Page 46 of Kingdom of Ash

Yrene’s eyes turned wary, well aware of what and whom he would face in Anielle. The homecoming he had never pictured, certainly not under these circumstances.

“I’m coming with you,” his wife said.

He squeezed her hand again, as if to say,I’m not at all surprised to hear that.

Yrene squeezed right back.

Sartaq and Hasar nodded, and Nesryn opened her mouth as if she’d object, but nodded, too.

They’d leave tonight, under cover of darkness. Finding Dorian again would have to wait. Yrene chewed on her lip, no doubt calculating what they’d need to pack, what to tell the other healers.

He prayed they’d be swift enough, prayed that he could figure out what the hell to say to his father, after the oath he’d broken, after all that lay between them. And more than that, what he’d say to his mother, and the not-so-young brother he’d left behind when he’d chosen Dorian over his birthright.

Chaol had given Yrene the title owed to her in marrying him: Lady Westfall.

He wondered if he could stomach being called Lord. If it mattered at all, given what bore down upon the city on the Silver Lake.

If it would matter at all if they didn’t make it in time.

Sartaq braced a hand on the hilt of his sword. “Hold the defenses for as long as you can, Lord Westfall. The ruks will be a day or so behind you, the foot soldiers a week behind that.”

Chaol clasped Sartaq’s hand, then Hasar’s. “Thank you.”

Hasar’s mouth curved into a half smile. “Thank us if we save your city.”

CHAPTER 12

Everything. She had given everything for this, and had been glad to do it.

Aelin lay in darkness, the slab of iron like a starless night overhead.

She’d awoken in here. Had been in here for … a long time.

Long enough she’d relieved herself. Hadn’t cared.

Perhaps it had all been for nothing. The Queen Who Was Promised.

Promised to die, to surrender herself to fulfill an ancient princess’s debt. To save this world.

She wouldn’t be able to do it. She would fail in that, even if she outlasted Maeve.

Outlasted what she might have glimpsed lay beneath the queen’s skin. If that had been real at all.

Against Erawan, there had been little hope. But against Maeve as well …

Silent tears pooled in her mask.

It didn’t matter. She wasn’t leaving this place. This box.

She would never again feel the buttery warmth of the sun on her hair, or a sea-kissed breeze on her cheeks.

She couldn’t stop crying, ceaseless and relentless. As if some dam had cracked open inside her the moment she’d seen the blood dribble down Maeve’s face.

She didn’t care if Cairn saw the tears, smelled them.

Let him break her until she was bloody smithereens on the floor. Let him do it over and over again.

She wouldn’t fight. Couldn’t bear to fight.

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