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Night met day. Dark met light. And through the hazy, shimmering boundary, a male stepped forward.

He adjusted the collar of his tunic, rolling his neck as I glanced at the darkness that surrounded him.

And Rheaghan smiled.

39

Estrella

“You,” I said, my mouth parting in shock. He’d been the very male who planted the idea of murdering Malazan in my head, the one whoknewI wouldn’t be in my room that night.

“Now don’t look at me like that, Princess,” the God of the Sun said, his smile fading into a teasing smirk. “You know I cannot allow you to pass.”

I shook my head, grimacing, as I took a step forward. Putting myself in his face, I growled as my creature reawakened. She didn’t like that he’d knocked us on our ass, not in the shadows.

This realm wasours.

“They don’t deserve to die,” I said, enunciating the words slowly. Carefully. Allowing him to feel that this was not a battle I would relent easily.

“Neither do the thousands of lives you stand to save if you would just stop andthink,” Rheaghan argued. He growled down at me, all traces of the light-hearted male disappearing in his rage. “You’re thinking like a human again.” His lip curled as if disgusted and disappointed by the behavior, a flash of flames and scales trailing over his face.

“I am a human!” I shrieked, tired of everyone telling me not to be what I’d been for my entire life. That girl would always be a part of me, and it could save seven people.

Rheaghan’s face softened. “You are the furthest thing from human I’ve seen in centuries. And seven lives are nothing in the grand scheme of all we stand to gain from Mab not knowing of your ability to shadowwalk. Protecting that secret is worth the sacrifice, especially since she will just replace those people with seven new ones before the Tithe. You cannot stop those deaths from happening.”

I looked down to the pits, staring at the humans who were huddled among themselves. Even from here, their fear was palpable, their spirits nearly broken. Tears stung my eyes, my lip trembling as my throat burned.

“I can’t just leave them,” I said, looking up at the King of the Seelie.

He sighed and smiled sadly, raising a single hand to catch me under the chin. The gesture was too sweet, too understanding as he nodded.

“I know, Princess. That’s why I’m here.” He pulled his hand back, shoving his free hand into the pockets of his trousers. “Do try not to hate me come morning,” he said, his brow furrowing as I stared at him in confusion.

That other hand lashed out, striking me in the chest as blinding heat knocked me backward. It seared through me, burning my flesh as I flew through the shadow realm. The tendrils of darkness fumbled, blown backward by the light of the sun as Rheaghan stole them from me. He scattered them to the wind with the power of the sun, consuming my tunnel as I flew through it.

My head snapped back as I landed on something soft.

Air returned to my lungs as I clawed at my chest, fighting against the burning fabric of my clothing and tearing it with black talons.

My chest burned, the flesh sizzling as I finally laid eyes upon my skin. Rheaghan’s handprint was seared into my flesh, marking my chest in the place he’d struck me.

My magic worked to heal it slowly, soothing the burn as I looked at where I’d landed.

The walls of my bedroom surrounded me.

40

Caldris

I walked through the pathway up the center of the throne room after Mab summoned me. Estrella was already present, kneeling at the front of the crowd as Mab lingered on her throne. Her face was unblemished, no trace of the exhaustion from two nights before.

The bond between us was still silent, and my concern settled at seeing her unharmed.

I raised a brow at her in question, that blank, careful face turning up to stare back at me. Her eyes gave me no hint as to why she’d closed the window on our thread, keeping me from feeling whatever she was experiencing internally.

“You called for me?” I asked, dropping to my knee in front of the dais.

Mab rose from her throne, approaching the steps as she nodded to the male at her side. He stepped out of view, ducking behind the column carved with snakes.