Kayden Branimir raced up the mountainside with Eka, snow kicking up beneath her fur-lined boots. The wind burned cold against her rosy cheeks. For a blissful moment, Kayden forgot who she was. She couldn't remember the last time her heart had soared like a hawk through a valley, and—

A snowball exploded in her face.

"Ugh." Kayden wiped the snow from her eyes. "You'll pay for that!"

"You have to catch me first," Eka said with a wink, and then she ran off.

Stumbling, Kayden caught up to her and tackled her into a snowdrift.

Eka's laughter sang through the air, and Kayden couldn't help but echo it. They lay side by side, clutching at their stomachs as they tried to catch their breaths. Snowflakes drifted around them, clinging to Eka's light lashes. A clump of snow was stuck in her hair, and Kayden reached out, but before she could remove it, Eka turned onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow.

At the sight of Kayden's outstretched hand, Eka raised a brow.

"There's snow in your hair," Kayden said, feeling foolish with her hand still hovering between them. She quickly withdrew it.

"That's the least of my worries." But even as Eka said it, she combed her fingers through her hair. "I have snow in places I don't want to think about."

Kayden snickered, but then she halted. Eka watched her intently, as if trying to commit to memory every curve of her face and the exact shade of her dark eyes.

"Something wrong?" Kayden asked.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?" A blush crept over her cheeks, but she hoped Eka wouldn't notice. "Knock it off."

Eka grinned. "Aw, look at you all flustered."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The words tumbled out too quickly. Eka was so close—too close. Kayden could smell the faint hint of snowberries on her breath.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." Reaching out, Eka trailed her fingers along Kayden's jaw, tilting her chin up so she couldn't avoid her gaze.

Kayden's breath caught. She tried to rein her thoughts back in, but the task was near impossible with Eka staring at her like that. The girl was all sharp angles with even sharper green eyes, and right now, those eyes were so close to cutting away the ice surrounding her heart. Kayden opened her mouth, but then she closed it, trapping words she could never say.

She wanted to tell Eka that looking at her was like late night bonfires, the taste of warm cider on her lips, and the twinkling of stars and everything good in this frozen world.

But the thought of him ruined the moment.

It was always him putting the distance between her and Eka—the dead boy with the same sharp, green eyes that could carve their way into her soul.

"Do I really make you that speechless?" Eka prodded.

Kayden reached into her pocket, needing something to fiddle with. She grasped the torbit leaves that were tucked away and realized her mistake too late.

Eka followed the movement, and the light in her gaze dulled. "You're thinking of him again, aren't you?"

Instead of answering, Kayden stood. "We shouldn't go to the cliff today. Let's—"

"He was my brother," Eka said, tone icier than the howling wind. "I will pay my respects."

Kayden swallowed hard, but the lump of guilt in her throat refused to budge. Out of everything she could have said to Eka, why, oh why did she have to say that? Eka's older brother, Jesse, had been dead for years now, but time couldn't heal this wound.

Eka led the way, the silence between them stretching until it nearly shattered the wall Kayden had created to protect herself. As they trudged on, Kayden's nails dug into her palms, but her gloves softened the pain. Removing them, she welcomed the deep bite. The scars that decorated her hands and disappeared beneath her sleeves reminded her of who she was, and—more importantly—why she could never have Eka the way she wanted to.

When they reached their destination, Kayden knelt in the snow at the bottom of the jagged cliff, the coldness seeping through her clothing as she glanced up at the ledge of frost ferns her best friend had fallen from. That was what she told herself.

Jesse had fallen, and there was nothing more to it.

Beside her, Eka dragged her fingers through the snow and clenched it tightly in her fist. Kayden reached hesitantly for her hand and gave it a squeeze, running her thumb along Eka's soft skin that was absent of scars.

Eka pulled away. "Do you ever wonder how he fell?"

"Ice." The lie tasted sour.

The truth was a beast Kayden constantly tried to outrun, but she was slowing down. As it caught up to her, she recalled the way Jesse's blood had stayed trapped beneath her nails no matter how hard she'd scrubbed at it. Till this day, it still stained her mind.

"He was too skilled to make that mistake." Eka's stare burned through her. "You know that."

"He slipped on ice."

"I don't believe you."

All of her well-practiced lies froze on her tongue. "What?"

"Forget it." Eka stood and knocked away the snow caked onto her knees. "I'm heading to Shay's for a drink."

Just like that, the girl tugged her furs tighter around her and left, starting the descent to Clifftop Road. Everything in Kayden yearned to chase after her, but she couldn't, because she had no other explanation for how Jesse had died, at least not an explanation she could give.

Good goddesses, this was bad. The absence of pale purple torbit leaves emphasized it. Eka never left the cliff without sprinkling the leaves over the spot where Kayden had supposedly found his body. After sundown, the leaves would glow, and they liked to believe it was a sign he still lived, despite his spirit resting in the Above now. The two of them did this every few months, but never had Eka hinted she knew Kayden was lying.

Until now.

Emptying her pockets of torbit leaves, she scattered them. What little joy that had remained in her fled now that Eka wasn't here, and she let out an unsteady breath. The familiar embrace of loneliness wrapped its long arms around her, and once again, she was stranded with no one to talk to. Nobody in Freca would understand. Maybe the goddesses would listen, but she cut down that idea. The goddesses had abandoned her long ago, and she'd even been desperate enough to try reaching out to the gods a few times, but not once had she heard a single whisper in return.

What Kayden needed was her twin brother, Alaric.

Alaric understood when nobody else ever could. After Jesse's death, Alaric had been there for her, always listening, always coaxing a smile when all hope had fled.

Now he wasn't.

A cruel twist of fate had stolen Kayden's twin from this world not long after Jesse's death. Hope was as absent as the goddesses and gods now, but maybe, just maybe, she could reach for her brother and hear his voice one last time.

Needing to be closer to the Above, she began scaling the cliff. Her hands blazed with the cold, but it was the only thing that made her feel real in this haze of nothingness. As she climbed higher, she let her impassive mask fall away.

"Alaric?" she called, grabbing another handhold and pulling herself closer to the Above. Her cheeks flared with embarrassment, but she'd risk being a fool if there was any chance at all that her brother would hear her. "I don't know who else to turn to." The words were thick around the growing lump in her throat. "I'm so tired. Some days it's like I'm sleepwalking through life, just going through the motions. And I don't think I'll ever be able to truly live because of who I am. I keep trying to pretend that I'm someone else, but I can't escape the past." For most of her life, she had pretended to be Nila Stone, an ill warrior's daughter. That was who Eka thought she was, but Nila existed only as a way for Kayden to separate her true identity from the one she wanted to have. Kayden Branimir was the Frecan princess, and her life revolved around ensuring her mother kept the throne. Her scars were proof of that.

"I don't—" She gritted her teeth and hissed as her hand slipped, but she quickly regained her hold. "I don't know what to do. I have no purpose of my own. Half the time, I don't want to live in this world anymore. There's this fog I've been trapped in. It's been there ever since you left, and I can't find my way out of it. Please, Alaric. If you're up there... if you can hear me, help me find the way out."

She waited, holding her breath. The howling wind died down a little, but no words floated on it. The clouds imprisoned the sunlight from the Above, refusing to shed even the smallest splinter of warmth.

How foolish she was to believe this would actually work for once.

The ledge of frost ferns sat ahead. Unlike her failed attempt to get closer to the Above, at least she'd have a small victory knowing she could reach the ledge, with the ground now a dizzying swirl of snow far below.

Right before she grabbed the ledge, she caught a whiff of a smoky smell.

"Alaric?" she whispered, searching the skies.

Suddenly, a blackened piece of parchment appeared before her eyes.

She blinked. The parchment hovered just above her.

This must be a trick.

It had to be.

Blinking again, her mind tried to process what it was seeing. Then the breeze attempted to snatch the parchment away, but she couldn't let it go.

She grasped at it as if her life depended on it, because the only person in the world who could make letters manifest from thin air was Alaric.

As her fingers closed around the parchment, her other hand slipped from the rocks. Wind whistled past her ears as she fell, her dark brown hair tangling before her face. She tried to scream, but her fear curled deep within her chest.

She crashed into the ground.

Her ribs cracked upon impact. Invisible knives gutted her body from the inside out as she gasped for air. Her vision blurred and spun. She lay still, letting her healing magic take effect and hoping it was enough.

She shivered as the skies darkened with dusk's approach. Tightening her grip on the parchment, she willed this to not be another nightmare from where she'd wake to realize all over again that her twin was still gone. It felt like hours she'd laid there until her breaths finally flowed through her lungs without a trace of pain.

Before she could sit up, a face appeared in her periphery. She quickly tucked the parchment into her sleeve, unwilling to let her older half-brother, Malakai, notice it. His features matched the clouds, white skin holding cool undertones and tattooed with the curling silver markings of royalty, eyelids powdered black, high cheekbones dusted in glitter, and his lips stained the deepest red. She and Alaric had called him the Prince of Shadows; as long as their mother lived, Malakai would remain in the dark until it was his turn to claim the throne.

"What an odd way to test your magic," Malakai said, his arms crossed as he stood over her. "Do you normally jump off of cliffs like that?"

She glared. "Only when I remember you're my brother."

He clutched at his chest. "I'm hurt."

Unimpressed by his games, Kayden sat up and drew a dagger from her boot. Both of them were trained assassins to protect the throne, and if she dared, she could end him right here and now. "What do you want?"

"Mother told me to inform you of a tournament she's hosting on Risan's Peak in three days. The winner receives five hundred silver pieces. She wants you to help spread the word." He inspected his painted nails, but his gaze kept sliding to the knife in her hand. "Are you going to do something with that, or is it all for show?"

Against her better judgment, she tucked the knife away. "What's she hosting a tournament for this time?"

"She's looking for a skilled warrior to assassinate Leodia's war generals."

Kayden raised an eyebrow. "Don't we have trained assassins for that? Other than us?"

"Not anymore. The last one was killed in Leodia."

"Mother sounds desperate."

"Watch your tongue," Malakai said in a low warning.

She stood. "Are we done here, or...?"

"Mother also mentioned we're not allowed to participate in the tournament."

"She acts as if I'd want to."

"I'm only the messenger." He looked up at the cliff, and then back down at the torbit leaves littering the ground. "Isn't this where you brought Jesse's—"

A chill swept through her at the sound of that name on his lips. Before he could finish his sentence, she took off running toward Clifftop Road, as far from Malakai as she could get, because the memories pierced her mind like icicles through fresh snow. As she ran, she tried to shut them out with the lies she'd told everyone else, but the words 'indecision is death' rattled through her skull.

No, no, no.

He had fallen...

Kayden tripped over a rock and caught herself against the mountainside, trembling. She wished she'd taken a slip-of-mind seed right after his death so she wouldn't remember it. More than that, she wished slip-of-mind could wipe away all memories of Jesse and the others who had died, but she was stuck with them the same way she was stuck in Freca with nowhere to go.

She couldn't even recall what freedom felt like. Once, she had tried to paint it, but the colors didn't quite seem right and the canvas edges reminded her that no matter how hard she tried, there were always borders restricting her from reaching beyond.

But she had something to ground her now, the smallest sliver of hope in the form of crumpled parchment. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure Malakai hadn't followed her, then she unfolded the blackened letter that still smelled faintly of smoke. Written in a code she and Alaric had created were the words:

Help. Please. I've done terrible things in Leodia. Not much time left.

Reading the letter again and again, she tried to find the trick that would send her spiralling back down when she realized this wasn't real, but the handwriting was Alaric's messy scrawl, and the code was unmistakably theirs. She held the letter to her heart and tilted her head toward the skies, laughing as tears slid down her cheeks and cleansed her of the numbness she had felt for far too long.

Alaric was alive.

A foreign sense of determination thrummed through her. The anticipation ignited her body with enough energy to make Tariro—the goddess of hope—proud.

Risan's Peak stood a short distance away, the tallest point in all of Freca. The tournament would be hosted there. Malakai had said the winner would receive a mission and be sent to Leodia.

This was it—her ticket to freedom.

If she won the tournament, she could finally leave Freca and begin her search for Alaric. Mother wouldn't be able to deny her; tradition dictated that the winner must be granted what was promised. Besides her queen having forbidden her from competing, there was one other problem:

To win, Kayden had to defeat Mother in battle.