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Anya grimaced. ‘I had heard that after the arachne attack, Aveum sort of fell apart at the seams… But I didn’t want to believe it. I thought Queen Reyna was stronger than that.’

‘She lost her husband,’ Thea pointed out.

‘She has a kingdom to run,’ Anya countered. ‘Life does not stop after the death of a single person.’

Her sister’s words cut deeper than any blade.

Thea knew that when her existence was wiped from the world, everything else would remain. She knew and hoped that everyone would move forward, her ashes fading in their wake, but it didn’t make it hurt any less that she wouldn’t be there, that life wasn’t hers for the taking.

‘Sorry,’ Anya muttered, giving her a nudge.

‘It’s fine,’ Thea replied, quickening her pace. The sooner they got through the village, the sooner they’d get to Vios, and the sooner they could rally Reyna to their cause and get the fuck out of here.

Anya matched her strides. ‘I’m not… I’m not the most sensitive person,’ she admitted, her breath clouding before her face. ‘The result of spending the majority of my developing years in a cave, I’m afraid.’

‘No one ever accused Thea of being overly sensitive, anyway,’ Wren interjected. ‘Maybe it’s an Embervale trait?’

‘I wouldn’t know the first thing about Embervale traits,’ Thea said.

Anya nodded to Thea. ‘I brought those letters I told you about. When we were at the shadow-touched camp before the Singing Hare? I thought you both might like to read them.’

‘What letters?’ Wren asked.

‘The ones our mother wrote to the Queen of Naarva before the kingdoms fell.’

Thea had never seen Wren look so hopeful. ‘You have letters from our mother?’

‘Here.’ Anya dug through her pockets and offered Wren a small bundle of envelopes tied together with twine.

But to Thea’s surprise, Wren pushed them back. ‘Let’s read them together.’

The only outward sign that this had moved Anya was the fresh flush of pink at the tips of her cheeks, but she simply nodded and stashed the letters away once more.

Soon, they were on the main road to Aveum, the floating domes of Vios hovering in the near distance. Thea wished she had a horse; she could no longer feel her toes.

‘While it’s just the three of us,’ Wren ventured, with a tentative glance at both Thea and Anya, ‘we should talk about our plans for Delmira.’

‘It’s rubble and rot,’ Thea replied.

‘But it’s ours, by birthright,’ Wren argued.

‘It’s Anya’s by birthright,’ Thea corrected. ‘So by all means, have it. Be queen of the ruins.’

Anya snorted. ‘I’m already the supposed Daughter of Darkness – I don’t think I can take another title. How about we give it to you, Wren?’

Wren crossed her arms. ‘This isn’t a joke.’

‘Who said I was joking?’ Anya said.

Wren shook her head. ‘I won’t be the only one to ask this question. I thought it might be prudent to have some semblance of an answer before standing in front of the Queen of Aveum.’

Anya sighed. ‘She’s right. When the fighting is done, the people will want to know who rules what kingdom.’

‘And they’ll rally to their homeland,’ Wren added.

‘Let them rally to whichever one of you wants to rule over the ashes,’ Thea said. ‘I’m not long for this world anyway.’

‘Thea,’ Wren chastised. ‘Don’t think like that —’