like fear went through Manon.
At the Matron’s accusation—and the line her Thirteen were drawing. Had drawn for some time now.
Defiance. That’s what it had been these past months. If the High Witch learned of it, she’d tie Manon to a post and whip her back until her skin was hanging in strips. She’d make the Thirteen watch, to prove their powerlessness to defend their heir, and then give them the same treatment. Perhaps chucking salted water on them when she was done. Then do it again, day after day.
Manon said coolly, I heard a rumor it was the duke’s pet—that human woman. But as she was incinerated in the blaze, no one can confirm. I didn’t want to waste your time with gossip and theories.
She was leashed to him.
It would seem her shadowfire was not.
Shadowfire—the mighty power that would have melted their enemies within heartbeats when combined with the mirror-lined witch towers the three Matrons had been building in the Ferian Gap. But with Kaltain gone … so was the threat of pure annihilation.
Even if the duke would suffer no other master now that his king was dead. He’d rejected the Crown Prince’s claim to the throne.
Her grandmother said nothing as they continued onward.
The other piece on the board—the sapphire-eyed prince who had once been in thrall to a Valg prince himself. Now free. And allied with that golden-haired young queen.
They reached the council room doors, and Manon wiped all thoughts from her head as the blank-faced guards opened the black rock for them.
Manon’s senses honed to a killing calm the moment she laid eyes on the ebony glass table and who stood at it.
Vernon: tall, lanky, ever-smirking, clad in Terrasen green.
And a golden-haired man, his skin pale as ivory.
No sign of the duke. The stranger twisted toward them. Even her grandmother gave pause.
Not at the man’s beauty, not at the strength in his sculpted body or the fine black clothes he wore. But at those gold eyes. Twin to Manon’s.
The eyes of the Valg kings.
Manon assessed the exits, the windows, the weapons she would use when they fought their way out. Instinct had her stepping in front of her grandmother; training had her palming two knives before the golden-eyed man could blink.
But the man fixed those Valg eyes on her. He smiled.
Wing Leader.
He looked to her grandmother and inclined his head. Matron.
The voice was carnal and lovely and cruel. But the tone, the demand in it …
Something in Vernon’s smirk now seemed too strained, his tan skin too pale.
Who are you,
Manon said to the stranger, more an order than a question.
The man jerked his chin toward the unclaimed seats at the table. You know perfectly well who I am, Manon Blackbeak.
Perrington. In another body, somehow. Because…
Because that otherworldly, foul thing she had sometimes glimpsed staring out through his eyes … Here it was, given flesh.
The Matron’s tight face told her she’d already guessed.
I grew tired of wearing that sagging meat,
he said, sliding with feline grace into the chair beside Vernon. A wave of long, powerful fingers. My enemies know who I am. My allies might as well, too.
Vernon bowed his head and murmured, My Lord Erawan, if it would please you, allow me to fetch the Matron refreshments. Her journey has been long.
Manon assessed the tall, reedy man. Two gifts he had offered them: respect to her grandmother, and the knowledge of the duke’s true name. Erawan.
She wondered what Ghislaine, on guard in the hall beyond, knew of him.
The Valg king nodded his approval. The Lord of Perranth hustled to the small buffet table against the wall, grabbing a ewer as Manon and the Matron slid into the seats across from the demon king.
Respect—something Vernon had not once offered without a mocking grin. But now…
Perhaps now that the Lord of Perranth realized what manner of monster held his leash, he was desperate for allies. Knew, perhaps, that Manon … that Manon might have indeed been part of that explosion.
Manon accepted the carved-horn cups of water Vernon set before them but did not drink. Neither did her grandmother.
Across the table, Erawan smiled faintly. No darkness, no corruption leaked from him—as if he were powerful enough to keep it contained, unnoticed, save for those eyes. Her eyes.
Behind them, the rest of the Thirteen and her grandmother’s coven remained in the hall, only their Seconds lingering in the room as the doors were sealed again.
Trapping them all with the Valg king.
So,
Erawan said, looking them over in a way that had Manon clamping her lips to keep from baring her teeth, are the forces at the Ferian Gap prepared?
Her grandmother yielded a short dip of her chin. They move at sundown. They’ll be in Rifthold two days after that.
Manon didn’t dare shift in her seat. You’re sending the host to Rifthold?
The demon king flashed her a narrowed glance. "I am sending you to Rifthold, to take back my city. When you have finished your task, the Ferian legion will be stationed there under the command of Iskra Yellowlegs."
To Rifthold. To finally, finally fight, to see what their wyverns could do in battle— Do they suspect the attack?
A lifeless smile. Our forces will move too swiftly for word to reach them.
No doubt why this information had been contained until now.
Manon tapped a foot on the slate floor, already itching to move, to command the others in preparations. How many of the Morath covens do I bring northward?
Iskra flies with the second half of our aerial legion. I would think that only a few covens from Morath would be necessary.
A challenge—and a test.
Manon considered. I fly with my Thirteen and two escort covens.
No need for their enemies to get a good count on how many covens flew in the aerial legion—or for the entirety to go when she’d bet good money that even the Thirteen would be enough to sack the capital.
Erawan just inclined his head in agreement. Her grandmother gave her a barely perceptible nod—as close to approval as she’d ever get.
But Manon asked, What of the prince?
King. King Dorian.
Her grandmother shot her a look, but the demon said, I want you to personally bring him to me. If he survives the attack.
And with the fiery queen now gone, Dorian Havilliard and his city were defenseless.
It mattered little to her. It was war.
Fight this war, and go home to the Wastes at the end of it. Even if this man, this demon king, might very well renege on his word.
She’d deal with that later. But first … open battle. She could already hear its wild song in her blood.
The demon king and her grandmother were speaking again, and Manon cleared away the melody of clashing shields and sparking swords long enough to process their words.
Once the capital is secured, I want those boats on the Avery.
The men of the Silver Lake have agreed?
Her grandmother studied the map weighted to the glass table by smooth stones. Manon followed the Matron’s stare to the Silver Lake, at the other end of the Avery, and to its city, nestled against the White Fangs: Anielle.
Perrington—Erawan—shrugged his broad shoulders. Its lord has not yet declared allegiance to me or the boy-king. I suspect when word reaches him of Rifthold’s demise, we will find his messengers groveling on our doorstep.
A flicker of a smile. Their Keep along the Western Falls of the lake still bears scars from the last time my armies marched. I have seen the countless monuments in Anielle to that war—its lord will know how easily I can again turn his city into a charnel house.
Manon studied the map again, shutting out the questions.
Old. The Valg king was so old as to make her feel young. To make her grandmother look like a child, too.
Fool—perhaps her grandmother had been a fool to sell them into an unwitting alliance with this creature. She made herself meet Erawan’s stare. With strongholds in Morath, Rifthold, and Anielle, that only covers the southern half of Adarlan. What of north of the Ferian Gap? Or south of Adarlan?
Bellhaven remains under my control—its lords and merchants love their gold too much. Melisande…
The demon king’s golden eyes fixed on the western country across the mountains. Eyllwe lies shattered beneath her, Fenharrow in barren shambles to the east. It remains in Melisande’s best interest to continue allying her forces with my own, especially when Terrasen hasn’t a copper to its name.
The king’s stare roamed northward. Aelin Galathynius will have reached her seat by now. And when Rifthold is gone, she will also find how very alone she is in the North. Brannon’s heir has no allies on this continent. Not anymore.
But Manon noted the way the demon king’s eyes darted to Eyllwe—just for a flicker.
She looked to her grandmother, silent yet watching Manon with an expression that promised death if she pushed too far. But Manon said to Erawan, Your capital is the heart of your commerce. If I unleash my legion upon it, you will have few human allies—
"Last I looked, Manon Blackbeak, it was my legion."
Manon held Erawan’s burning gaze, even as it stripped her bare. Turn Rifthold into a complete ruin,
she said flatly, and rulers like the Lord of Anielle or the Queen of Melisande or the Lords of Fenharrow might very well find it worth the risk to rally against you. If you wreck your own capital, why should they believe your claims of alliance? Send a decree ahead of us that the king, the queen are enemies to the continent. Establish us as liberators of Rifthold, not conquerors, and you will have the other rulers thinking twice before allying with Terrasen. I will sack the city for you enough to display our might—but keep the Ironteeth host from leaving it in rubble.
Those gold eyes narrowed with consideration.
She knew her grandmother was one more word away from gouging her nails down Manon’s cheek, but she kept her shoulders back. She didn’t care about the city, its people. But this war could indeed turn against them if the annihilation of Rifthold united their scattered enemies. And delay the Blackbeaks that much more from returning to the Wastes.
Vernon’s eyes flicked to meet hers. Fear—and calculation. He murmured to Erawan, The Wing Leader has a point, milord.
What did Vernon know that she didn’t?
But Erawan angled his head, his golden hair sliding across his brow. That is why you are my Wing Leader, Manon Blackbeak, and why Iskra Yellowlegs did not win the position.
Disgust and pride warred in her, but she nodded.
One more thing.
She remained still, waiting.
The demon king lounged in his seat. There is a glass wall in Rifthold. Impossible to miss.
She knew it—had perched atop it. Damage the city enough to instill fear, show our power. But that wall … Bring it down.
She only said, Why?
Those golden eyes simmered like hot coals. Because destroying a symbol can break the spirits of men as much as bloodshed.
That glass wall—Aelin Galathynius’s power. And mercy. Manon held that gaze long enough to nod. The king jerked his chin toward the shut doors in silent dismissal.
Manon was out of the room before he’d turned back to Vernon. It did not occur to her until she was long gone that she should have remained to protect the Matron.
The Thirteen did not speak until they had landed at their personal armory in the army camp below, had not even risked it while saddling their wyverns in the new aerie.
Sweeping through the smoke and gloom that always wreathed Morath, the two escort covens Manon had selected—both Blackbeaks—steered for their own armories. Good.
Now standing in the mud of the valley floor outside the cobbled-together labyrinth of forges and tents, Manon said to her assembled Thirteen, We fly in thirty minutes.
Behind them, blacksmiths and handlers were already rushing to haul armor onto the chained-down wyverns.
If they were smart, or fast, they wouldn’t wind up between those jaws. Already, Asterin’s sky-blue mare was sizing up the man closest to her.
Manon was half tempted to see if she’d take a bite out of him, but she said to her coven, If we are lucky, we will arrive before Iskra and set the tone for how the sacking unfolds. If we are not, we seek out Iskra and her coven upon arriving and staunch the slaughter. Leave the prince to me.
She didn’t dare look
