StorySide

But I would always regret this. Breaking Oraya. That was a sin that I’d never be able to atone for.

I wasn’t sure I was glad I wasn’t dead. When Oraya had killed me, I’d felt certain that I was doing the right thing.

The dying, after all, wasn’t the hard part. The coming back was where all the mess started.

“You,” she’d breathed, eyes lighting up, “are the Heir of the Rishan line and you aren’t doing anything about it? Do you have any idea what you could do?”

That had fucking killed me. The hope.

when I’d noticed for the first time the stagnant decay lurking beneath my home.

More than a full cycle of the moon that my father had been dead.

I tried to outrun this thought. Tried to make my muscles hurt more so my heart hurt less. It didn’t work. The thoughts still chased me.

A month.

And I’d just made an alliance with the man who murdered him.

How many times had he told me that my power would likely never amount to anything?

Had that been a lie, too?

“Didn’t realize just how lucky I am to be alive until I saw that.”

Maybe he felt just as uncomfortable in this place as I did.

I didn’t know why I hesitated. I did need to remind myself of how Raihn fought—needed to make sure I would be able to strike him down when I had to.