Kingdom of Ash

As Damaris drew it from him. But Dorian
did not marvel at the sword’s power.
His father’s name ...
Dorian.
I took his name, Erawan spat, writhing as
the words flowed from his tongue under
Damaris’s power. I wiped it away from
existence. Yet he only remembered it once.
Only once. The first time he beheld you.
Tears slid down Dorian’s face at that
unbearable truth.
Perhaps his father had unknowingly hidden
his name within him, a final kernel of
defiance against Erawan. And had named his
son for that defiance, a secret marker that the
man within still fought. Had never stopped
fighting.
Dorian. His father’s name.
Dorian let go of Damaris’s hilt.
Yrene’s breathing turned ragged. Now—it