Daughter of No Worlds (The War of Lost Hearts Book 1)

Hours passed. The sun set. I lit lanterns. I wouldn’t go inside because I didn’t trust myself not to slap Max if he snickered at me.

A victory — or a devastation — strong enough to bring triumph to a country that no longer even had a king. It had to have been something incredible.

“Mother said I lacked social graces.” “She says that to me too.”

And I inhaled the tears that clawed at me before they reached the surface. I had everything I needed. I had a handful of gold coins in my purse, enough to buy or bribe my way to Ara. I had a power within me that was strong enough to kill one of the most feared men in Threll. I had twenty-seven fresh scars that would never let me forget what I was c

I stopped and took a breath, trailing across the deck— — and stumbling as I almost stepped on a face. Specifically, Max’s face. Max, who was lying on the wooden floor, hands folded over his stomach. He didn’t flinch as I leapt aside and let out a Thereni curse. He opened one eye. “Careful.” “Max. What are you doing?” “Lamenting.”

A fireplace bathed all of this in flickering orange light, reflecting off little metal pendulums and curious, circling devices. A couch and two armchairs sat near the fire — none matching — and a dining room table with five different styles of chairs occupied the middle of the room. Around a corner, I caught a glimpse of a small kitchen, and a narr

“What is it that you want? In life.” Only a very brief pause, and then he muttered, “Mostly, I just want everyone to leave me alone.”

“You look freezing,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Yes.” I saw no point in denying it. “Are you planning on going anywhere?” “I have nowhere for going.” I tried to sound very pitiful.

“I had forgotten that people could be that way. I had forgotten that someone, somewhere, was painting terrible pictures of their wife in a garden. I was so far gone that I didn’t even remember that that kind of mundane contentment actually existed, least of all in the same moments as such terrible things.”