As darkness settled over Edel, the city’s gaslights flickered to life in unison. Golden flames, sharp and jagged, shimmered on the gently flowing river in a dizzying dance. Liam, leaning his arms on the terrace railing, brought a cigar from his pocket and lit the end. It was then that he spotted a woman standing not far away. She was in the center of Loa Square, as motionless as the statue in the central fountain. He would have passed her by without a second thought if she weren’t a familiar face. The daughter of the family that made a king of a man who should not have been one—a family bound by an extraordinary promise from that very king. A