General
Hana ran through the broken streets of Blood Burrow. The smell of burning followed, sliding into her mouth as she gulped for air. It was as damp as toads. She would never wash herself free of it, and never stop hearing the women scream or wipe out the memory of the Limping Man.
"The prince has...there has been an accident, a terrible accident. Crown Prince Lovell is dead, Princess."
I found myself sitting on the floor with my skirts in a heap around me...
The sea, I thought. I hear the sea. Lovell had promised me that before I went up to Dunmorra to be married in the autumn, he would steal me away for a day of freedom. We would take a boat down to the sea and fish for sole over the sandbars.
That was when I started to scream.
"It was a nightmare," Robin said. "A—a vision, Your Highness. There was a man drowning in clouds...when I touched him, I saw things, things he'd seen, things he knew."
"What things?" I asked.
Robin took a deep breath. "They've taken the baroness."
"Who? Where?"
"Enemies," she said simply. "He didn't know where. There was a dead woman..."
My mouth was open. I know that because when I did the face-plant into the bottom of the wave, I was gargling salt water, thinking that maybe I was about to die. The wave drove me deep into the water. I flapped my arms around, thinking that going back up to the surface was a good idea.
But it wasn't. At least not then.
I surfaced just in time to open my eyes and see my airborne surfboard eclipsing the morning sun. And aimed straight for my head. Wham.
