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So they’d set aside their hunt, after weeks of fruitless searching, in favor of finding the Crochans The king had protested initially, but yielded His allies and friends in the North needed asthe Crochans … Manon wouldn’t break her proht be the disowned Heir of the Blackbeak Clan, ht now command only a dozen witches, but she could still hold true to her word

So she’d find the Crochans Convince them to fly into battle with the Thirteen With her Their last living Crochan Queen

Even if it led theht into the Darkness’s eht off the snows near-blinding

Lingering was unwise They’d survived these th and wits For while they’d hunted for the Crochans, they’d been hunted the patrols

Manon had given the order not to engage, not to kill AIronteeth patrol would only pinpoint their location Though Dorian could have snapped their necks without lifting a finger

It was a pity he hadn’t been born a witch But she’d gladly accept such a lethal ally So would the Thirteen

"What will you say," Asterin mused, "e find the Crochans?"

Manon had considered it over and over If the Crochans would knoho Lothian Blackbeak was, that she had loved Manon’s father--a rare-born Crochan Prince That her parents had dreamed, had believed they’d created a child to break the curse on the Ironteeth and unite their peoples

A child not of war, but of peace

But those were foreign words on her tongue Love Peace

Manon ran a gloved finger over the scrap of red fabric binding the end of her braid A shred from her half sister’s cloak Rhiannon Named for the last Witch-Queen Whose face Manon somehow bore Manon said, "I’ll ask the Crochans not to shoot, I suppose"

Asterin’s mouth twitched toward a smile "IRarely feared anything But saying the words, those words … "I don’t know," Manon adet that far"

The White Demon That’s what the Crochans called her She was at the top of their to-kill list A witch every Crochan was to slay on sight That fact alone said they didn’t knohat she was to theured it out And then Manon had slit her throat

Manon Kin Slayer, her grandmother had taunted The Matron had likely relished every Crochan heart that Manon had brought to her at Blackbeak Keep over the past hundred years

Manon closed her eyes, listening to the hollow song of the wind

Behind thery whine Yes, they were all hungry these days

"We will follow you, Manon," Asterin said softly

Manon turned to her cousin "Do I deserve that honor?"

Asterin’s ht buiven her that She’d broken it in the Os Asterin had never once complained about it Had see Manon bestowed like a badge of pride

"Only you can decide if you deserve it, Manon"

Manon let the words settle as she shifted her gaze to the western horizon Perhaps she’d deserve that honor if she succeeded in bringing them back to a home they’d never set eyes on

If they survived this war and all the terrible things they must do before it was over