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"I could sell you to Erawan right now and he would rewardback a pheasant to its hed, and her eyes flashed "It was you who just posed this alliance between us, not me But consider this: Shall you kneel, or shall you rule, Maeve?" He tapped his neck, right over the pale band across it "I have knelt, and found I have no interest in doing so again Not for Erawan, or for Aelin, or anyone" Another shrug "The wodom is in pieces What do I have to lose?" He let some of the old ice, the hollowness in his chest, rise to his face "I’ain And slowly, those phantom hands crept into the corners of his ht

He withstood it, that probing touch

At last, Maeve loosed a breath through her nose "You came to Morath for a key and will leave with a bride"

He nearly sagged with relief "I will leave with both And quickly"

"And how do you propose we are to find e seek?"

Dorian s Queen "Leave that to hest tower hours later, Dorian peered at the ar the valley floor, his raven’s feathers ruffled in the frozen wind off the surrounding peaks

The screa had quieted, at least As if even Morath’s dungeon-ht have found the idea darkly funny, if he didn’t knohatbroken and bred here

His cousin, Roland, had wound up here He knew it, though no one had ever confir prince, or had he merely been a meal for one of the terrors who prowled this place?

He lifted his head, scanning the cloudy sky The ht that seemed keen to reaame

Did Gavin watch him now, from wherever he rested? Had he learned what manner of monster Dorian had allied hi here Not with Erawan so close

Close enough that Dorian ht have attacked Perhaps he’d been a fool not to Perhaps he’d be a fool to atteht reveal their mission When Erawan had those collars on hand

Dorian cast a glance to the adjacent tohere Maeve slept A dangerous, dangerous game

The dark tower beyond hers seemed to throb with power The council room down the hall from it was still lit, however And in the hall--

Stupid Utterly stupid, and yet he found hi, then swooping to a crackedalong the hallway

He pushed theopen a bit farther with his beak, and listened

"Months I’ve been here, and now he refuses my counsel?" A tall, thin man stomped down the hall Away from Erawan’s council room Toward the tower door at the end of the hall and the blank-faced guards stationed there

At his side, two shorter led to keep up One of them said, "Erawan’swithout reason Have faith in hiic surged, ice cracking over the sill

Dorian tracked the lanky lord while he stor to the stones "I have had faith in him beyond what could be expected," Vernon snapped

The lord and his lackeys gave the tower door a wide berth as they passed it, turned the corner, and vanished, their voices fading with them

Dorian surveyed the empty hall The council room at the far end The door still ajar

He didn’t hesitate Didn’t give himself time to reconsider as he crafted his plan And waited

Erawan eh him, but he kept his position in the hall, kept his shoulders straight and hands behind his back Precisely how he’d appeared to the guards when he’d rounded the corner, having flown off to a quiet hall before shifting and striding here

The Valg king surveyed hiht I’d disht, Vernon"

Dorian bowed his head, willing his breathing steady with each step Erawanin terror at the creature who approached, but he forced it down deep To a place where Eraould not detect it

As he had not detected Dorian earlier Perhaps the raw ic in him also erased any traceable scent

Dorian bowed his head "I had returned toquestion, milord"