In a kingdom ruled by an undying king, a young girl finds a boy dying in a ditch.

A young assassin.

In a haze of sunbeams, she kneels beside him and sings to him.

He does not die.

He does not kill her.

She should have left him in that ditch.

Content warnings: Death of family, violence

Born in Texas but somehow having escaped without the accent, Sonya Lano currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic with two cats and a bunch of dust balls, hairballs, fur balls, spiders, story manuscripts, dreams, chocolate, books, and whatever else is hanging around her flat. Her full-time day job testing software pays the bills while her nights are (mostly) filled with living in other worlds.