Page 73 (1/2)

Manon took a breath Another

"We have known only bloodshed and violence for five hundred years We will know it for another five hundred yet"

"Liar," solory"

But Asterinup her white shirt Rising in the stirrups to bare her scarred, brutalized abdomen "She does not lie"

UNCLEAN

There, the word remained stamped Would always be stamped

"How many of you," Asterin called out, "have been similarly branded? By your Matron, by your coven leader? How s burned before you ht hold them?"

The silence that fell noas different frolanced at the Thirteen to find tears in Ghislaine’s eyes as she took in the brand on Asterin’s womb Tears in the eyes of all of them, who had not known

And it was for those tears, which Manon had never seen, that she faced the host again "You will be killed in this war, or after it And you will never see our hoain"

"What is it that you want, Blackbeak?" Petrah asked from the archway

"Ride with us," Manon breathed "Fly with us Against Morath Against the people ould keep you froain Manon pushed ahead, "An Ironteeth-Crochan alliance Perhaps one to break our curse at last"

Again, that shuddering silence Like a storm about to break

Asterin sat back in the saddle, but kept her shirt open

"The choice of how our people’s future shall be shaped is yours," Manon told each of the witches asseht fly to war and never return "But I will tell you this" Her hands shook, and she fisted thehs "There is a better world out there And I have seen it"

Even the Thirteen looked toward her now

"I have seen witch and huether in peace And it is not a weakness to do so, but a strength I have doreat that the self is secondary Whose love for their people is so strong that even in the face of unthinkable odds, they do the impossible"

Manon lifted her chin "You are randmother decrees it so or not, you are ainst you, if need be, to ensure that there is a future for those who cannot fight for it the so It is time that we becaiven the Thirteen ain "And I will fight for it" She turned Abraxos away, toward the plunge behind theht, the Heir only nodded back They would be pered Abraxos, and he leaped into the sky, the Thirteen following suit

Not a child of war

But of peace

CHAPTER 44

"How shall I carve you up today, Aelin?"

Cairn’s words were a push of hot breath at her ear as his knife scraped down her bare thigh

No No, it couldn’t have been a drea the tip of his dagger into the flesh above her knee, and she gritted her teeth as blood swelled and spilled As he began twisting the blade, a little deeper with each rotation

He had done it so many times now All over her body

He would only stop when he hit bone When she was screa

A dream An illusion Her escape from him, from Maeve, had been another illusion