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Chapters (70)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Epigraph
  6. BEGINNINGS
  7. PART I
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. PART II
  45. THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. THIRTY-NINE
  48. FORTY
  49. FORTY-ONE
  50. FORTY-TWO
  51. FORTY-THREE
  52. FORTY-FOUR
  53. FORTY-FIVE
  54. FORTY-SIX
  55. FORTY-SEVEN
  56. FORTY-EIGHT
  57. FORTY-NINE
  58. FIFTY
  59. FIFTY-ONE
  60. FIFTY-TWO
  61. FIFTY-THREE
  62. FIFTY-FOUR
  63. FIFTY-FIVE
  64. FIFTY-SIX
  65. FIFTY-SEVEN
  66. TRICKSTER
  67. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  68. Also by Susan Dennard
  69. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  70. Newsletter Sign-up

Vaness hissed beside Vivia, and her lips parted. Vivia silenced her with a hand. Not because Yoris didn’t deserve a reply—he didn’t—but because for once he was right. So right that Vivia’s throat closed up and her joints locked tight. Worse, he wasn’t finished yet. He had one more thing to roar before his boat tipped away.

“May the Hagfishes claim your soul and may Noden reject it!” he bellowed, and Vivia’s breath caught. Her vision shrank down to only him. Don’t say it, don’t say it.

He said it, this time in rough Dalmotti with an accent thick as Nubrevnan sand: “May the Hagfishes claim your soul and may Noden reject it!”

The drills beneath the Lioness awoke.

FORTY-SEVEN

Aeduan did not know how long he stayed trapped in stone, neither living nor awake. All he knew was that, when his eyes fluttered open, he was on his back and the sky was thick with storm clouds.

He took his time rising, testing each muscle, each bone. But he had no wounds or pain, and he was alone. Gone was the child named Saria, and gone was the black bird who had laughed at Aeduan’s pain.

All that lingered was a scent like rosewater, and a second like forest fog. The clear lake waters and frozen winters were gone entirely.

Now you understand, said the first Aeduan. The mystery of that smell. The games it likes to play.

Yes, Aeduan did understand, and he hated it. The Rook King had always enjoyed his mischief, and now Aeduan’s existence was beholden to him. As Paladins, they had both been bound to the Aether all those centuries ago, but the Rook King had always been much stronger.

You also understand, first Aeduan continued, what you must do. I do not care what you do to me, but she must be protected at all costs.

“Yes,” he croaked in reply, a mere whisper choked with soil, and though he told himself he would help the dark-giver simply because Saria’s punishment was not worth risking, the truth was murkier. It lay submerged, bound to the very skin and bones of this body in a shade of deepest red.

He would help her because the first Bloodwitch loved her.

And he would help her because he, the Old One, loved Her. The goddess who’d made them all. Even in a thousand years of dark water, he had never lost Her memory. How could he? She was the closest to a mother he’d ever had.

Yet that hadn’t stopped him from betraying her in the end because, as Evrane had said, he always had been the weakest of them all. He had never truly become an Exalted One, yet he’d never joined the Six.