Shadow Slave

The ketch flew on the currents of the Great River, circling the ice wasteland. Sunny did not have the enchanted staff to summon the wind, and he had not been able to master the sorcery of Names, like Nephis. But he had the Crown of Twilight, and with it, the water itself responded to him.

So, Sunny made the river itself push the ketch forward. A strong gale blew from the future, as well, and as soon as he skirted the desolate land, it filled the sails. His vessel gained speed as it rushed into the past.

Leaving Verge... and his friends... behind.

There was a storm of emotions in Sunny's heart. Hope, excitement, anticipation...

But also guilt, fear, and shame.

What would Nephis and the other members of the cohort think when they came back and found out that he had abandoned them? How would Cassie explain his absence?

Would they be angry, shaken, and resentful of him? Would they feel betrayed?

They had the right to feel that way. He had abandoned them on the eve of a perilous battle, leaving to pursue a selfish goal. Was there a more obvious betrayal than that? Imagining the faces of his friends when they learned of his departure, Sunny felt his heart ache.

He broke the promise he had made after Ananke's death. He broke the promise he had given to Wind Flower, as well. And even the promise he had given himself. That made his heart ache, too.

But... it didn't matter.

Even though he was in pain because of what he had done, he would have done it again. The reward that the Estuary promised... the freedom to live like he wanted to live, released from the suffocating hold fate had on him, was worth it.

worth it a hundred times

Shadow

how exactly his wish for

like Mordret would call out his True Name, turning him into a slave

master. It was being bonded to someone he loved, and thus could not eliminate, that was the problem. Being a

'Freedom, freedom...'

tasted sweet on his

and Effie with her newborn child. Praying for their safety, he sped away from Verge, toward the

He had to hurry.

as they had managed to build it, but there was still a considerable distance between the icy wasteland and the mist. More than that, this part of the Great River was possibly the most dangerous there was — just like the harrowing reaches of the far future,

Sunny some time to find the entrance to the

accomplish it before the First Seeker was destroyed, and the

for Nephis to conquer Verge?

the ketch, Sunny gritted his

guide the cohort to Verge. They would remain there for a day or two, evaluating the situation inside the city. Then... then, the battle itself. Even if

obliterate Verge. Mordret was not far away

turning him into a unstoppable

were a force

possess an incorruptible soul — after all, even the Serpent King and his army had failed to take Verge — but since she

was a matter of