A Throne From the Ashes (An Heir Comes to Rise, #3)

by C.C. Peñaranda

I may have come from nothing, but I will rise to everything. The greatest triumph will be having you there to bear witness as I do.”

“Maybe it makes me selfish, but I can’t. I can’t stay away from you. I came back sooner than I usually would from Fenher because while I fear to no end that I might be incapable of protecting you, I can’t stand the thought of your safety being in the hands of anyone else.”

his voice traveled to her with a darkness that swept a shudder over her body. “Which of them hurt you?” She dared a glance back. Maverick’s expression was hard to decipher. There was a coldness that was always present, but now it seemed woven with a chilling wrath. He meant which of the masters had inflicted her punishments. Why he cared to ask she couldn’t be sure. Zaiana raised her chin, casting her eyes to the exit as her feet pressed for it. She didn’t look at him again as she muttered coldly, “All of them.”

“Until the end of days, Reylan Arrowood.” His smile—warm, genuine, and heartbreakingly rare—had become the light in her eternal shadow. “Maybe even longer, Faythe Ashfyre.”

“You were warned about how you should speak to her,” Reylan said in the most chilling calm.

“My last words would be thank you. To the family I found who shaped me into who I am.” She spared a look at each of them, letting them know she was referring to all of them as well as Jakon, Marlowe, Nik, and Tauria whom she’d left back in High Farrow. She couldn’t meet his eye as she added to Reylan’s thoughts, “And thank you. Because I never knew how lost I was until you found me.”