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It’s the only way, he thought, struggling to convince himself he’d done the right thing. The only way to keep her safe. When it was all over, he would get her back. He’d make it right. He had to.

Thunder sounded in the distance, and he lifted his head to see dark black clouds churning in the sky just in front of the procession.

Soaked and numb, Bria sat before the hearth in her room. They had not reached Castle Delaney before the downpour began and had been unable to avoid the torrential wall of rain. The flames snapped and danced, their movements reflected in her eyes, but she didn’t see them.

She shivered in her wet clothing. Her maidservant Deb had suggested she change, but she’d refused. They were the last thing that held the memory of Terran’s touch.

Someone hung a warm, dry blanket about her shoulders, but she didn’t look up.

“Bria.” Her father knelt before her.

Bria shifted her eyes to him, hoping to find comfort in his presence. But he wasn’t Terran, and only Terran could stop the pain burning in her chest. She turned her gaze back to the fire.

“We can petition the king for an annulment. We’ll get the dowry back,” he vowed. “That cur shall have none of your coin.”

Bria almost laughed. As if she cared about the dowry.

Her father lifted a hand to stroke her wet hair. “Was it so horrible for you, darling?”

“Horrible?” she asked quietly. “No, Father.” She blinked at the tears filling her eyes. “Curse me for a fool,” she said, and lifted a trembling hand to swipe at a lone tear that ran down her cheek. “I fell in love with him.”

That night Bria slept a barren sleep, her mind empty of dreams, her soul more dead than alive. By the time she woke the next day, it was late afternoon. She moved through the halls like a specter, pale, hauntingly slow. Peasants stopped to look at her and shake their heads when they thought she wasn’t looking. She frowned. He had done this to her. Terran had made her an object of sympathy.

But she knew she was stronger than that. Then why didn’t she have the strength of spirit to prove it? Why couldn’t she be better than this phantom who walked the halls?

Without realizing where she was heading, Bria found herself sitting beneath the tree near the empty tilting yard. She pulled out stalks of grass one at a time, shredding each in her slender fingers, and then moving on to the next.

She didn’t notice the passage of time, didn’t notice the sun dipping lower and lower in the distance.

A sword dropped abruptly into her lap, as if falling from the heavens. She stared down at the leather handle for a long moment before lifting her gaze skyward to find her grandfather standing over her.

“The people need the Midnight Shadow,” he said, “now more than ever.”

Bria pushed the weapon from her lap. “I’m not worthy to be the Midnight Shadow.”

“You’ve been wounded by your enemy and you just sit there, letting the wound kill you.”

Bria shook her head. “It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it?” Harry knelt beside her.

“I don’t have the spirit to be the Midnight Shadow.”

“So he killed that, too, did he?” Harry shook his head. “And who will save those people? Do you think this is what Garret would have wanted? Or Mary?”

“Mary.” Bria’s head came up sharply at the thought of her friend. How selfish I’ve been. While my friend rots away in Terran’s dungeon, all I can think about is myself! I have to save Mary! Bria quickly rose to her feet. “Grandfather, Mary is alive! I spoke with her. She’s in the dungeon at Castle Knowles!”

Harry nodded grimly. “Then you have a lot to do, don’t you?”

When Bria reached the clearing, the moon was high and bright in the night sky. She dismounted and moved to the pond, taking a moment to look down into the calm water. She was dismayed at her wretched expression, her swollen lids, her melancholy face. But there was a new resolve returning to her eyes.

Let everyone think I am wasting away from a loveless marriage. Let everyone think Terran treated me horribly. Let everyone pity me, she thought. I’ll be safe from their suspicions. No one will expect me to be the Midnight Shadow.

Bria looked around, watching the shadows, waiting, making sure Kenric hadn’t set a trap. When she finally moved to retrieve her costume and sword, dark clouds had obscured the moon and the night cloaked her in nearly complete darkness. The blackness of the forest gave her courage; the stars twinkling above gave her hope. But mostly, the reborn determination within her gave her a renewed strength of spirit.

Bria took her sword, boots, and costume and mounted her horse, leaving the memories of her poisoning behind her. She decided to move her hiding place to the bramble patch. Once there, she again became the Midnight Shadow.

Chapter thirty-six