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I nodded. “They will be as my own family. I will not leave them alone. I swear to you.”

The moment I moved to embrace her, instead I slammed into a broad body coated in battle leathers.

His face was hard. His skin was flushed red from sun and exertion beneath the long beard over his chin, but I knew those eyes. The blue was the same as the cruel king at the Night Folk queen’s table. They matched the innocent boy who’d stood at his side.

“Ice King,” I said. “What more can I do for you? The queen and king are dead. You’ve entombed them. You’ve destroyed folk I called friends.”

The king of Old Timoran paused, a dangerous darkness in his countenance. He’d deluded himself into believing Lilianna Ferus would merely forget all the blood spilled here. The pain of her children, children I would never stop defending.

“You told me my bloodline would reign with Lilianna’s.” The king gritted his teeth in a vicious snarl.

“I said what I said. My statement remains unchanged. The blood of Eli and Lilianna will rule this land.”

He shouted at me, cursed me, and grabbed my arm, yanking me toward him. The force didn’t slam me against the Ice King, it tossed me into a cramped room with a table and blades and a disgusting smell of blood.

I let out a shriek of pain when I saw the man tethered to the table. On instinct, out of rage, it didn’t matter, I rushed to his side and stroked his blood-matted hair. “Sol . . . Sol look at me.”

The Sun Prince was thin—too thin—his cheeks were sunken, his eyes didn’t have the glitter of wryness when he lifted his gaze. “G-Greta?”

My heart ached. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to shout that he was Lumpy, I was his little irritating bird, I was me, but a past I didn’t know stole my words.

“I’m going to look out for you,” I promised. Distant sounds of a humming wrapped around us as I lifted a rolled parchment from my tunic. “When it is darkest, I’ll be there to remind you of your heart.”

“I don’t matter,” he said, voice rough and dry. “He is gone and there is no life for me without him.”

I pressed a kiss on his damp forehead, whispering, “In the darkness, a voice small as the song of a bird will guide you toward the song of your heart. This life is not yet done for you, Sol Ferus. It is not yet done foreitherof you. I will be with you, even when you do not know your own name.”

I opened my eyes, but Sol was gone. A woman was tied and unconscious in the corner. Herja Ferus.

A guard shoved me forward. “King says to hurry it up. He wants her quiet from now on.”

I glared at him and kneeled beside Herja. She’d been battered. Old blood soaked her brow, and her eyes were swollen from beatings. I pressed a hand over her forehead and removed a parchment, the same as I’d done with Sol, and read the words, praying she’d hear.

“Silent you may be, but when he pleads to speak awhile, stay your blade, and find your words.” I leaned close to her ear. “You are strong; you have much to live for. Fight, Princess. Fight until your heart sings and take your place when we return to the beginning.”

A shadow of a tune filled the room as I struck a matchstick and ignited the parchment into flames before the guards could read a single word.

I screamed when they yanked my hair, but the room spun and landed me in front of three men.

Tied to tables as they waited for death. I touched Tor’s forehead. He snapped his eyes to mine, terror lived there, but also agony.

I whispered beside his ear. “Live for him.”

A tear dripped from the corner of Tor’s eyes. He shuddered, no doubt, believing Sol was dead.

I rounded to the center table, holding the dark eyes of my Cursed King. He was broken, terrified, and kept glancing to the corner.

Let him see her, a familiar voice broke through my soul.Sometimes it is the only way to have peace when you see the song of your heart.

Valen was seeing moments of my Kind Heart. A fate tale that had yet to unfold, and my phantom in the dark was singing the tune of it.

You’re doing this for him. I smirked to the emptiness of the room.You’re a sentimental bastard, Whisper.

I knelt beside Valen’s table. “Faces in your dreams live, Night Prince. When you see her, you will not recall your dreams, but a spark will ignite in your heart. Follow it, and you will find her.”

“Witch,” King Eli shouted. “Finish this.”

Oh, I plan to, Ice King. I gave Valen a soft smile. “Keep focused on her.”