WINTER

I can't stop thinking about what Loran told me yesterday. He said what Valtor did to Alaric was only the beginning, that he would go much further if he had to, that he’d do whatever it took to protect me even from his own people. I didn’t want to find out just how far he would go. I didn’t want his followers to turn against him, didn’t want them to hate him because of me.

In the evening, I took a long bath, but it did nothing to quiet the chaos in my thoughts. I tried to ...