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Prologue

I’m going to die today.

I drag myself across the battlefield, the chainmail biting into my neck. My helmet disappeared hours ago, my hair matted to my head, a combination of sweat and blood sticking it to my scalp like a shell. The sword of Arankos hums in my hand, as though it can sense that the last of my bloodline is holding it. As though it can sense my impending death.

A Velesian soldier rushes me, and I lunge at him, my sword clanging against the armor enveloping him. It merely sends him stumbling, but I continue on, unconcerned with killing. I have to find Keir.

If I’m going to die, I’m going to die beside him. Like I swore to.

“Keir!” My voice is weak, barely audible over the worn battle raging around me.

I stumble over the endless bodies of the fallen, some still skewered with spears, bleeding into the earth at my feet. Perhaps, Keir is one of them. Perhaps, he has already died. Perhaps, he has already left me alone.

I blink the sweat out of my eyes and focus. No, Keir is still alive. I can still feel him, still feel that thrumming warmth in my chest. He’s here, somewhere.

Another soldier runs at me, swinging his blade. My sword clashes with his, and my arms barely have the strength to hold him back. He knocks my blade away, the tip of his sword striking me across the face. Pain blooms in my ear and jaw. He comes at me again, but this time my blade surprises him, impaling him from below, and he falls back, clutching at the fountain of blood that has burst forth from his neck.

I keep moving, keep pressing on. “Keir!” Blood runs down my neck, and I reach up to feel that my ear is flapping loose from my head.

It doesn’t matter. I’m about to die.

We’ve lost. The Peyrusian House will fall today. I will take my family name to Nav with me.

Through the melee, I see him, still fighting, still swinging his sword as the Veles soldiers close in on him. Keir’s face is splattered with blood and filth.

The soldiers are not expecting me, and I bear down on them both, my sword removing an uncovered head before tearing open the other one’s throat.

Keir’s eyes meet mine for only a split second, before we continue to fight together. My arms ache as I swing Arankos. I want nothing more than to lie down and give up. But Keir fights on, so I must too. I can’t let him down. Not now.

A soldier charges from the left, and I cry out to warn Keir, but I’m too late. The blow lands in Keir’s side, tearing through his tattered armor. Keir’s eyes widen, a blur of white in his grimy face. My blade slices open the soldier’s neck, and he falls away, body convulsing, as death takes him.

Keir’s hand is clutched to his side, blood spewing from the wound. He drops to his knees, and I land in front of him, dropping Arankos to the blood-soaked ground. I take his face in my hands, my thumbs trying to wipe away the sweat and the dirt.

“We’ve lost,” I say to him.

He grimaces, attempting a smile. “At least we die together.” He sags against me, his breathing shallow. “I love you, Elara. I hope you know that.”

Tears bite at my eyes, and I press my forehead to his. “Yes, I know that.”

Keir’s shoulders jerk as a short laugh escapes him, and his blue eyes look into mine. “Even when we’re about to die, you can’t say it.”

“I’ll say it in my next life, when we are farmers, tending to our crops, surrounded by laughing children, remember?”

He raises a hand, pushing a strand of blood-stained hair out of my face. “Until our next life then, Elara.” I can taste the blood, dirt and sweat as he kisses me tenderly.

Even though I know this is inevitable, even though I know what is coming, I still cry out as he slumps against me with a strangled gasp.

“Keir, no. No.” Tears slowly roll down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry,” he says, his eyes fluttering closed. “Don’t cry, jewel. You never cry.”

Thundering hooves reverberate through the ground below us. I clutch Keir to my chest as his breathing slows. “Wait for me.” I brush his mottled blond hair from his forehead. “Wait for me by the Gates in Nav.”

“I’ll see you soon,” he whispers.

I hold him close, feeling his body go still. He breathes his last, and then I am alone on the battlefield, rocking his body back and forth gently. I grit my teeth as I feel the warmth in my chest burn up, like the dying embers of a fire. Keir’s bond to me withers and dies, tearing from beneath my ribcage with a sharp snap.

I howl as I press my cheek against his.