Ericen scanned everything with an imperious look, his back straight, head held high, exuding a confidence and strength I longed for. As he slowed to behold a gymnast warming up, I caught sight of a familiar blue building at the street corner.

I urged my horse toward it subconsciously, staring but not seeing. Memories flashed: sneaking out with Kiva to go dancing, music as quick as a heartbeat after a flight, a crow painted in sunset colors across the building’s side…columns of fire, smoke choking the air, the screech of crows and screams of people.

I slowed my horse outside Rua’s. The door to the pub was chained shut, the windows boarded. Thick vines obscured the crow painting, its vibrant colors muted.

Already, the hope I’d felt setting out dwindled away. Each boarded-up window and crumbling building I saw leeched more of my strength. I braced my hands on the back of my saddle, shoulders curving, head bowed.

Aris had been a city of wonders. A place people came to from all over the world to trade, to learn, to live. Now it was slowly fading, drifting into nothing like an abandoned ship into the night.

In the distance, what remained of the Thereal rookery loomed like a pillar of shadows.

“Why don’t you knock that down? It’s useless now.”

My spine went rigid, and I turned to look at Ericen. He stared at the remains of the rookery with a critical frown. When I didn’t respond, he glanced at me.

Every muscle turned to stone. “Say something like that again and I’ll—”

“What?” he asked. “What will you do, Princess? Yell? Curse? Hurt me?” He laughed, and the sound ripped into my chest like talons. “If you so much as touch me, if you push me too far, I’ll end this engagement and Rhodaire’s future along with it.” His eyes glinted like sunlight against the tundra. “Give me a reason.”

My words turned to ash in my throat, smothering my breath. Fire and frost danced along my skin like the waves of a fever as I fought to move, to think, to breathe. But all I could picture was the army on our border, the rows and rows of cavalry and archers who would kill without thought or mercy.

Ericen shook his head pityingly. “What am I saying? This is the girl who’s been hiding in her room for months. You’re not going to do anything, are you? Cowards never do.” His gaze flicked over me again before he kicked his horse into a trot down the street.

A heartbeat. Two. Still, I couldn’t follow.

Coward.