rian's lips like a st

ryt

my magic still glowing faintly beneath my skin. And I watched the most powerful man in the northern pr

n in

man who had built an empire of blood and iron to protect himself fro

ered window and stared out into the snow, his hands clasped behind his back. The wind tugged at

nd rough, "was with a witch. A powerful one. T

aphi

essenger. A servant. The witch I dealt with was o

but something in the way he

erited a duchy that was bankrupt, a title that meant nothing, and a burning hatred f

like this. He had always been controlled, calculating, a man who wore his emot

you ask

or the power to destroy him. To take back what was min

gave it

memory. "A blade forged in shadow and blood. A weapon that could kill anythin

ught. "What

t an arranged marriage like ours. A love match. We had known each other since childhood. She was the o

appened

in. A fever, the physicians said. But I knew. I knew it was the pric

ds tremble before he clasped

the c

still.

had not told anyone yet. We were waiting until the quickening, until we

hat followed

beneath my skin. And I looked at Dorian Ravenscroft, the Rebel Duke, the man who had cru

had lost e

ars building walls so high tha

ound someone who made h

someone

of the contract. Not because of politics. Because I was the last pie

did not

t something good could still come from that bargain. That somet

aw what I had become? A prisoner.

w something I had not expected. Som

ed five years of torture and still had the strength to spit in her captor's fa

me, and the air betwee

aid, his voice dropping to a whisper. "

have be

hest, something that would make me forget the cold and the

sold to a stranger at birth. I was a woman who had survived Alar

s," I said slowly, "bec

not change. But somethin

he ad

ha

ew a small object. A ring. Gold, with a stone the color of blood. It glow

d. "She left it to me. It is the

it out

you to w

e ring, my min

the place where Mother Vanya hid the contract. The contract that binds

hed. "You kno

, the pulse of something ancient and powerful. "The ring is attuned to Elise's blood. It

the ring,

er's ring so that we can find the

es

en we find it? When

d in them I saw something

"You can return to your mother's kingdom

as w

ct was signed. But I did not bring you here to use you. I brought you here because

d a

line of my jaw. His touch was gentle. Tender. Nothing like

agined," he whispered.

spond, a sound sh

cre

nd terrible, the scream of a woman in mortal ago

of sword

is sword in his hand, his body between me

did no

corridor, and what I saw

e was und

unnatural angles. And standing in the center of the

Black

s smi

d, his dark eyes fixed o