Page 1 of Of Masks and Fury

CHAPTER ONE

ISI

The horse beneath me had gone lame two days ago.

I’d left it at a farmstead with enough coin for its care, then continued on foot, my pack growing heavier with each step that took me farther from Trew and closer to the gilded cage I’d once called home.

Five days since I’d slipped from his bed while he slept.

Five days since I’d read Commander Thorne’s letter and learned the truth that shattered everything. My sister Addie was alive.

My boots had rubbed blisters on both heels by the end of the first day. By the second, the blisters had burst, weeping fluid and making every step feel like I was walking on hot coals. I’d wrapped them in strips torn from a spare tunic, but the fabric was soaked through now, and the leather chafed with each step.

The physical pain was almost a relief. It gave me something to focus on besides the hollow ache in my chest where my heart used to be.

I paused at the crest of a hill, breathing hard, and pulled the letter from beneath my tunic. The paper had gone soft from constant handling, the creases nearly worn through. My unshed tears blurred Commander Thorne’s precise handwriting. I stared at those seven words I’d memorized within seconds of reading them.

Addie’s alive.

She’s in your father’s dungeon.

My fingers trembled as I refolded the letter, tucking it back inside my shirt. Why had Thorne written “your father’s dungeon” instead of just “the dungeon”? The extra words felt deliberate. A warning, maybe? Or a reminder that the man who’d imprisoned my sister was the same one who’d raised me, who’d whipped my back for showing compassion, and who’d taught me that love was only another word for control.

My body now knew the difference between touch meant to control and touch meant to cherish.

I missed Trew so much it hurt. His scars, his smile. I’d left him a note. Four lines that couldn’t possibly contain everything I needed to say.

Trew,

There’s something I have to do, and I’m asking you to trust me while I do it. To wait for me. To still love me when I come back and hold out my arms.

I love you. I’ll always love you.

I promise I’ll return to you soon.

Would he understand or would he wake, find me gone, and think I’d chosen something else instead of him?

Before leaving, I’d stood beside his bed, memorizing the curve of his jaw in the firelight, the soft, satisfied expression on his face. Three more minutes. That’s all I would’ve needed to be lost forever, to choose him over everything else and damn the consequences.

But then I’d imagined Addie’s ghost in the corner, her vacant eyes, her dark curls matted with gore. The image that had haunted me since the Day of Mercy ball.

Except she wasn’t dead. She was alive, and suffering, and I’d been falling in love while she rotted in our father’s dungeon.

Pherin soared in close and landed on my shoulder, peeping as she settled against my neck. Her tiny claws pricked through the fabric. I wore Trew’s tunic because I couldn’t bear to go without some part of him touching my skin.

“Tired?” I asked her, stroking her downy head with one finger.

Need rest.She sent a wave of concern through our bond. We were both worn out. Hungry. Hurting.

“Soon. We’re close now.” I adjusted my pack, biting back a wince as the straps dug into shoulders already bruised from days of carrying it. “Another few hours, maybe less.”

Pherin bumped her head against my cheek, the gesture so gentle it made my throat tighten. She’d been my constant companion during this nightmare journey, keeping watch while I slept in ditches and abandoned barns, showing me where to find berries andnuts when my rations ran low, and pressing her warm little body against my neck when I woke up gasping from dreams of Trew calling my name.

The old Amarissa would’ve sent a guard to investigate Thorne’s claims. The princess I used to be would’ve asked permission before doing anything like this. She would’ve consulted her father, then sat back and waited for someone else to fix it.

But Isi, the woman who’d survived the Rite of Bonds, had killed an assassin with her bare hands. She’d bonded with a minxpip who could turn into a deadly firecat, and she’d fallen in love with a rebel king. Now she walked into danger alone.

Because some things were worth the risk.