Chaol looked up at last, blinking away tears as he scanned his wife’s face. Every beautiful line, those golden eyes. A gift. A gift from a queen who had seen another woman in hell and thought to reach back a hand. With no thought of it ever being returned. A moment of kindness, a tug on a thread … And even Aelin could not have known that in saving a barmaid from those mercenaries, in teaching her to defend herself, in giving her that gold and this note … Even Aelin could not have known or dreamed or guessed how that moment of kindness would be answered.
