Kingdom of Ash

It was agony. Agony like nothing she had
known.
She was Aelin. She was Aelin and not the
things that she’d set in her arm, not this place
that existed beyond reason. She was Aelin;
she was Aelin; and she had come here to do
something, had come here promising to do
something—
She fought her rising scream as her power
rippled away, like peeling skin from her
bones. Precisely how Cairn had done it,
delighted in it. She had outlasted him, though.
Had escaped Maeve’s clutches. She had
outlasted them both. To do this. To come here.
But she had been wrong.
She couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t stomach it,
this loss and pain and growing madness as a
new truth became clear:
They would not leave this place. Would
have nothing left anyway. They would