Lynette Noni

the smallest spark can cause a flame

“I have a lot of dreams. A lot of nightmares, too. Only time will tell which path my life will take.”

“Because I found a reason to stay.”

“So,” Kiva said, “most men are pigs.”

’m allocating him to you for orientation.”

“Take off your shirt and lie down.”
“I’m flattered, but we barely know each other.”

“Jaren can help you,” Naari told Tipp. “He’s good with his hands.”

Kiva who were considered loyal to the Warden of Zalindov, a traitor to her fellow prisoners. An informant. A spy.

No one loathed Kiva more than she did herself, but she couldn’t regret her choices, regardless of the cost.

Zalindov showed no mercy, not even to the innocent.

Especially not to the innocent.

With shaking fingers, Kiva unfolded it and read the coded words contained within.

Kiva released a whoosh of air, her shoulders drooping with relief as she mentally translated the code: We are safe. Stay alive. We will come.

It had been three months since Kiva had last heard from her family. Three months of checking the clothing of new, oblivious prisoners, hoping for any scrap of information from the outside world. If not for the charity of the stablemaster, Raz, she would have had no means of communicating with those she loved most. He risked his life to sneak the notes through Zalindov’s walls to her, and despite their rarity—and brevity—they meant the world to Kiva.

We are safe. Stay alive. We will come.

The same eight words and other similar offerings had arrived sporadically over the last decade, always when Kiva needed to hear them the most.

We are safe. Stay alive. We will come.

The middle part was easier said than done, but Kiva would do as she was told, certain her family would one day fulfill their promise to come for her. No matter how many times they wrote the words, no matter how long she’d already waited, she held on to their declaration, repeating it over and over in her mind: We will come. We will come. We will come.

One day, she would be with her family again. One day, she would be free of Zalindov, a prisoner no longer.

For ten years, she had been waiting for that day.

But every week that passed, her hope dwindled more and more.