Chapters (70)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Map
- Epigraph
- BEGINNINGS
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- PART II
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- TRICKSTER
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Also by Susan Dennard
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
“Just a sip,” Vaness pleaded through panting breaths. Then one iron bracelet melted into a cup, and she scooped up stream water and drank. Nothing happened. No jolt of pain or sudden wrenching. No choking or screams.
Still, Vivia could do nothing but watch her. So many years of fear could not be counteracted in a single moment, no matter how pure the water might seem.
Once Vaness had drunk her fill, she sank onto a flat stone. Ferns sighed against her, green and sparkling beneath the morning sun.
“We cannot stay,” Vivia warned.
“I know.” Vaness stared into her iron cup. “Just a few moments. I am not as fit as you.”
Vivia huffed a tired laugh. She felt anything but fit right now. “You should see my first mate. She is fit.” Vivia settled into a squat beside the stream. Though she couldn’t bring herself to drink, she did let her hand slip into the water. Cold despite the warm air.
“Vizer Sotar’s daughter?”
“Hye.” Vivia nodded. Her reflection wavered up at her, indistinct and unsteady.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“I am sorry then.” Vaness’s voice softened, as if her thoughts had turned inward. “I lost my Adder High when I fled Marstok. Rokesh was the closest thing I had to a friend.”
“Oh.” Vivia didn’t know what to say, and judging by the taut line of Vaness’s shoulders, there was nothing to say.
She pushed back to her feet. Her leg muscles screamed, but she was used to pain. Used to ignoring it and finishing what needed doing. “Come.” She offered Vaness a hand.
The Empress didn’t take it. Instead, she stared at Vivia’s fingers, wet from the stream. “I am sorry about your father. I cannot imagine it is easy to learn that he betrayed you.”
“Oh,” Vivia repeated, and her hand fell like a hammer. Suddenly the pain seemed impossible to ignore. Suddenly she was tired and thirsty and the horror she’d avoided since fleeing Yoris—it was punching in too fast to escape.
“It … is not the first time,” she squeezed out.
“But this is the worst,” Vaness replied.
Indeed, it was the worst. Before, her father had simply wanted the crown Vivia was meant to inherit. He’d wanted the title he’d had before Jana’s death. He’d wanted the power he’d wielded for so many years. And though deep down, past the final shelf of her own being, Vivia believed he’d cared for her …
His need for power, for adoration, had won out against any love he had for his own child. And no doubt, he’d expected Vivia to fall in line. When she hadn’t, he’d pursued.