Kingdom of Ash

Elide’s face grew contemplative. “When
you were an assassin, or when you were a
slave?”
“Both.” And maybe Elide had come to her
side just to get her to talk, but Aelin
explained, “It was a torture of another kind,
when I was at Endovier, to know that home
was only miles away. And that I would not be
able to see it one last time before I died.”
Elide’s dark eyes shone with
understanding. “I thought I’d die in that
tower, and no one would remember that I had
existed.”
They had both been captives, slaves—of a
sort. They had both worn shackles. And bore
the scars of them.
Or, Elide did. The lack of them on Aelin
still ripped at her, an absence that she’d never
thought she’d regret.
“We made it out in the end, though,” Aelin