Word of Dante's pledge spread through the freed realm faster than Selena had anticipated. The pillar of light they had created—storm and flame united—had been visible from settlements dozens of miles away, and people took it as a sign. Some interpreted it as the legendary figures reconciling, others as a declaration of war, still others as preparation for some new phase of transformation. But everyone was watching, waiting to see what the Ash Queen and the Storm King would do next.
They didn't have to wait long.
Five days after Dante's return, a delegation arrived at their camp in the wastelands. Not from the freed communities, as Selena might have expected, but from Ashborne itself. The city she had abandoned, where the child-king now ruled, where violence had spilled in the streets because of her presence and her absence.
