*Kieran*After a tearful reunion with her mother, Blanca–I mean Raven–is taken outside to meet the rest of the pack. I tag along in awe of everything I’m seeing. Unlike my mate, I’ve known my parents my whole life, and I’ve always felt like they loved me. But after seeing this, I’m beginning to realize I’m not sure I know what parental love looks like. At least, not until now.Delaney doesn’t stop crying the entire time she is speaking to her people. She calls them all to gather in a central area that is a little larger than the other tunnels, and when a great mass of them has congregated, she tells them all what she has discovered. The girl who climbed down the ladder a bit ago is her daughter–Princess Raven–the girl that disappeared twenty-one years ago.At first, a hush falls over everyone. They’re obviously surprised, and I have to think they also wonder if Delaney has lost her mind. How does she know this? What if this girl is lying? But then, the woman from earlier, whom I’ve no

*Kieran*When Delaney first asked me to come with her, I was nervous, but as we walked along, she told me about what it was like giving birth to Raven, how she’d been asking the Moon Goddess to bless her with a child for many years and hadn’t been lucky enough to have one until finally she found out she was pregnant. When it had turned out she was having a daughter, she’d been overjoyed.Raven had only been a few months old when everything had happened with my kingdom. As she spoke, I got the impression she knew who I was, that I am the Crown Prince of Dun’s Crossing, but I never told her the truth, and she didn’t ask.Now, here we are about to go through with the handfasting ceremony, something Delaney also explained to me. I figured it was like a wedding but not as complicated. As we walked, my mind went over all the planning my mother and Nessa had been discussing since the Haze and think about what a waste of time that’s going to turn out to be. There’s no way in hell I’m going for

KieranI wake to lamplight streaming through the curtains. It’s early morning. Though I can’t see it down here in the tunnels, I imagine the sun is still hiding beneath the horizon. I should still be asleep, but my mind and body are at odds with my heart, and rest hasn’t come easy. Raven and I made the most of the soft bed and total privacy we were awarded last night after our wedding and didn’t fall asleep until well past the middle of the night. But I reach over to her side of the bed and find it empty, and cool to the touch. I sit up and fumble for my clothes. She has to know that this moment was coming. That I have to leave, and it may be a while before I can return. The idea of storming into my own kingdom, deposing my father, and putting his crown on top of my own head is appealing, but it can’t happen that way. I have to play the long game. I have to take out the enemies in his inner circle. I have to work my way to the top. King Cole must help me, but I can’t bring his da

*Kieran* I travel southwest for an entire day through the remains of Escuro, my unease growing with each new step. A monster did this to their kingdom when they were already weak and defenseless. And he lied to us about it for our whole lives. If not for Raven, I might have become exactly like him. That’s what he was training me to be. He wants me to be a king exactly like him, but I’ll see him dead before I allow that to happen. The trip back will be easier now, at least, since I don’t have to dodge my father’s men. I head to the southwest, where I told them I’d last seen Raven- Blanca, I remind myself. I miss her so much already, I have no idea how I’m supposed to pretend that I hate her. As far as Father knows, I chased after her to stop her. He’d want me to torture her, to kill her, even. The thought alone turns my stomach now. There was a time when I might have considered it. He poisoned me so thoroughly against her, telling me that all she wanted was to be the ruler of Dun’s