Page 100 of The Crown’s Temptation

“Are you a wolf?”

A child’s voice drifted from the tunnels.

Colsar froze. For one impossible instant, he wondered whether grief had finally broken his mind.

“Who goes there?” he called.

A small light flickered farther down the tunnel.

Then a candle rounded the corner. A little girl stepped into view, barefoot in a white nightgown. She couldn’t have been older than seven or eight.

She regarded him with complete calm.

“I am Aviaryn,” she announced. “Princess of Umbrelai. They also call me the Mistress of Nightmares and Goodbyes.”

Colsar stared. “I… see.”

She frowned. “I don’t think you do.”

“…No.”

She smiled as though pleased by his honesty.

He took an instinctive step toward her.

Her expression changed immediately. “Oh.”

She held up a tiny hand. “Don’t come any closer.”

Colsar stopped.

“Why?”

“The wards.”

She pointed at the barrier between them. “Many Morrathans have burst into flames trying to leave them.”

“I imagine the opposite would happen if you tried to enter,” she said calmly. Her gaze traveled over him thoughtfully. “You would not look very nice burnt.”

Colsar stared into the darkness beyond her.

He looked back at the little girl.

“Where are you from?”

“Morrath, quite clearly.”

She giggled. “But I think you already knew that.”

His pulse quickened. “Do you know⁠—”

“I do.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that it nearly stopped his heart. Then she stepped through the ward casually, as though she had not just warned him that he would burst into flames if he did so himself.

He was about to ask her how she was able to step through when she spoke.

“Your wife has golden eyes and hair. She likes to watch the children sleep and do other dull things, apparently.”