Brumstone, the fortress that was to be her home, stood as a mighty dragon guarding a treasure on a cliff, looking terribly frightening. The walls looked old and different from whatever else Sayra had seen in Ashinora, making it clear they had been built very long ago. Brumstone was ancient.

As they rode onto the footbridge, Sayra threw one look at the moat, and half expected to see blood. There wasn't any. She wanted to hesitate and not to enter the eerie fortress. Still, she knew she couldn't.

It brought her back to the day she saw Blackshade when she came to Ashinora. The castle had been the first thing she saw, as dark as the night. And yet she hadn't been terrified. The capital had been very different from home, but she had expected that. Brumstone was unlike anything she had ever seen. And that frightened her more than she wanted.

Sayra remembered how much she had hated leaving home. She hadn't known how cruel Sylas was or what she should have expected. All she had were her family's advices. Keris had told her to write to him if anything happened, if Sylas hurt her. Even after he did, she hadn't manage to gather the courage to tell her brother. She had heard multiple nobles during the years saying Keris was the most powerful man alive. His army was famous and he had more gold than Ashinora ever had. And yet, marrying Sylas had been Sayra's duty.

She allowed herself to throw a gaze to her husband. He was comely with blonde hair and green eyes. He didn't wear armour but looked ready to fight. The way he looked around made it clear he was a warrior. He was quite different from Sylas, but that didn't mean Sayra trusted him.

Inside the walls, she could see a group waiting for them. A blonde woman who looked a lot like Sayra's husband waited for them. Given her age, Sayra suspected she was his sister. Not for the first time during their trip, she cursed herself for not trying to learn more about the Roveriks. As she hadn't been allowed to leave Blackshade, she hadn't given them much thought. Not even when Sylas executed their Lord two months after he married her. She had been still trying to figure out her husband back then.

She dismounted as soon as she saw everyone was doing it and tried to look around the fortress. The inner court had a well where Sayra could see two buckets. There were many people there, she didn't know how many. Still, looking at the faces of some of them, she remembered the battle that took place there before the capital fell.

" Liana, this is Sayra. I told you about her in my letter."

The words made Sayra turn towards her husband's sister. They had the same blonde hair and green eyes.

" I'm glad to meet you."

" Likewise," She answered politely.

" Come! Let me show you Brumstone. I'm afraid my brother isn't the right person to ask for a tour." Leaning slightly towards Sayra, she added: " He knows the ramparts better than the fortress. If he could, he would live there."

" That is not true."

Liana put her arm around Sayra's and led her inside. Liana showed her the kitchens, the main hall where they would eat later. She introduced Sayra to the servants who watched her carefully, as if expecting something. She had no idea what to say. She never had to run a household. She was raised to know politics, how to read people, and how to find the right words all the time. She was raised to be a queen. It didn't do her too much good.

Sayra was taken by surprise when two children ran into the kitchen, laughing. They didn't stop, but her gaze remained on them even when she couldn't see the children anymore. It was hard to stop her tears from falling. Her heart was hurting so bad, and all she wanted was her own children. To hold Tamira to her chest and kiss Tavon's cheek. To have them by her side. They were safe with her family, but how was she supposed to manage being away from them? Not even Sylas, who had hurt her so many times, tried to take them away from her. For that, she cursed Darin and hated him more than she hated his father.

Sylas had tried to break her. He had believed himself to be more powerful simply because he was a man and a king. And Sayra hated him. She had asked Itziar to take him, to bring death upon him. Every night she prayed for his dead. Now, she would rather still be Sylas' wife if that meant her children were by her side. She would let him hurt her, wouldn't ever ask the goddess to take his life. Only if her children were with her. Having them would make all the pain she endured at Sylas' hands worth it.

" I'm sorry," Liana told her. " It can't be easy, being so far away from your children."

" They are safe in Felloria."

" That doesn't mean it's easier."

She wasn't going to cry. Not in front of these people who were nothing but strangers to her. Her husband seemed a good man. He hadn't tried anything during the journey there. He didn't ask anything that could be used against her or her brother. But that didn't make him trustworthy. From all she knew, he could be even worse than Sylas, although Sayra had always wondered if there could be men worse than her first husband. True, Elyas' men and his sister seemed to love him, but that gave Sayra no reason to think he wouldn't hurt her. He could pretend to be someone in front of people and be a monster behind close door. Sylas had been like that.

" I know it can't be easy, not being with your children and being here, married to Elyas. But my brother is a good man."

Sayra nodded. She was sure Liana knew she didn't believe her words. She had no idea how to respond to that. Acknowledging she doesn't trust her new husband wasn't the best move, and agreeing with Liana's words would clearly be a lie.

" Maybe, one day, you will be able to see them."

Sayra doubted that. She was a hostage. As long as she was alive, they could do anything to her. Her brother would never know. No one would know.

Was that to be her fate? To die without her family knowing it? To be buried in this cold land without her rituals? Or to live but wish to be dead? She was not a Queen, a Princess of a far away land. They could torture her for information about her home. They could do whatever they pleased to her, and no one would stop them.

She might never see her children. Even if she somehow managed to see them, they wouldn't remember her. They were too young. She would be only a woman they knew to have given birth to them, not a mother who had always been there for them. She would be a stranger to her own children. And all because of Sylas and Darin. Because they were avaricious and cruel.

Itziar, you too are a mother. Bring pain upon the one who has taken my children from me. Bring ruination upon Darin the Usurper. Make his name be forgotten by time as the names of all those who hurt you have been buried by centuries.