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But not for her No, there would be no Afterworld for her

The gods had built another coffin, this ti stone

Stone her fire could never melt Never pierce The only way to escape was to become it--dissolve into it like sea-foam on a beach

Every breath was thinner than the previous one They had not put any holes in this coffin

Beyond her confines, she knew a second coffin sat beside hers Knew, because the muffled screaolden and one silver One young and one ancient Both the cost of sealing that gate to eternity

The air would run out soon She’d already lost too ertips pulsed where she’d broken nails and skin

Those female screams became quieter

She should accept it, embrace it Only when she did would the lid open

The air was so hot, so precious She could not get out, could not get out--

Aelin hauled herself into waking The roo steady

Open, fresh air The stars just visible through the narro

No Wyrdstone coffin No gate poised to devour her whole

But she knew they atching, so Waiting

A sacrifice That’s all she was to thenored the treh her The heat under her skin

Aelin turned onto her side, nestling closer into Rowan’s solid war in her ears

No, she would not be helpless again

CHAPTER 55

Being in a female form wasn’t entirely what Dorian had expected

The way he walked, the way he e If any of the Crochans had noticed a young witch a her legs, they didn’t halt their work as they readied the camp to depart

Then there was the ined to be so … cu his arms into theht weight, was still fresh after a few hours

He’d kept the transfor Crochan the night before, one of the novices who ht not be needed at all hours or noticed very often, and studied her until she likely deee of her face and fore of the camp, and simply willed it

Well, perhaps not simply The shift remained not an entirely enjoyable sensation while bones adjusted, his scalp tingling with the long brown hair that grew out in shining waves, nose tickling as it was reshaped into a delicate curve

For long minutes, he’d only stared down at hi, how th the tiny bones contained A few subtle pats between his legs had told hies there

And so he’d been here for the past two hours, learning how the fe how a raven flerangled the wind

He’d thought he’d known everything about the female body How to make a woman purr with pleasure He was half-tes felt like

Not an effective use of his ti for travel

The Thirteen were on edge They hadn’t yet decided where to go And hadn’t been invited to travel with the Crochans to any of their home-hearths Even Glennis’s

None of them, however, had looked his hen they’d prowled past None had recognized hi circuit in his little training area when Manon stalked by, silver hair flowing He paused, no more than a wary Crochan sentinel, and watched her storh the world