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the tiles and die. And had then been ordered to
kneel before Maeve in that very blood as
she’d bade him to attend her.
He’d sat in a stone room for two months,
witness to what they’d done to a young
queen’s body, her spirit. Had been unable to
help her as she’d screamed and screamed.
He’d never stop hearing those screams.
But it was the sound that came out of her as
Cairn hurled her into the chest of drawers
where Fenrys had watched him arranging his
tools, the sound she made as she hit the floor,
that shattered him entirely.
A small sound. Quiet. Hopeless.
He’d never heard it from her, not once.
Cairn got to his feet and wiped his
bloodied, broken nose.
Aelin Galathynius stirred, trying to rise
onto her forearms.
Cairn pulled the red-hot poker from the