The Kingkiller’s Shadoter 4: The Ghosts Between UsA Memory of SunlightThirteen years ago…

  The pace gardens were golden with afternoon light, the st of summer roses thi the air.

  Evelyn Marrow sat cross-legged on the white stone wall, her hands gripping the edges for bahe ground below wasn’t far, but to a twelve-year-old girl, it felt like standing at the edge of a great height.

  "Yoing to fall."

  Cassian’s voice came from below, amused but exasperated.

  She smirked. "No, I’m not. And if I do, I’ll nd on you."

  "Then I’d let you fall."

  Evelyn stuck out her tongue. Cassian was standing on the grass, arms crossed, wearing a unic too fine for someone who stantly found ways to dirty himself. His dark hair was slightly messy, as usual, and his sword belt hung loosely at his side—he always hated tying it properly.

  "You’re staring," Cassian said, arg an eyebrow.

  "I’m thinking."

  "Dangerous."

  "Shut up."

  She turned back to the sky, letting the wind brush against her face. This was her favorite pce—high enough to feel the world open, but not far enough to feel lost.

  "What do you think it’ll be like?" she asked.

  Cassian leaned against the wall. "What?"

  "The future." She g him. "When we’re older. When we have to be… them." She gestured toward the distant pace windows, where nobles and courtiers moved like pieces on a chessboard.

  Cassian shrugged. "B. Annoying."

  Evelyn ughed. "You sound like a child."

  "I am a child."

  She rolled her eyes. "No, but really. Do you ever think about what it’ll be like when you’re ruling House Valcor? When I have to deal with all my father’s expectations?"

  Cassiaated. Then, for a moment, his usual fidence faded.

  "I don’t know." His voice was quieter now. "But… if we’re both there, maybe it won’t be that bad."

  Evelyn blinked.

  Then she smiled, bumping his shoulder with hers.

  "Yeah. Maybe."

  At that moment, the future had felt far away. Like something they could worry about another day.

  her of them k would be the st summer they would have together.

  The Duel That Shouldn’t Have Been (Present Day)The training yard still smelled of blood and dust.

  Evelyn gripped the edge of the baly railing, staring down at the stain of red on the sand below—Cassian’s blood, from the wound she had given him.

  It should have been satisfying. It should have felt like justice.

  Instead, it felt like she had cut into something deeper than flesh.

  She had wao prove—to the court, to herself—that Cassian wasn’t fit to rule. That the boy she had orusted was long gone, repced by the man they all believed him to be.

  But now that it was over, something was wrong.

  Because the way Cassian had fought…

  He hadn’t been trying to win.

  He had been surviving.

  Evelyn ched her fists.

  "You doubt yourself."

  She turned sharply to see Lord Marrow, her father, standing in the shadows of the baly, watg her.

  "No," she said quickly.

  He stepped forward. His gaze was unreadable, his hands csped behind his back. "Then why are you still here?"

  She swallowed. "I… was making sure everything was handled properly."

  A slight tilt of his head. "You won. The court accepted it. Cassian has been named king. So why do you look as if you lost?"

  Evelyn turned back toward the training yard.

  "Because I think we just put a on a man who doesn't want it."

  Sileretched between them.

  Then, Lord Marrow’s voice lowered. "He was never meant to be king. But he is now. And that means we must decide what to do with him."

  Evelyn knew what he was implying.

  The nobles had tolerated Cassian’s return, but only because Magnus had forced their hand. If Cassian showed any sign of weakness, any sign of disobedience…

  They would remove him.

  One way or another.

  Evelyn took a slow breath.

  "What if he’s not what we think he is?" she asked.

  Her father gave a thin smile. "Then he’ll prove it soon enough."

  A King Without a That night, Evelyn stood outside the great hall of Ivory Hold, hidden behind one of the carved pilrs.

  She wasn’t sure why she was here.

  Perhaps it was because she still had unanswered questions.

  Perhaps it was because the sight of Cassian bleeding oraining sands wouldn’t leave her mind.

  Or perhaps it was because a part of her still remembered the boy who had once dreamed of the future with her.

  She heard voices ihe hall.

  Magnus. Cassian.

  "You will do as I say."

  "And if I don’t?"

  "Then you will be repced."

  Evelyn’s breath caught.

  Cassian ughed—a sharp, bitter sound.

  "So that’s how it is. Yed me back here to sit on your throne like a trained animal."

  A pause. Then Magnus’s voice, calm and unyielding.

  "You are not here to rule. You are here to obey."

  Silence.

  Then Cassian spoke, softer now.

  "And if I refuse?"

  Magnus’s voice was almost bored. "Then you will end up like Aldric."

  Evelyn’s chest tightened.

  Cassian had no real power. Magnus had never intended for him to rule—only to wear the title while he pulled the strings from behind the curtain.

  Cassian wasn’t just fighting for the throne.

  He was fighting to survive.

  Evelyn took a slow step back.

  Her father’s words echoed in her mind. "We must decide what to do with him."

  And for the first time, she wasn’t sure whose side she was on.

  End of Chapter 4