What the image didn’t show was that the demons had cursed us. After the conquest, the demons condemned us to endless winters until we learned how to keep them at bay with the power of a queen and a throne. The demons cursed us again with the Erlkings, who arrived every hundred years to spread their icy death. And when we’d tried to make peace with them one final time, they’d cursed my entire family. They’d blinded Orla. They’d sentenced my parents to death. And they’d condemned me to murder any woman I loved.
