Page 41 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Mikail

City of Loptra, Khitan

It took three bells of trudging through the snow to make it to a trading post where we could get horses, and then another five on horseback, but we finally make it to Loptra. Our first order of business is buying winter gear for Sora. After the avalanche, I’d cut up one of the furs and wrapped the pieces around her dress boots so her frostbite wouldn’t worsen. It worked well enough to get us here, but she desperately needs proper boots and fitted clothes.

She picks a simple dress house in the garment district, and the owner and workers can’t help but fall all over themselves. Seduction comes easily to Sora, but she is also effortlessly charming and unfailingly kind.

Well, she’d like to murder Euyn, but she has good reason.

I can’t believe he didn’t mention that her parents didn’t sell her, but then again, it’s so utterly believable.

I already deposited him at an inn, so he’s resting. Actually, I’m sure he’s setting half a dozen traps and pacing while I take care of things with Sora. I suggested she sleep first, but she didn’t want to. She’s both not tired and completely exhausted. I understand the feeling.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to drop into the messenger house and make a few other arrangements,” I say. “I’ll return for you shortly.”

She nods.

I step out of the shop and take a deep breath. Sora is never hard to be around—the opposite, actually. Even on the long trek here, she didn’t complain once. She will quietly endure nearly anything, but the waves of grief and anger coming off her are suffocating.

The fresh, snowy air feels nice as I stroll to the messenger house through the bustle of Loptra. It’s the third largest city in Khitan and the most modern and cosmopolitan. Glass and gilding gleams, and the statues are newly cut. Everyone dresses in their best, the women mostly in slacks and stylized jackets. People with new fortunes meet those with cutting-edge inventions. It even smells fresh and promising, with buildings still in construction along the banks of the Uulatar River. That’s the body of water we almost fell into during the avalanche. The Uulatar runs off the Khakatan Mountains and winds all the way past Loptra to Vashney.

It’s the same mix of people found throughout Khitan that navigates through the city. Food hawkers call out their regional specialties in various languages. Because of the weather and terrain in this frozen land, Khitan has always welcomed anyone who wanted to settle here. They have a level of tolerance not found in other places because they don’t have the luxury of being snobs. It’s one of many reasons they don’t get along with Yusan.

I pass sizzling meat and fragrant rice as I scan for the telltale color of a messenger house. In Yusan, the shops are painted cobalt blue. Here, they are a loud shade of red. Messenger houses are primarily the same in any realm—half aviary and half shop, with a large stable attached for less urgent, cheaper correspondence. Messages can take a month on horseback, and I never have time for that.

I need to send coded letters to Zahara and others. But when I arrive at the Loptra messenger house, Zahara has already beaten me to the punch. There’s eagle post waiting for me when I give the woman my (false) name. Two letters. I assume the other is from Gambria, as I sent a message letting her know I’d come.

With the letters in hand, I stand to the side, leaning against one of the many ledges. The houses provide paper, envelopes, and clay. I grab a pen and scratch paper to decode Zahara’s message. Again, it’s one word.

Alive

Tiyung is still alive in Idle Prison. That’s a relief, especially given Euyn’s latest moral failing. Ty increasingly looks like the only viable option we have for the throne. He was the one who wanted to spare the barmaid and her father in Oosant, reasoning that they were not directly involved with Sora’s kidnapping. That is far better than a man who is willing to condone genocide so that we don’t have to pay tribute. A man willing to let Sora believe her parents sold her for coin.

But I forget my thoughts of Euyn when I notice the second envelope is red, meaning it’s also from the palace. Zahara must have sent an eagle after the first one. I wonder what was so urgent. I brace myself to read that Tiyung has died and that yet again I’ll need to formulate a new plan.

I decode the letter.

She is ashes

I lean on the counter, the wind knocked out of me. My hands dig into the wood, and the horizon tilts. I open my jacket for air, but it doesn’t help. It still feels like I’m suffocating. Like invisible hands are pressing on my throat and chest.

“Are you all right?” the woman asks in Khitanese.

I nod. But I am not. I have to gasp through jagged breaths. I struggle not to cry for a girl I’ve never met.

She is ashes .

Daysum is dead.