-Laelia-
I must have lost consciousness because, when I finally woke up, I found myself in a strange room with the last person I wanted to see. I glared at my uncle, even though his back was turned to me as he sat at the desk where I remembered the old king, Ashes’s father, had always sat.
He had a lot of papers in front of him and was using a quill to scribble something—maybe his signature? It didn’t matter. I slowly moved my hand down, hoping to find my brother’s sword attached to me, but it wasn’t there!
I quickly sat up from the couch I was lying on, even though the world began to spin, and searched for the sword.
“Looking for this?” my uncle asked.
I turned to him and saw him holding up my brother’s sword. Instinctively, I reached behind me to grab the sword on my back—the one
