Page 93 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

In the space of a single breath, the sun vanishes behind the western ridge.

Vale looks to the ceiling and releases a held breath. “Good.”

The crowd utters words of relief amid their astonishment.

“Myst!” Sabine’s joyful voice cuts through the tense chatter. She pulls out of Woudix’s grasp, races across the room, and throws her arms around Myst’s neck.

Myst whinnies softly, resting her muzzle on Sabine’s shoulder.

Tòrr lets out a burst of steam as if to say,Where is my hug?

Sabine laughs, wiping away tears, and wraps her arms around him, too.

I can barely tear my eyes off her.

All this distance. I’ve crossed all this distance on nothing but faith, all to answer one burning question.

And the answer?

I would fall for this woman from the stars themselves.

Vale grabs my chin again, wrenching my attention away from Sabine, bushy silver eyebrows lowered as he glowers. “Which did you come for, human? My daughter or a throne?”

Another hush falls over the room as hundreds of ears await my answer. But none seem as interested as Sabine herself, whose fingers weave anxiously through Tòrr’s mane, her attention darting between me and the twine loop on her finger.

Her, I want to say.In a thousand lives, I would always come for her.

And yet…her father currently holds my jaw in a death grip. He spent years searching for her—he won’t let me walk out of here with his prized daughter.

“I don’t remember your daughter,” I murmur measuredly, lifting an indifferent shoulder. “Whether we were engaged or not, I cannot desire someone I don’t know. I want the throne. It’s my birthright. My duty. And I will see it dripping with Rian Valvere’s blood asIsit upon it.”

Sabine’s face falls before she struggles to put up a mask of apathy—but I catch it.

Vale’s massive fingers tighten painfully on my jaw with a bone-crushing promise. “Our brother, Immortal Meric, isnot yet awakened. He alone holds the ability to discern truth. So, in his absence, we will call for a godkissed bloodtaster to verify your claim. Until then, you’ll remain locked and under guard.”

“You can’t treat him like a prisoner!” Sabine cries.

Vale snaps, and a bolt of blue energy ripples across the room in warning. Sabine clenches her jaw, though her eyes simmer with anger.

“I have the right to speak to him—you can’t keep us apart,” she argues.

Vale beckons Artain forward with his free hand. “Keep Lady Sabine under lock and guard, too.”

“What? No! You can’t do that, Father!”

His face remains stony. “I didn’t go to the lengths I did to bring you here only for some human male to take you from me. You are a princess of Volkany and deserving of the privileges under that title. But make no mistake—I may be your father, but I am still yourgod.”

He releases my jaw.

“As for you, Lord Basten.” He circles Myst and Tòrr, assessing them. “I appreciate the gifts. Let us hope that your claim has merit. Both that you are the heir and that you did not come for my daughter. Our altars always need fresh sacrifices—and a king’s blood would be especially potent.”

To emphasize his power, he raises his hand to shoot a bolt of energy at Tòrr, peeling away Ferra’s glamour so the monoceros stands before us in his full fae form.

Vale nods to Captain Tatarin, who rests a hand on my shoulder to lead me away. My muscles bunch, resistful, but her grip presses into me in a gentle warning.

I force my shoulders back and down.

Sabine and I share one last look before I’m draggedaway. There’s an ocean of uncertainty between us. She looks pale. Shaken. She thinks I don’t want her—that when Iyre took my memory of her, she also took my love.

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