I look into her eyes. Her gaze is so piercing and clear. “I think I could love him.” I pause. “I know what he must do. Mother is quite thorough in guaranteeing allegiance.”

“I think he could love you, too.” She squeezes my hands. “I hear it when he speaks of you. I see it when he looks at your window.”

I turn my hands inside hers and squeeze back. “I bear you no ill wishes, Sister. I know … I know how things must be.” My eyes threaten to well with tears, and I blink them away. “You will do what is right. He will, too. I have no doubt.”

She nods—but then shakes her head. “I do not know what is right.” The words are spoken in a whisper.

“Nolla Verin … I don’t understand.”

“What would you have done with the trapper in the woods?”

“What are you talking about? Why does it matter?”

“Just tell me. Please.”

I push out the words. “I would have let him live.”

She closes her eyes. A tear slips away from her lashes. The silence around us presses in like a weight.

I put my hands over hers. “He likely would have moved into that town and rung the alarm that we had entered Emberfall.”

“Emberfall had so few forces available,” she whispers. “It would not have mattered.”

I agree with her.

I did not know she realized that.

“There was a sister in the woods,” she says. “I saw her.”

I grip her wrists. “What?”

“There was a sister. Another girl. The guards hadn’t spotted her. Mother would have ordered her death as well.” She lets out a breath. “I allowed her to get away.”

My heart is beating so fast. My sister has never admitted any shred of empathy. “I allowed her to get away too,” I say.

Her eyes stare into mine. “You did?”

“Yes. As did Parrish.” And now my guard regrets every moment of it, I am certain.

“Mother always says she named me heir because I never question her,” says Nolla Verin. “I do what needs to be done.”

I smile sadly. “You do it well.”

She shakes her head fiercely. “I do what she says because I do not have the strength to question her. You do.”

“She would certainly disagree with you calling it a strength.” I look up into my sister’s troubled eyes and straighten my back. “I do not matter, Nolla Verin. You will be a great queen. He will be a great king. And our countries will finally be at peace. Do your duty, I am ready.”

The field is absolutely silent when we step out of the palace. I expected Nolla Verin to bind my hands or tether me somehow, but she winds her fingers with mine and we walk onto the field together.

Mother looks pleased.

She has ordered Grey to kill me, and she looks pleased.

I force my eyes away from her. The soldiers standing in formation don’t dare move. Her guards are ready and still. No one will question her. No one will stop this.

The grass slides under my bare feet. I wear robes with no belt, my red hair long and unbound. I am afraid to look at Grey. I am afraid that I will find doubt or sorrow or hesitation in his expression.

But I have to look at him. He must know this is the only way forward. He must know I will not fault him for doing this.

As my eyes lift, I find his men first. His friends. My friends. They have Iisak on a chain. Tycho looks even better in trim armor than he did in palace finery. His face is full of anguish. Noah looks disgusted. Jake looks like he wants to take on the entire army to stop this. And Grey.

Grey looks like a prince. In the combined colors of Syhl Shallow and Emberfall, he is regal and commanding. There is no hesitation. No uncertainty. The man who whispered his fears in the darkness of my bedroom is gone, leaving a prince who will be king.

I expected to find horror and misery in his gaze, but those dark eyes are cold and ready.

I would rescue you, he said so many times.

So many times I refused.

I would refuse now. But he does not offer.

Mother is speaking, but I do not hear the words. I do not need to.

I hear her intent.

Cold air swirls around me, and I release Nolla Verin’s hand to step forward. The sense of anticipation in the air is almost palpable. I should have seen. I should have known. My mother does not flinch. She rules by fear and power, and what better way to show her people how ruthless she can be than by killing her own daughter.

I stop in front of Grey. He says nothing. His eyes reveal nothing. I remember why I once found him frightening.

Do it, I think. You must.

He must kill me or she will kill him. I know it. He knows it too.

“Don’t do this,” Noah growls from behind him.

Grey does not flinch. His hands lift, settling on my shoulders, sliding upward to find my neck. My breath catches as his thumbs settle over my pulse point, and he surely must feel the steady thrumming of my heart.

I hope he will do it fast. I hope it will not hurt.

I hope. I hope. I hope.

He has not moved. His eyes are heavy and intent on mine, but there is no mercy there.

“Do it,” I breathe. “You must. For our people, Grey.”

“You hesitate,” my mother calls. “Prince Grey, are you unwilling to prove your loyalty? Are you unwilling to do as I ask?”

“Do it,” I say, my voice a low rush. His hands are cold at my throat. “Grey, you must. You cannot rescue me.”

Mother takes a bow from her nearest guard, then nocks an arrow on the string. The point is leveled at me. “Shall I demonstrate true strength for you?”

“Mother, no!” says Nolla Verin.

“I would rather die at your hand than at hers!” I all but scream at him. “Do it, Grey. Please. You said you would obey any order I give. I order you! Do it!”

I hear the swip of an arrow. The world goes white. I suck in a breath, prepared for pain.

None comes. I blink up at Grey. We are alone, surrounded by trees, the mountains a wide stretch to my left. The sun beams down. His hands are still so secure on my neck.

“What happened?” I whisper. “What did you do?”

He looks down at me, and for the first time, his eyes reveal a hint of emotion. “I crossed over. We cannot stay.”

“You … you crossed over?”

“If I am to be king,” he says, his expression fierce and determined, “I must stop taking orders.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

GREY

I expect to return to chaos, but the training fields are oddly still silent. Lia Mara is now behind me, and my weapons are in hand. My plan is to grab my people and magic them across as well, but Karis Luran is too strategic. Too vicious. We’ve been gone less than a minute, but her guards have taken my people. They’re on their knees, a crossbow pointed at each bowed head.

I don’t know how to save them all. Lia Mara is pressed against my back, and I wonder if I saved her at their expense. She has one of my knives in each hand, but we cannot stand against an army. Cold wind swirls across the training grounds to make me shiver.

Karis Luran raises her bow. She’s six feet in front of me, but I stare down at the point of that arrow and do not move. “You will not rule me by fear. You will not kill your daughter.”