Kingdom of Ash

been physically freed.
After lunch, she found Elide on her right,
riding in silence under the trees. Riding taller
than she’d seen the girl before. A blush on her
cheeks.
Aelin had a feeling she knew precisely why
that blush bloomed there, that if she looked
behind to where Lorcan rode, she’d find him
with a satisfied, purely male smile.
But Elide’s words were anything but those
of a lovesick maiden.
“I didn’t think I’d really get to see
Terrasen again, once Vernon took me out of
Perranth.”
Aelin blinked. And even the blush on
Elide’s face faded, her mouth tightening.
Of all of them, only Elide had seen Morath.
Lived there. Survived it.
Aelin said, “There was a time when I
thought I’d never see it again, too.”