Melancholy thickened her voice, and her fingers lay cold over his. “I don’t want to hate you the way they did.”

His chest constricted. “I don’t want that either, Imogen.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m no longer that man.”

“Aren’t you?”

Cededa pressed on her shoulder until she lay on her back, face tilted to his. Tear tracks silvered her pale cheeks. “No, I’m not.” What else was there to say?

Imogen sighed and closed her eyes. “Everything you’ve done in your long years, everything you feel, is part of who you are now. The question is whether or not the greater part is the man who committed atrocities or the one who regrets them.”

He wanted to tell her that regret and guilt ran through his veins like death ran through hers, but he stayed silent. That question was hers to answer for herself.

Her hand drifted down his arm in a languid caress. “I never thought I’d meet a king,” she said in a sleepy voice. “Especially a fabled one.”

Cededa hugged her to him. Her breathing slowed, and her body grew heavy against his. “I never thought I’d hold Death,” he whispered in the darkness. “Or beg her love and mercy.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dradus’s nose bled red streamers onto his silk tunic, and his skull threatened to split from the pain, but those were minor discomforts compared to the euphoria coursing through him. An ancient bridge shimmered to life under the power of complex sorcery. It stretched across the gorge, still insubstantial but solidifying with each passing moment. A bridge that connected him to fabled Tineroth and her surely substantial treasures.

The company of Castagher soldiers behind him cheered. After weeks of idle waiting while he cast spell after spell to reveal the bridge, they were restless, eager for battle and ready to conquer the city behind the heavy mists obscuring the forest on the crevasse’s opposite side. Dradus nodded to the captain of the guard.

“Remember, the men are welcome to whatever loot they can carry out, but they can’t forget their mission. We bring the girl back to Hayden, alive.”

The captain frowned. “If she’s cursed as you say, it will be a challenge to transport her.

Dradus shrugged. “A small matter. Leave it to me. Just be sure not to let her touch you when you catch her.” One eyebrow rose meaningfully. “It’s easy to subdue an unconscious captive.”

“Aye, I see your point.” The captain gestured to his troop. “I’ll tell them to prepare. We ride to Tineroth at your signal.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

A familiar shrieking sent Cededa bolting out of the bed and into a dead run for the door. Tineroth’s warning. Someone had breached the city’s ensorcelled boundaries.

Startled awake by his abrupt movement, Imogen blinked groggily as he threw open the door and raced into the corridor. He was halfway down the stairs by the time she made it to the landing.