HAZEL'S POVMy eyes flew open to the blinding rays of the sun coming in through my window. I sat up on my bed and looked around.From the intensity of the sun, I knew I had woken up later than I meant to. My head banged hard against my skull.I stood to my feet but felt unusually lazy, and above all my heart ached with a kind of void. I felt empty.My throat burned. I needed water. I staggered towards the jug on the shelf, my hands closing around it, but it was empty.I wondered why it had seemed full from a distance. My head was playing tricks on me.My shoulders dropped at the thought that I'd have to go get water from the kitchen.I walked towards the door anyway."Hazel." Dorwen's voice came from behind me just as my hand landed on the door.I turned to face her, my eyes catching the glass of water in her hands.How did she know I needed that, I thought."G-good morning," I stammered, surprised she was in my room. She rarely came here, and certainly not in the mornings, when she w

The doors to my room were thrown open with more force than I'd ever used on them.My maids stared at me with wide eyes from where they stood arranging a dress my brother had brought in that afternoon and instructed I put on.I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath just to calm the storm rising in me."My lady, is anything wrong?" the head maid asked."Get out. All of you, out. I need some space," I ordered, sounding harsher than I meant to.They scurried to their feet and out, shutting the door behind them. They knew better than to come close when I was angry.I didn't wait. I got out of my night robe and rushed to my closet, pulling out one of my leather combat outfits and getting into it as fast as I could.I went for my sword at the back of the closet and slid it into its sheath.I rushed to the door that led to the balcony and turned the knob, but it was locked."Gosh, what the hell," I said.I rushed to my cupboard where the keys had always been, my shaky hands moving through the

I jumped down from my horse, heart pounding, moving forward just in time to see him fly over.A roar tore from his mouth when Sadrian's arrow struck home, but it didn't stop him. He just surged forward, disappearing into the night.I climbed back onto my horse, saddling into the dark.I would face the law when word of what I'd done reached the king.***HAZEL'S POVI jerked awake with the kind of force that comes from seeing something terrible, though all I could remember was screams and darkness.I tried to piece it together, and only a white patch of memory surfaced. A man standing at the center, facing someone I couldn't see, that part blocked out, like it had been wiped from my knowledge.This had something to do with Aldridge's setting.Sweat ran down my back. I got out of bed. I needed out of this room, it had grown too hot for my liking.I stepped down to pour myself a glass of water and drank it all in one go, but it still wasn't enough to settle me.My heart kept pounding as

My heart pounded in my chest as Dravon's eyes stayed on me."Hazel," he called. Something in me leaped at the sound of my name on his tongue.I shook my head as fresh tears welled in my eyes, dripping down my jaw.I couldn't take a step forward, not after seeing him in this condition.He groaned as he staggered to his feet. My heart stopped when he began to walk towards me.But I didn't move an inch, and there he stood, only a breath away from me.My heart stopped as my eyes followed his hands until they came up to my face to wipe the tears from my cheeks.My breath caught at the feel of his hands against my skin. They should have been hot, but they weren't, they were warm, and for a moment I closed my eyes to savor it."Why did you have to do it all alone? Why?" he said.I didn't speak. I couldn't, not with the lump in my throat. I expected him to be furious, to hate me for what I'd done.My eyes stayed on him, but my hands moved upward, shaking, until they came to rest against his r

Nathan's POVMy limbs ached from hours of riding, but I kept going. I needed to reach Astridgar quickly.Navarre was no longer safe for me. Nothing was safe anymore, not with the king and his commanders coming for me, not with that brutal dragon king hunting my life, and especially not after betraying Sylthara. I couldn't face her. Not anymore.I arrived in Astridgar at night, a small town far east of Aldridge.I'd chosen it because it was quiet and small, nothing like Navarre which never slept being the capital. No one would find me here. It was one of the most remote towns in Aldridge, and more than that, Dallan's wife lived here with her son.She'd left after his death, claiming she couldn't bear staying somewhere that kept pulling his memory back. I'd never visited before, but we'd kept in touch through letters, and I'd sent provisions through trusted merchants when I could. It wasn't enough, but visiting hadn't been possible with everything on my plate.I followed the narrow path