Free A Dance of Dragons: Series Starter Bundle by Kaitlyn Davis

clothes. Tiny as she was, Jinji still fit in Janu's
boyhood clothes. She still wore them sometimes, when she needed to
feel like she was not alone. So she slipped them on, sliding her
legs through the breeches and her arms through the leather shirt,
both worn soft by time.
    Reaching down again, Jinji gripped his
hunting knife and grasped the end of her braid. Barely there an
hour, and already all was lost. Her prayer had failed.
    Slowly, she sliced through her thick hair,
back and forth, back and forth, mechanically.
    The braid dropped to the ground.
    Her body shivered.
    She reached back up again, eyes wide and
wild, fighting the tears that were bound to come.
    Crazed, Jinji kept cutting, grabbing any
loose hairs she could, forcing herself as bald as she could go, as
though cutting it all off could somehow bring them back, or at
least bring them peace.
    When it was done, she lay down, curled on
her side with her legs pulled firm against her chest, so she could
cry away from the world—whatever was left of it.
    And deep in her heart, she wished for one
thing, a wish she had longed for years ago—that she had died
instead of Janu.
    Before, it had been a selfless wish, a wish
that her twin could live a long, happy life. She would have died to
give him that chance. But now, she was acting selfishly. She was
alone, and she wished beyond all things that she were the one with
her people in the spirit world.
    Her eyes closed and she cupped her hands,
imagining the spirits and the jinjiajanu she had trapped in that
small place.
    And as she wished, she wove, tying the
elemental spirits around her body in an intricate illusion, so for
at least a little while she could pretend that she was the twin who
had died, instead of the twin who was alone—the last remaining
Arpapajo in this hopeless world.
     

2
     

     
    Rhen
    ~ Roninhythe ~
     
     
    "Faster, Ember," Rhen called, urging his horse
onward, leaving only the echo of a carefree laugh behind him on the
breeze.
    Free again .
    Rhen grinned, relishing his narrow escape.
Adrenaline punched through his veins, fiery and intense, urging him
to run as fast as possible. That nobleman had been inches away from
gutting him. Of course, he couldn't blame the man. Rhen had spent
the night in his daughter's bed, and it was a father's job to
protect her virtue after all. Lucky for him, the old man's sword
arm was a little slow.
    He did, however, feel slightly uneasy. It
really wasn't the girl's fault that he had slipped into her room
just before dawn. He had a reputation to protect—and he needed a
reason to be run from the city. But the fist's worth of gold
arriving at their door later that afternoon should be payment
enough, Rhen assured himself. That was assuming Cal, his loyal
friend and future Lord of Roninhythe, was on time with the
delivery.
    Rhen rolled his shoulders, loosening the
knots court life left, ridding his body of the weight of
nobility.
    Despite the cost, there was no question in
his mind. Now, riding Ember—carefree for a few minutes of
peace—everything had been worth it. There were few things he
wouldn't do to just be Rhen again.
    Not Whylrhen, son of Whylfrick.
    Not Whylrhen, Prince of the Kingdom of
Whylkin.
    Not Whylrhen, blood of Whyl, the great
conqueror who united the lands.
    No, just Rhen, a nineteen-year-old man with
no strings attached.
    As the walls of the city faded into the
horizon, Rhen slowed Ember, patting her soft muddy-red hairs until
her breath calmed, and she understood that the urgency had passed.
Aside from his mother, she was the only female who had ever held
his heart, and though she was old, she had never failed him. Not as
a foal, when she had kicked down the stable door, saving his older
brother Whyllem from the blazing flames. And not as a mare, when
she had saved his life time after time, never demanding more than a
light scratch along her neck.
    Well, sometimes demanding more…okay, often
demanding more, but Rhen was soft when it came to his