EMBER’S POV
“No.”
It’s out of me before she finishes.
“No. Absolutely not.” I’m shaking my head, my stomach turning at the thought. “I want nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with that man. You’ve described him to me for the last hour, Mother. He’s a snake who betrayed the woman who loved him, who tried to force you to kill me, who handed you to a hunt to save his own skin. He might be no different from you.” The words are gut-punching, and I don’t take them back. “You want me to walk into the East and shake hands with my monster of a father to murder a woman? I won’t. I won’t take a life, and I especially won’t take hers.” I meet the whole table. “Because here’s the thing none of you wants to say plainly. Isolde isn’t wrong. Not really. Her wolf was stolen from her line. Her crown is s
