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PROLOGUE

I pushed open the door to the room, my heart brimming with anticipation.

He was awake. Kaye was awake.

Despite everything the healers had said, despite Guinevere’s proclamation, he was awake.

Things could only get better from here. I would help him. Slowly but surely, he’d come back to his full strength.

I’d introduce him to Draven, my husband. Together, we’d help my brother to heal.

I’d have to tell Kaye about Medra. Orcades’s daughter. How happy he would be to have a niece. I knew he would quickly grow to love the little girl. I imagined Kaye chasing little Medra through the halls of the castle and smiled to myself. How good it would be to have a child’s laughter here after so long.

My pulse quickened as the door swung open. Daylight spilled from the windows where the curtains had been left open.

As I entered, a shadow passed over the room as if clouds had suddenly darkened the sun.

The room seemed to shift, dimming to an ominous shade.

I looked to the bed, and a harsh cry escaped my lips.

Kaye sat rigidly upright. His once-vibrant eyes were pools of emptiness. The pallor of death clung to his frail form.

Horror gripped my heart. I had seen this before. I felt my limbs beginning to tremble and clutched the skirt of my gown, desperate to hold on to disbelief.

Yet there was no denying this nightmare.

A groan. Kaye was struggling to get out of the bed. His movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.

Moments before, I had been longing to see him sit up. But not like this. Not like this.

My body felt anchored to the spot as a weight of despair settled upon me.

Across the room, Kaye slid out of the bed and began to walk laboriously towards me.

I let out a whimper.

His approach held none of the warmth I had yearned for. No embrace awaited me in those lifeless arms. Only a sinister threat in the clacking of his jaw and the sight of his pale white teeth.

The room had become a chilling stage. Elongated shadows of moonlight stretched across the floor where moments before there had been sunlight.

We were cursed. The Pendragons were cursed. The gods frowned upon us.

No. I knew better. There were no gods.

I could not move.

My brother drew closer. Limbs bent with unnatural stiffness as they slowly lifted.

Disbelief clung to me like a suffocating shroud.

And then I understood.

He needed me.

Heartbreak surged within as I stared at those empty arms.

This was not the joyous reunion I had envisioned mere moments before.