AVALINE

“We’ve attended so many funerals already, Czar,” I replied pointedly. “It’s inevitable.”

“Do you not trust me?”

I sighed heavily. “But I can’t rely on you, Czar. I also need to fight.”

“And you’re already doing so much better than when you began your training,” he continued.

Czar was always out in the following days. Soldiers from De Greco and Monteval appeared here and there. And I knew I should talk to my father.

The only thing that stopped me from ...