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He’s mine now. I claw at his face, my fingers digging into the hollows of his cheek.

He turns purple, a shade more violent than the rich mulberry of his vest. He grasps for the dagger on his hip, the long blue veins on his arm bulging as he tugs it off his belt. Poor captain, I butt him in the head and break his jaw just like I fantasized. He drops the dagger.

His eyes become defiant yet pleading. There’s something else too—something I’ve seen before, only not to such a ferocious degree.

Horror.

I turn his face away from mine, and my arm hooks around his neck. Part of me knows I’m making up for what I wanted to do to Meguh and that I should stop myself, but I can’t. I begin to choke him, squeezing my elbow around his thick, throbbing neck. The muscles in his neck contract and fight, his shoulders seize up, and blood drains from his head, paling his skin bone-white.

I squeeze harder.

Harder.

His lungs give up the fight, and one last wheeze escapes his body.

He falls, heavy with death, and I let myself sink with him. I’ve just killed a man with my bare hands. But I feel nothing, no tarnish on my soul or conscience—only regret that this is not how I killed King Meguh.

I toss the captain’s corpse aside and grab his sword from the marble path. Then I tear into the aviary.

Birds scatter from the trees when I enter, squawking loudly. I snarl at them.

They swipe their talons at my flesh and snap their beaks at my fingers. I cannot fight them all with one lone sword, so I let them come. The wild-eyed birds that taste my blood drop lifeless onto the ground. My path is clear, and I brandish my sword at those who still dare approach.

“Ukar!” I shout. “Ukar, where are you?” I know he’s still alive. “Ukar!”

Here…, rasps Ukar’s voice, as faint as gauze. Behind the nest.

I look up to one of the gnarled trees. The remains of a nest are lodged between two branches, and Ukar is wedged underneath. He’s coiled his body, wrapping himself tense and thick as a shell. It is his best defense, but it won’t last for long.

Gingerly, I ease him out of the tree and lower him into my arms. Then I jump down and race out of the aviary, smashing the doors shut behind me.

I collapse behind a fountain, cradling my friend.

“Ukar, Ukar…” I press a kiss to his forehead.

Ukar curves against me. His scales have turned gray; he is in his resting state. His tail is battered, marred with bites and talon marks, and when I remove the band that binds his mouth, his tongue hangs slack. He doesn’t even have the strength to greet me, and when I touch my mind to his, I feel only a cold, numbing pain.

“Rest,” I whisper, wrapping him gently around my neck to make sure he’s comfortable. “Heal.”

I’m on my feet again, but I’ve taken too long.

A shadow crosses the sun, plummeting toward me. Hokzuh is here.

I spring up, charging at him with my sword, but he bats me aside with his wing. He twists the sword from my grasp and throws it into the bushes.

I stagger back, bracing myself for another fight. But instead of killing me, as Angma commanded, Hokzuh blinks, and the gold swirling in his eyes fades. His red eye glitters bright.

He says, with a disarming smile, “Clever, using the demon to help you escape. You’ve earned my respect, Lady Green Snake.”

He doesn’t even give me a second to be confused. He slings Ukar and me over his shoulder, and we accelerate into the sky.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

We shoot high above the Kumala Sea, reaching the clouds in a matter of heartbeats, and as the adrenaline rushes to my head, I learn that I am not fond of heights. Neither is Ukar. He wraps his body around my neck so tight I can hardly breathe. This is good, I suppose, for it prevents me from vomiting over Hokzuh’s shoulder.

“I thought you were going to kill me!” I shout. “Your eyes, they were—”

“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead,” he says bluntly. “No more talking. You’re weighing me down enough as it is.”