Page 60 of The Crown’s Temptation

"What happened?"

"He dragged me to the pit entrance." My smile disappeared. "He threw me in."

"You survived."

"I did."

"How?"

She looked at me with quiet amusement. "They assumed Morrath would kill me."

"It didn't."

"No." She smiled. "It simply sent me home. This land cannot kill me, my bloodline originates from here. All the same, I had never been here. And when they threw me I landed right in The Sorting hall.”

The Sorting Hall. The name meant nothing to me.

"I expected monsters."

"What did you find?" I asked.

“Terrified humans.” She laughed. "And…wealthy looking creatures, many of whom looked human like you and I. And then I met King Axar. And the first thing he ever said to me was⁠—”

She cleared her throat and dropped her voice into something older and drier. "You are not Yorali.”

I could not help smiling. "That doesn't sound frightening."

"No." Her expression softened.

I looked at her. “But this was still your mother’s prison. So why stay?”

She laughed. “It is not a prison in the way you might think. She looked around the dark room. “Many places like this make it feel that way, but there are farmers and schools and hot springs in Morrath.” She paused. “There are even those that practice kindness.”

She sighed. “Moreover, while I was rebuilding my life and preparing to return to Veynar…” She folded the towel neatly. “Everything changed. You disappeared. Prince Colsar disappeared. King Sevrin nearly destroyed himself looking for you, apparently. And Axar's spies reported that Nox had already infiltrated Veynar." She paused. "My brother came shortly afterward and visited briefly.”

I frowned. "He came here?"

"He heard they had thrown me into the pit and knew I would survive it.”

She laughed. “He knew exactly where to find me,” she said. “Briavar, near the hot springs.”

“There are hot springs there?”

She nodded excitedly. “Yes. It is not terribly far from the shoreline so the air is clear. Most people think Briavar and they think of Bloodhaven, but there is much more to it.”

“Bloodhaven?”

“A feeding den,” she said. “Supposedly. I’ve never been there, for obvious reasons,” she said with a snort.

I laughed, mostly because her snort was the loudest I had heard in a very long time. "What does your brother do now?"

"He still serves Prince Colsar."

Something about the way she said it made a memory stir. "What is your brother's name?"

"Iavis."

The name struck me like a bell. "Iavis." I looked up sharply. "The soldier. The one who used to follow me into the woods. The one who always pretended he hadn't seen me sneaking out."