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Myrzeth lets his hands fall and steps away. My jaw unclenches.

“Why don’t you show them what you can do, niece? Show them what you’ve been hiding. Show them what made the kaligorven steal their children.”

With that, he steps off the platform and beckons in the ténesomni with a twitch of his fingers. It fills the clearing as it normally does, then swirls angrily around Amyrah. The hairs of my arms stand on end when I think of how Myrzeth used the darkness as a weapon against my father. But I know Amyrah is stronger than him. She has to be.

Oh, Elyon, let her be ...

Her tremulous voice cuts through the gloom. “Stop.”

With one word, the shadows are flung away. They hang in the air everywhere but around her. The absence of darkness surrounding her is on display for all to see.

No, I will name it for what it truly is.Light.

And even though this terrifies me, even though I know this means danger for her, I can’t help but feeling a sense of relief that the Vale gets to see her as I do.

44. Teron

TÉRON

I DRAG MYSELF THROUGH THE CROWD on hands and knees, strength ebbing as my despair grows.

Here I am, again, powerless to save the most important person in my life.

You will fail your daughter just as you failed your wife,a voice slithers through my mind.Myvoice. The serrated words tear as they pass.

I rest my forehead on the backs of my hands and let the sobs thunder through me. The last wicked dream of Ellehra plays out before my eyes.

The knife in my hand ... the knife in her heart.

This is all my doing.

“Morvus, what are you doing down there?” a stranger says. The sharp toe of a boot finds the space between my ribs. Air whistles through my teeth.

“Get up.”

I push myself so I rest back on my heels. The gray gloom deepens to black. A sheet of darkness whips by, heading to the podium. But I can make out nothing beyond the endless skirts and trousers of the valefolk.

As I try and fail to gain my feet, the shadows rush back, filling the air like a heavy mist once more. Gasps and mutters erupt. A plume of light ahead calls my spirit to action.

I need to be there.

Begging Elyon to remove the false image of Ellehra from my mind, I find the strength to stand.

I grab shoulders and part the people like water, fighting through the current of bodies until I come out at the front.

The platform is flanked on either side by two monstrous kaligorven teeming with shadows they create and shed continually. I cannot look at them for long without the blood in my veins freezing.

Instead, I fix my eyes on the lone figure, the only thing that matters to me right now. Soft waves of hair crown her head. The nondescript cloak adorns her like a robe. And the pendant at her throat is more dazzling than the fairest jewel.

My daughter.

Myrzeth hops onto the platform and orders the darkness to move to the side. The putrid taste that generally accompanies his presence fills my mouth.

“Do you see?” Myrzeth spits out an incredulous laugh. “Because of this girl’s insolence, the kaligorven have retaliated. When they gave the order of darkness, she opposed them with everything she is. Of course, she spared no thought for the cost of her actions. Her comfort was worth your sacrifice.”

I am jostled as the people I have lived with my whole life agitate into a roiling sea.

“She must pay,” someone shrieks. It is echoed out of hundreds of mouths.