la

ting moments of blessed, unconsciousness. Each time I woke, I felt a piece of

time passed before t

inst the dim light. Isabell held a rolled-up parc

tom, I could see my father's familiar looping signat

ear and cold, like a j

shame upon this pack, Kaela Hicks is hereby exiled. She is cast out from the Stonefang Pa

wn words. His

il

. A broken, rattling sound escaped my throat. The darkness

I heard Ethelene's voice, pleased, and dista

el it. A new kind of pain. Sharp.

r. The smell of burni

e, poison f

quite taken with it once, wasn't he? Such a pity. I've always hated your left profile-the way yo

eye to the corner of my jaw. It was a deep, agonizing burn that we

e wasn't just cutting me. She was car

he pain

gth to run or fight," Isabell's voic

t. A sickening pop. Then the othe

ng my tendons.

sness, my body twitched and jerk

ken doll in

sabell toss the bloodied silver kn

the servants, her voice filled with dis

ground for criminals, exiles, and the unwa

th se

no more care than a sack of garbage. I was dragged, thrown onto the bed

as a blur of

was ai

ddy embankment until I came to a

to my ruined face. The icy drops on my ski

g. A toe. Nothing. My limbs were

d to lift a hand, my arm a dead

p, ragged canyons where smooth skin used to

a mo

d over me. I was going to die here

. I fe

tter. Deep within

wasn't the lingering

as l

age and the heartbreak, my baby-or one of them-had surv

ignited a fire in t

ld no

not let

wards the black, unforgiving sky. I couldn't speak, but a

helene. Pre

ed like brands

ead. I will become a monster far worse than the one you made m