Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)

by Sarah J. Maas

Rowan collapsed to his knees, and there was a crack inside his head, as if thunder cleaved through him. As Aelin opened her eyes, he realized it wasn’t thunder—but the sound of a door slamming open. Her face turned expressionless. Cold as the gaps between the stars. And her eyes … Turquoise burned bright … around a core of silver. No hint of gold to be found. “That’s not Aelin,” Fenrys breathed. A faint smile blossomed on her full mouth, born of cruelty and arrogance, and she examined the iron chain wrapped around her wrist. The iron melted away, molten ore sizzling through the wooden deck and into the dark below. The creature that stared out through Aelin’s eyes furled her fingers into a fist. Light leaked through her clenched fingers. Cold white light. Tendrils flickered—silver flame … “Get away,” Gavriel warned him. “Get away and don’t look.” Gavriel was indeed on his knees, head bowed and eyes averted. Fenrys followed suit. For what gazed at the dark fleet assembled, what had filled his beloved’s body … He knew. Some primal, intrinsic part of him knew. “Deanna,” Rowan whispered. She flicked her eyes to him in question and confirmation. And she said to him, in a voice that was deep and hollow, young and old, “Every key has a lock. Tell the Queen Who Was Promised to retrieve it soon, for all the allies in the world shall make no difference if she does not wield the Lock, if she does not put those keys back with it. Tell her flame and iron, together bound, merge into silv...