Bloomsbury YA

“Beautiful.” But he isn’t looking at the necklace.

Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom …

Those few days had been made slightly easier by the clean strips of linen that Gavriel and Rowan provided, undoubtedly from their own shirts. When they’d cut them up, she had no idea.

Yrene’s hand drifted across her abdomen and lingered.

“Sleep only,” Lorcan said, not bothering to hide the heat rising in his stare. “For now.”

Until she was ready. Until she told him, showed him, she wished to share everything with him. That final claiming.

But until then, he wanted her here. Sleeping at his side, where he might watch over her. As she had watched over him.

Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom.…

Her kingdom. Her home. She would see it again.

Abraxos staring toward that blasted bit of earth on the plain, toward the mate who would never return, while the city below celebrated.

And tell him thank you—for walking that dark path with me back to the light.
It had been his honor. From the very beginning, it had been his honor, the greatest of his immortal life.

Well, I do.” His growled words echoed across the water and stone, and he lowered his voice. Worse things than wights might come sniffing down here. “I cared about you on that beach. And your queen did, too.”

She’d protested, but even Gavriel had told her that she was mortal. Untrained. And what she’d done today … Rowan didn’t have the words to convey his gratitude for what Elide had done. The unexpected ally she’d found.