Page 174 of The Princesses of Ruin
Broodfather Vek’ihr swims into my vision. He extends his flesh, scored from his own body. I accept it, pushing the piece of my father into my mouth. My radula shreds his offering, and his thoughts spill through my neural gills. The taste is heavy with yearning, sweetened by pride, laced with the ache of love.
He loves the Ki’ah Ohn queen and her selkie mate. Fiercely. Honorably.
But the flavor shifts. There is a distinction—one he does not name, but that the blood names for him.
He lovesmedifferently.
Deeper. Protective. Bound by lineage and purpose.
My broodfather loves me.
I swallow, and in that act, I burn the bitterness from my stomach. Negative feelings of my impending nuptials will no longer take hold in me. I am serenity. I am pliability. I am chosen. I will take the landbound path. I will seal this bond for my people, so that they may rise closer to the sun.
She is Ki’ah Ohn. She is selkie. She is fragile, and strange, and hideous to behold.
But I am the bridge.
And I will bind our empires.
Forever.
Epilogue: Duskwalker
Flowers and bread curl through the scent of her sweat. She moves with deadly precision. Her every step is fluid grace. A waterfall of black hair spills down her shoulders. It curls and waves with the wind as she moves.
I lean forward, trying to smell her better. The branch beneath me creaks and her weapons routine stops. She whirls toward me, her spear aimed at my heart.
“Who’s there?” she demands in a voice made of snow.
I want to reveal myself.
I want to take her now.
The thorny brand on my wrist tightens and pain shoots through my body. My shadows falter, and the girl gasps, taking a step back.
“What are you?”
I cloak myself in darkness once more, until I’m certain she can’t see me. She blinks and rubs her eyes.
“Princess Thaleia, it’s well past time to come inside,” someone says from the doorway to the training ground.
She nods and waves them off. When they’re gone, she looks back to where I squat in the shadows.
“I’ve seen you before, you know. I told my mother. She says I must kill you.”
I chuckle. “You will try.”
The hair on her arms stands on end and her scent changes, laced with fear. Fuck, it’s a gorgeous bouquet of smells.
She pulls her lips back in a snarl. “Iwillkill you.”
“Two years yet. Keep practicing, little flower.”
With that, I take flight, returning home.
She roars a curse at my back and I grin.
Two years more.
