“Perhaps that is what he wants,” I said.

“If that were true, he would not have fled.”

Adrian’s comment left me feeling betrayed once more, and I realized that I had to consider all of Sorin’s actions as deceptive, even his heartache over Daroc. It was like being stabbed all over again as I tried to decide what had been real and genuine and what had been a ruse.

Several scouts rode ahead of us, fanning out through the woods. They were sent ahead to search for signs of monsters, signs of Ravena, and decide where we would camp in the daylight. At some point, our position in line changed, and Adrian and Daroc led while I followed behind with Killian and Gavriel on either side. Miha and Isac were at my back.

I had yet to meet with Gavriel or learn the full extent of his observations while in Lara, and he took his time to speak.

“I have information for you, my queen,” Gavriel said. “About the Sanctuary of Asha.”

“Please, tell me,” I said.

“The priestess who claimed that Asha had sent her a vision of their salvation is named Imelda. She says the incarnated woman has great power, matched only by that of the Blood King.”

I knew Imelda. She was the head priestess of the Sanctuary of Asha. She had married Adrian and I, but outside that, my only interactions with her had been her attempts to berate me for not setting a better example as princess of Lara and sole heir.

“Your father worships the goddess, as do his people,” she had told me one day. “Will you continue to set such a blasphemous example when you are queen?”

“You speak to the goddess, priestess?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said, haughty.

“Then ask her why my mother had to die.”

Imelda’s expression was cold. “You willfully ignore Asha’s plan for you,” she said. “Perhaps your mother had to die so that you could be raised by your father, which will ensure you are a successful queen.”

“What are you saying, Imelda?” I had stabbed a lot of men in my life, but never a woman—but I had wanted to stab her then.

“I am merely suggesting that your mother might have nurtured you far more than your father. It is no secret she was a gentle creature, hardly a woman who could stand among kings.”

“It is good to know your opinion on my mother,” I said, and the priestess bowed her head, as if she were pleased. “Perhaps if I had been raised by my mother, I would be more inclined to forgive you for it, but I was raised by my father, and like him, I am only interested in punishing those who slight me.”

Needless to say, Imelda would do anything to see me fail to take the throne of Lara.

“She still claims the salvation of Asha has incarnated?” I asked Gavriel.