Page 2 of An Archer's Redemption

What if I had? Would she have loved me in return? Would she have fallen into my arms and returned my embrace?

I regretted never trying, never learning what could be.

Yet I also feared she might have laughed and discarded my emotions as weakness. She mocked others for their frail minds and weak hearts. While Iknewmy love was a power in itself, I also understood that her heart had darkened by the time I might have opened up to her.

There was no space left for passion or kindness. No room for love.

And yet . . . she now called memy love?

After all that had happened.

After I betrayed her and helped free the people of Saltstone even as her troops battered down their gates.

The woman I knew . . . the woman I loved . . . she no longer lived.

Her eyes bore none of the compassion of her youth. They bore nothing but hatred and pain.

They bore rage as she turned against Melucia.

They held merciless wrath as she felled civilians as the Mages had once felled her family.

My eyes brimmed with tears. Yet I hesitated.

I loved her still. My heart longed for her touch. To have her live within me, to be part of me . . . we could forever be together.

And still.

Her presence was overwhelming in life. In death, itcompelledallegiance.

Unquestioning loyalty.

“Isabel was a weak, feckless fool. You are more worthy than any alive. We would wield power this world hasn’t seen since the Sundering. Think of it, Danai!”

I felt a pressure against my chest, as though someone pushed against me, trying to burrow within. I called my Light and pushed back.

“Whatareyou—”

“Why do you resist me, my love?”Her voice found a sharpened edge.“I long to be one. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

The pressure intensified, and sweat beaded my brow despite the frigid mountain air.

“Irina, stop, please,” I pleaded. “We can find another way, another Vessel.”

I held my breath as Irina’s voice stilled.

The tension against my chest eased as moments passed in silence. Without her voice, a void of nothingness enveloped my world, and my heart, long ago given to her keeping, shattered at the gulf I knew now spanned between us.

“Irina?” I whispered. “Are you still there?”

What was a palm pressed against my chest before became an angry fist pounding against me. Before I could react or defend, Irina’s spirit found purchase within. Her presence knifed through my mental shield, seeking any weakness.

“Never use my name again, Betrayer. Call me Vengeance, for that is all you will ever know from me. Your life is mine, your soul is mine, now your mind and body will be mine. Yield, and I may yet allow some sliver of Danai to survive.”

Tendrils of power wormed their way inside the crevices of my mind, seeking a path to seize control. White-hot bolts raced from my head down my spine and throughout my body.

I dropped the crown.

My hands flew to my temples.

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