*Kael* I didn't expect the mystery female from the Niburgh square to be so… irksome. Though she definitely thought the same about me. Especially after what I felt—what I knew she felt too—in the throne room. I could only have described it as a rope—no, it was less abrasive than that. A ribbon, maybe. It wrapped itself around my heart like a snake squeezing its prey, but I could sense its other end just faded into darkness and it wanted to find something in it. Rather, someone. When I saw her standing in front of me against all odds, looking stricken in a skimpy nightgown, the ribbon seemed to rest at her feet, no longer squeezing. I was so rocked that I couldn't help but breathe, “You." When I heard her name, I felt delirious—more than I already was—with relief. Gemma Brooks. She was a

