With a ragged breath, my father all but fell into a chair beside my bed. He grasped my limp hand in his own and held it to his forehead. "Andries, forgive me. I promised you that I would take care of her, that I would save her from that fate that you suffered. I failed.
I heard from Sadira that you had left, Avyanna, but by the time I reached the estate, word had been sent about Prince Rylan's appearance near the Solasta mines. Lyndon found him just across the border, bloodied and beaten. But he refused to be treated, not before he informed us that the emperor had taken you and that he wanted your blood.
Do you know what my first thought was? I did not think of what would come should the emperor successfully take whatever power he was searching for. I did not think of the war that
