Sunspire Mountains he threw me on the needle bed, across my dress he laid

In another world or another life, where there were no Saints or faeries, promiscuous killers and courtsmen, Riley and Orlaith might have gotten along. Were it not for Esme and Riley's insistence on finding her, he might have shrugged off his responsibility to the Saints, and agreed to follow Orlaith then and there.

But only one shadow would go down the mountainside that day, and it would not be Riley's.

Forgetting she had just mentioned beating his ass, Riley looked to the east where he presumed she had come from. "I'm going to sit here for a while, and then find Esme." Find Esme had become his only reason for getting up in the morning. "Why are you going down the mountain?" What good was out there, except the Donovans and Lumiyas of the world? Riley had enough of both, and would remain here in this stony crag for a long, long time.