The Thorn Crown

PROLOG UE

The child swore her oath in blood.

She was seven years old, standing in the ashes of her

brother's bedchamber, the smell of smoke still thick in her throat.

Her mother's hand gripped her shoulder too tightly, fingernails

drawing half-moons into pale skin. Outside, the Valdrisan guard

shouted of Solmaran treachery, of soldiers who had come in the

night wearing sun-gold cloaks, of prince's men who had set fire to

the eastern wing of the castle.