A terrible scream pierced the air. On the stairs of the keep, Ira fell to her knees, hands tearing out strands of her own hair. Two Fraynean soldiers held her back, keeping her from throwing herself into death after her brother.

Waves of shock crashed through Ren, the sharp scent of blood heavy on the air. Lyle had collapsed against the soldier's chest, head lolling to the side. Ren's couldn't take his eyes off the gruesome sight. Not again. Not-

“Restrain the bastard, the slave, and what remains of their men and prepare them for transport,” the commander ordered. He rode his horse up to Ren, so close Ren could feel the heat radiating off the animal's body. “We're taking them to Fort Endurance. Lord Nathair will oversee their execution.”

Nathair, King Halvard's advisor, had been at the party. Through the fog in his mind, Ren remembered him as the man who had rushed onto the stage, stopped Anik's performance, and revealed the bloody knife that had sealed their fate. Dread filled his gut, heavy and sickening. He looked over his shoulder at Anik, whose face had paled. Behind him, Niklas stood at the foot of the stairs of the keep, free of the guards Ren had sent to watch him. Like Thais, he wouldn't meet Ren's eyes.

The soldiers hauled Ren to his feet. The commander stopped his horse in front of the stone steps, taking Thais with him into the keep.

Above them, dark clouds rolled in. It began to snow.

To be continued...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This trilogy started as a wild and seemingly overambitious project in May 2015. Never before had I taken on something so large and detailed. Being more of a visual artist than a writer, and tackling this project in a language that wasn't my own made it a daunting task. But the massive amount of support I received from online communities before the first book was even published, completely blew me away. Hundreds of people signed up to follow the progress of this story, and so much of my motivation came from the support and encouragement of everyone who wanted to see this book complete.

I owe so much to Thea Davison, who spent countless hours on Skype listening to my endless rambles, frustrations and ideas, and who read thousands of words of this story in an effort to help me polish dialogue and grammar. I couldn't have done this without you.

To my lovely editor, Sarah Wright, who spent her free time making sure the final story was as good as it could be. Your help was invaluable.

To Nerime, who's positive encouragement and excitement for these characters never failed to make me smile.

To MariaM, Kendra Frost, Josefin W, Francesca Kaddatz and the others who believed in this story enough to support it on Patreon. It really means the world to me.