TER

re

bargains

ates. I had traded years of my immortality for the names of traitors and offered

idered bargainin

na Vale glare at me as though she

o leave my fam

you to s

not the s

they may require t

es nar

ugh you know what

hat is hu

to trust you becaus

N

wer surp

before she

n everything I tell you. But I also expect you to rec

corridor where the d

, uncertainty soft

at she was

nothing to make her underst

demons. They were remnants of something older, beings

had recog

low Queen had begu

Underrealm. There, I can teach you to control yo

do you get

udie

ou think I wa

ou don't rescue princesses w

h esca

rtled

hat life might have been like if the world had

I said. "I

t Ely

every

f I re

oward the

nd the palace wal

ill leave

ace, searching f

ith you, will yo

becomes

sn't a

is the

wn at the mar

have con

ed an

urse y

se whatever that mark

ree

will not hu

erest in harmi

l answer my que

sita

noti

ifficult for y

ave no

have a

that the woman standing before

ge, perhaps, but

mpassion, but

ited none of the

aid. "I will ans

ed me for a

re cond

inc

calling me yo

struck an

our first sanctuary, when she had accidentally destr

aughed fo

ard laughter l

before I coul

I'm not y

ked a

spered. "Yo

t, neither

e floor

se from the

toward

ng a wounded guard between them. Their bodies were th

em lifted

sk spl

SEL HAS

two bega

e windows

clutching her wris

ught

atures

sed my

ey could reach us. Their screams echoed through the palace, follow

und rose from b

kn

slow s

nt s

o

he

t

meant the barrie

nt something w

th

eneath our f

na star

is t

her aga

t answ

from beneat

, almost af

le go

Seraphina's

ice la

er has bee

or spli

gateway to th

ed around us, tea

a grabbe

what is h

to her frig

should have re

teway

and reached through

s were far

were mad

lver bracelet bearing the roy

sa

er body

ispered. "My mother wor

ppeared benea

ld move, I pulled he

re the portal closed was th

ittle g

pa

h terribl

ys come b