Book 2: Belief and Trust

Estrella

Anwen’s pale eyes reflect the stars back at me. My body hums with pleasure. In the wake of enjoying him, I feel the buzz of the healing during my coronation again, the guiding hand of the Goddess and Her whispered assurance that I stride the right path. Having him here feels nearly as good. I am half-drunk on his presence, so nearly out of my mind that I almost forgot why I left in the first place.

King Kieran stands accused—credibly—of orchestrating Father’s murder. There is a note in his hand, a dead messenger who met a dead assassin at a time that makes King Kieran impossible to prove innocent. And I have heard story after story of King Kieran and Queen Raven’s cruelty, though I’m somewhat less inclined to believe every story of Queen Raven after she discovered me at the mouth of the dungeon. In truth, if the evidence is to be believed, I have no idea if Anwen was involved in the planning, the murder itself.

But I want to believe him. T