A Dagger of Fire and Fate (The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows #4)

Prologue

ALLIE

Ihadn’t allowed myself to truly think about my future husband’s death. Not until today.

Solkar’s Reach stilled as I raised my bow, the arrow aimed straight at Ryker’s unguarded back, hundreds of mourners frozen in fear all around us.

I clenched my jaw, letting that famed Vegheara pointed chin convey what my lips couldn’t utter.

Rage boiled inside of me.

Betrayal burned away whatever forgiveness I had left, until only the lust for revenge remained.

Deep beneath our feet, I swear I could feel the crater murmur as I tightened my bow’s string. The head of the arrow glinted in the flickering candlelight flooding out from the Memory Hall.

The citizens of Solkar’s Reach had come here tonight to mourn the souls they’d lost in the war.

Instead, they watched in horror as I raised a weapon at their Commander, the man they worshipped.

Ryker’s eyes sparked as he whirled around.

Shock flickered across his face, only to be replaced with something much worse.

A deep, bone-searing disappointment that hollowed me as well.

He didn’t even reach for his blood powers to freeze me where I stood. Didn’t try to stop me.

He sensed the stench of inevitability in the air and let the truth stand bare between us, undeniable.

We stood in the same position we’d been in when we’d first met, back when the walls of the Sanctua Sirena maze had closed in, the stones had been splattered with blood, and we’d survived the slaughter.

The day when my father had been assassinated and I lost my throne.

Back then, he’d smirked at me.

Challenging.

Waiting.

Defiant.

Now, he looked defeated.

The war had changed him.

Had erased his lopsided smile and killed the challenge in his eyes.

But, despite it all, there was still a glimmer of hope.

That this was all a dream.

That I wasn’t defiling the grounds of the most revered sanctuary in Solkar’s Reach.

That I wouldn’t spill blood today.

But he was wrong.

I would shatter that hope right out of him.

His warriors reached for their weapons, already moving, as if one of them might still be faster than my arrow.

They couldn’t.

“Traitor,” I whispered and loosed the arrow that would shatter Solkar’s Reach and his heart.