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Maeve settled further into her seat. “Long
ago, when the world was new, when there
were no human kingdoms, when no wars had
marred the earth, a young queen was born.”
Aelin folded her legs beneath her, angling
her head.
“She did not know she was a queen.
Amongst her people, power was not inherited,
but simply born. And as she grew, her
strength rose with her. She found the land she
dwelled in to be too small for that power. Too
dark and cold and grim. She had gifts similar
to many wielded by her kind, but she had been
given more, her power a sharper, more
intricate weapon—enough that she was
different. Her people saw that power and
bowed to it, and she ruled them.
“Word spread of her gifts, and three kings
came to seek her hand. To form an alliance
between their throne and the one she had built