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Slamming the door, Ahnna locked it behind her and pushed a chair under the handle to keep it from turning.

Crossing the room, she fell to her knees in a pool of leather skirts, sobs tearing her body apart because she’d failed again. Failed to protect the kingdom she loved above all else. And though she wanted to scream and blame Edward, the fault was her own for not rooting out the truth.

Instead, she’d been outmaneuvered, and she’d spilled her heart to the enemy.

And she had no idea what to do about it. No idea how she could make this right because no part of her felt like she could go back to Ithicana with the news that not only had she failed to gain the increase in trade they needed, but the one nation that had been stalwart for decades had now turned their back on Ithicana entirely.

“You have to go back,” she whispered between sobs. “You need to explain what has happened so they can react accordingly.”

She wouldn’t be punished, Ahnna knew that. Instead, she’d be shuffled off into a corner where she’d be out of sight. Unable to cause any more problems. A name that faded from conversation until, over time, she was nearly forgotten.

Visions of her future filled her mind, tears rolling down her face as her imagination subjected her to a taste of what it would be like. To watch her country decay and crumble, her people abandoning their islands for chances at new lives in other kingdoms. To watch her home cease to exist and know that she was to blame.

How much time passed, she couldn’t have said, her miserable reverie broken only by the sound of an explosion.

Lifting her head, Ahnna watched the sparkle of fireworks drifting past her window, the palace putting on a show to celebrate its prince’s union. A show of strength as the nation headed to war with a new ally at its back and the old left in the dust.

Climbing to her feet, Ahnna watched the explosions of light over Verwyrd, not moving until the smoke had cleared and her mind was certain.

She’d leave tonight.

Going to her closet, Ahnna took out her Ithicanian garb, neatly pressed. Unfastening the gown, she put it on the bed, then dressed, making a bundle for a spare set of clothing, along with the crown and earrings, which she’d return to Lara. Her mother’s necklace she kept on for safekeeping.

Shoving knives into her boots, she buckled on her sword, then sat to wait until it was late enough that she could move through the palace without having to face endless nobles who’d laugh at her misfortune.

Music played on and on, shrieks of laughter reaching her even through the thick walls as the Harendellians celebrated. Gradually, the noise began to quiet, the nobility slowly shepherded down the spiral to the city, where they’d find their beds in their fancy homes along the riverbank.

Only when there was utter silence did Ahnna go to the door. Moving the chair, she unlatched it and then pulled it open, an argument for her bodyguards to let her pass already rising to her lips.

But there was no one in the hallway.

“Why would there be?” Ahnna muttered. The Harendellians had only been pretending that her well-being mattered, and they need pretend no longer. Hefting her bundle over her shoulder, Ahnna started down the hallway on silent feet.

The air felt charged, but Ahnna ignored the goosebumps rising on her arms as she headed toward the servant staircase. She didn’t make it far before stopping in her tracks.

Alexandra was walking toward her. “I’ve been waiting for you, Ahnna,” the queen said. “I suspected you’d leave after he humiliated you. That you’d wait for it to quiet, then slip out in the night.”

“Are you here to stop me?”

The queen gave a bemused laugh and said, “Hardly. You’ve played your role to perfection, my dear. I had worried you wouldn’t rally, but tonight? Tonight you were magnificent. Every bit the Ithicanian we were promised. Twice the woman that blond bitch will ever be.”

Ahnna’s skin was crawling, her instincts screaming danger, but Alexandra was unarmed, so she held her ground as the queen drew in front of her. She gripped Ahnna’s shoulders. “I hope that you won’t take this personally, Ahnna, for this really has nothing to do with you. I merely needed someone to take the blame.”

“Pardon, Your—”

Alexandra jerked one of Ahnna’s knives from its sheath.

Ahnna reflexively stepped away and pulled another knife. But the queen didn’t move to attack. “I highly suggest you run, my dear,” Alexandra said. “You might well escape with your life.”

Before Ahnna could answer, Alexandra lifted the knife she’d stolen and stabbed it down.

Through her own left hand.

Barely able to comprehend what was happening, Ahnna watched in horror as the queen slid the knife free of her flesh and then, without hesitation, shoved it through her own cheek.

“Stop!” Ahnna reached for her. “What are you doing?”

Alexandra only stepped back, took a deep breath, and plunged the knife just below her belly button.

And then she screamed.

Shrill and desperate, she howled, “Help me!”

“Oh God,” Ahnna breathed, catching Alexandra as she fell into her arms. Alexandra’s hands locked around her neck, pulling Ahnna’s ear to her mouth. Then the queen of Harendell whispered, “Run.”

More screams split the night. Shrill and piercing, they echoed through Verwyrd. “Assassin! Assassin!” And then, worst of all, “The king is dead!”

Guards exploded around the corner, and at their head was James. He slid to a stop, eyes widening, and Ahnna knew exactly how it looked. Because it was exactly as Alexandra had planned.

“Help me,” the queen sobbed, trying to push out of Ahnna’s arms. “Help me, Jamie.”

“I didn’t do this,” Ahnna said, allowing Alexandra to crawl away. “She did it to herself. James, you know I didn’t do this.”

A soldier appeared around the corner. “The king is dead, my lord! Murdered in his bed by assassins unknown…” His voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Ahnna.

“Edward!” Alexandra howled. “Oh God, she killed him!”

“It’s not true,” Ahnna protested, even as she saw how damning her position appeared. “On my life, I have not done any of this!”

James drew his sword. “You killed my father.”

“I didn’t.” She lifted her hands. They were covered with blood. “James—”

“Don’t,” he whispered.

If you come near me again, if any of you come near me again, I’ll kill you all. I swear it. Her last words to him filled Ahnna’s head, and she knew James was hearing them again, too.

Scrambling to her feet, Ahnna took several rapid steps back. “I didn’t do this. You know me. You know I wouldn’t do this.”

But she could see in his eyes that James was past reason, so deep in grief and anger that there was nothing else. The queen of Harendell was framing her. And Alexandra had picked her moment well.

Run.

Spinning around, Ahnna broke into a sprint, her boots pounding on the thick carpet. But not as loudly as James’s as he pursued, shouting orders to secure the palace and lower the gates.

The gates that were the only way out of this palace in the sky. Which meant she needed to get to them before those taking the orders.

Adrenaline burned through Ahnna’s veins as she rounded the curved hallway, elbowing past those who’d spilled into the corridor.

“Stop her!” James shouted, but everyone saw Alexandra’s blood on her clothes and recoiled in fear. The door to a servant staircase appeared ahead, and Ahnna wrenched it open. Only for a hand to close on her tunic, ripping her backward.

She fell into James hard enough that he stumbled. Ahnna let herself fall, her weight pulling her clothing free of his grip. Rolling, she lunged to her feet, feeling his fingers catch at her sleeve.

But she had already thrown herself down the stairs, leaping all eight of them to hit the landing. She nearly fell, catching her balance against the wall, her left wrist jamming hard.

Ahnna ignored the pain and jumped down the next eight.

The door at the bottom was closed, and with James on her heels, she didn’t try to open it, only cut right down the narrow passage until she reached another door. Ripping it open, she exploded into the kitchen, crashing into screaming servants.

Ahnna shoved them out of her way, knocking crates over to block the route behind her as she wove through the chaos toward the exit.

Only for two guards to appear, blocking her path.

She didn’t want to hurt them. Didn’t want to make this worse, but neither did she want to die. And Ahnna did not think James would allow her to plead her innocence if he caught her.

So instead, she picked up speed.

The soldiers lifted their blades, grim determination on their faces, but at the last minute, Ahnna dived.

She slid along the polished floor. Her momentum sent her between them, but the sound of blades striking stone made her jerk her legs beneath her. Scrambling on all fours, she got her footing even as James shoved the men out of the way, gaining ground onher.

There would be no outrunning him.

Ahnna’s heart roared, her eyes burning because, despite his betrayal, she didn’t want to hurt him. Wasn’t sure that she could, even if it meant her own life.

Think.

There was an exit to the courtyard ahead, but soldiers appeared, blocking her path. She skidded to a stop. Pulling her sword free, Ahnna turned to face James. He was stalking toward her, weapon raised. One of his eyes was swollen shut from where she’d hit him earlier.

Which meant his depth perception would be off.

“Why?” he demanded. “Why my father? Why not me? I’m the one you’re angry with. I’m the one who lied to you. He had your interests at heart! He was trying to protect you from your fucking brother!”

“I didn’t kill him!”

Her words only seemed to enrage him more, and James attacked. Their swords clashed, his blows making her arm shake. She met each of his strikes, staying on the defense even as she looked for a way through. “James, I don’t want to hurt you!”

“You already have,” he screamed. “Why didn’t you kill me instead?”

He would not see reason, that much was clear. He was lost in grief, and Alexandra had masterminded this situation too well. Which meant Ahnna’s only option was to escape.

Ahnna stepped close, but as James moved to strike, she swayed backward just enough that his sword tip sliced through the front of her tunic. Having thought her in range, he overcommitted and stumbled as the force of his swing pulled him sideways.

Ahnna could have killed him right then. Instead, she threw herself into a roll, coming up to her feet and running.

Flinging open the doors to the drawing room, she slammed them shut and turned the latch. A second later, the wood rattled as it was struck. The oak was strong, but the lock wouldn’t hold.

Dropping her blade, Ahnna pushed a sideboard in front of the door, and then a sofa and a toppled bookcase, the books falling every which way across the floor. Racing to the floor-to-ceiling window, she stared out into the black night, clouds having rolled in to obscure the stars.

The door rattled, shouts emanating from beyond. She had minutes before James broke through, no more.

Picking up a chair, she heaved it through the glass, a gale-force wind immediately blasting inside. Ahnna yanked down the billowing curtain, tearing the fabric into lengths, which she tied together. Her hands shook, eyes skipping to the door with every impact of James’s shoulder, the furniture she’d put in front of it shuddering.

Tying the makeshift rope to the legs of a heavy wooden table, Ahnna climbed onto the windowsill.

Below, endless darkness loomed. To fall would be like falling from the heavens themselves.

“So don’t fall,” she growled to herself, taking a steadying breath before turning and leaning back, praying the fabric would hold.

It did.

Leaning near horizontal, she edged, hand over hand, down the tower, the texture of the stone painfully familiar. She wasn’t certain how far down the first ring of the spiral was, and it wasn’t lost on her that if her rope wasn’t long enough to reach it, she was a dead woman.

One way or another.

Wind buffeted her body, trying to knock her loose from her perch, but it wasn’t loud enough to muffle the explosion of wood above her. Nor the shouts of triumph.

Faster, she told herself. But instead, Ahnna looked up.

To see the outline of a familiar figure leaning out the window, hands grasping hold of her makeshift rope.

Then James was lifting her.

Ahnna lost her footing on the wall, a yelp tearing from her lips as she slid down the curtain. The railing of the topmost ring of the spiral flashed past her, and then she caught her grip on the fabric.

Swinging wildly, she desperately climbed, hearing the fabric above her starting to tear.

Hand over hand, she edged higher, seeing the spiral railing that would be her salvation. Twisting her leg around the curtain, Ahnna reached, fingers brushing steel—

And then she was falling.

Ahnna screamed, her nails scraping against the rock as she plummeted, terror filling her veins.

Only for her hands to catch on the railing the next level down.

Her momentum nearly ripped her arms from their sockets, but she held on, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Twin tears squeezed from her eyes, but Ahnna ignored the pain in her body and in her heart as she hooked a leg over the railing, easing over to the other side. On her knees with solid rock beneath her feet, she tried to calm her racing heart.

There was no time for more, because above, the noise of running feet entering the spiral filled her ears.

Moving as quietly as she could, Ahnna ran down the spiral, each footstep sending a knife blade of pain through her shoulders, but it was the words that kept repeating in her thoughts that hurt the most. Why is this happening?

Words that only silenced as she picked out the noise of men running up the spiral toward her.

Shit.

Hand resting on the hilt of her sword, she kept going. When the soldiers coming to aid those in the palace appeared, the torches they carried illuminating her face, she gasped, “Assassins! The king is dead!”

Eyes widened in horror. Most raced past her, though one stopped. “Are you injured, Princess?”

“I’m fine. Go!”

As he carried on, she increased her pace, running like the wind as she spiraled down and down, hearing the shouts of, “She’s alive!” and “She’s the assassin! Catch her!” when the two groups met.

Faster.

A cramp formed in her side, but Ahnna pushed for more speed. Running round and round, the spiral seemingly ceaseless.

Then she reached the bottom.

“Shut the gate!” she screamed at those who were on guard. “The king has been murdered! There is an assassin in the Sky Palace!”

Horror marched across their faces, but the men had no reason not to trust her, so they complied and the gates clanged shut.

Ahnna was already sprinting to the stable.

The horses were stirring restlessly in their stalls, sensing the madness in the air, but Ahnna paid them no mind as she moved to Dippy’s stall. Easing inside, she clipped the lead hanging on the door to his halter, and then looped it around to form reins because there was no time to find his tack.

“Steady,” she murmured, leading him out of his stall. Only to hear James’s shout, “Which way did she go?”

Ahnna’s heart leapt into her throat. Moving next to her horse, she bit down on the pain and vaulted onto his bare back. Pressing her heels to his sides, she edged him into a trot, then dug in her heels as figures appeared at the stable entrance.

Her horse raced between them, shouts ringing after her. She clung to his mane, attempting to guide him toward the gate to the city.

But it was closed.

No.

She tried to haul on the lead rope to stop Dippy, but without a bit in his mouth, her horse was off to the races. He galloped straight at the closed gate, which stood as tall as she did.

It’s too high.

But he didn’t slow.

It’s too fucking high!

She shrieked the last, but Dippy didn’t care. Gathering himself, the gelding jumped.

Only her grip on his mane kept her from falling off as they soared upward and over, her ass lifting off his back as they descended on the far side. As he landed, she slipped sideways, nearly falling off.

Ahnna clung to his mane, barely managing to heave herself back in place as Dippy galloped into the city.

The civilians were out in the streets, having heard the alarm bells ringing in the palace, and astonished eyes gaped at her. If it had been Ithicana, every civilian trained to react to danger, she would have been stopped with an arrow through the chest. But the Harendellians only stood frozen.

She didn’t think the soldiers on the bridge gates would be so helpless, so Ahnna heeled Dippy down to the quay. Hooves clattered in pursuit, and she risked a backward glance to see James bareback on Maven, chasing her through the streets.

She didn’t have to urge her horse to go faster. Sensing that he was being raced, Dippy careened wildly through the streets, hooves skidding on cobbles.

They exploded through the market that ringed the quay, only for the gelding to skid to a stop just at the end of the stone, snorting at the raging black water.

“Go!” she shouted at him. “Jump! I know you can swim!”

But he was having none of it. Remembering what James had taught her about horses, she dismounted. Ripping off her tunic, she placed it over the horse’s head. She knew he’d probably never trust her again, but she still led him over the edge.

Water closed over her head, infinitely colder than she’d expected. Breaking the surface, Ahnna held tight to the lead rope as she and Dippy were hurled downstream. A backward look showing Maven standing at the edge of the quay.

“You can’t run from this, Ahnna!” James screamed, his fury cutting her like a knife. “There is nowhere you can go that I won’t find you!”

Pulling hard on Dippy’s lead rope, Ahnna swam in the direction of the opposite bank, her horse snorting in fear as he followed.

She couldn’t see the bank in the darkness, and cold dug into her with each passing second. Then her foot hit rocks. In a few more strokes, the water was only waist-deep. She and the horse stumbled up the bank in the blackness.

Dippy let out terrified snorts with every panted breath, and afraid he’d stiffen in the cold, she led him onward. She was frozen to the bone, dressed in only trousers and a camisole, but Ahnna gritted her teeth and carried on until she reached the road.

Putting the looped lead rope back over his head, she climbed on her horse and urged him to a trot. Once his shivering ceased, she risked asking him for more speed, for she had no doubt that James had already crossed the bridge in pursuit.

And that if he caught her, she’d die on the edge of his sword.