Page 60 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)
Euyn
The Northern Pass, Khitan
We race the Northern Pass back to Quu, eager to reach my sister. I take a seat up front in the sleigh between this Gambria woman and Mikail. Sora sits in the back with Aeri, Royo, and a trunk full of clothes. Somehow, Aeri found the time to acquire a new wardrobe. She and Royo are noticeably closer than when we left the Temple of Knowledge, but I no longer believe they’re plotting against us.
Mostly.
I do feel a twinge of guilt for accusing them, but I had my reasons. Trusting Aeri would be a fool’s game when none of us are beyond betrayal. Especially not her.
However, no one has mentioned my theories to them. Everyone is far more concerned with a war of the realms and what it will mean for each of us and Yusan.
“Are you going to tell me why you think we’re all fucked?” Gambria asks Mikail. She’s speaking in Khitanese. Her accent is slightly off for a native speaker, but I can’t place where she is from.
“If there is a war of the realms, what happens?” he asks.
Gambria glares at him. “Are you a tutor now? It means Yusan, Khitan, and Wei go to war with one another.”
“And Gaya,” he adds.
Her eyes pray up to the snowy sky, and she sighs. “And Gaya.”
Once she says the name, I realize this woman looks Gayan, not Khitanese. That’s probably the reason for the occasional word sounding off. I was woozy at the time, but I think they were speaking Gayan the night she rescued us.
Mikail has never mentioned Gambria before. At first I thought they might have been lovers, but there’s so little chemistry between them that I don’t think she even likes him as a person. Which makes saving us a puzzlement.
She must be one of his Gayan sources. Yusan keeps constant secret and overt tabs on the colony. With all the laoli we found in the warehouse, I’m sure he’s been looking into it.
Still, it seems like there’s more to the story. They are too familiar for her to just be a source.
“A war of the realms would also mean that all of the relics of the Dragon Lord could end up in the same place at the same time, wouldn’t it?” Mikail says.
Gambria sits, considering it.
“No,” I say in Khitanese. “The Sands of Time was lost long ago.”
“But what if Joon found it?” Mikail asks.
I shake my head. “That’s not possible. There’s been no sign of the relic for centuries—it was lost in the deserts of Fallow a thousand years ago when the Dragon Lord ascended.”
“All ‘lost’ means is that someone wanted people to stop looking for it,” he counters. “Joon wouldn’t advertise to Wei that he has it. He wouldn’t want anyone to know until Yusan was locked in battle. My sources say he left the palace right after we were sent north.”
I stroke my beard as we sit in silence. Joon has the Immortal Crown and Flaming Sword—the relic Gaya would’ve brought to a war of the realms centuries ago. Quilimar wears the Golden Ring. Uol, the priest king of Wei, has the Water Scepter to command an unsinkable navy. If Joon found the Sands of Time, he would have three relics. He wouldn’t need the ring or scepter to win a war. However, winning a simple battle might not be the point. He may be trying to take the last two and become the Dragon Lord before the end of the monsoon season.
The thought is ridiculous until I remember Joon’s ambitiousness. Then a cold chill spreads over me.
He must’ve murdered the priests in the temple. He knew everyone would assume it was Quilimar, and the ancient edicts call for a war of the realms on any ruler who spills the blood of a Yoksa. By framing Quilimar with killing the priests, he guaranteed a war on Khitan’s soil. Wei is so assured in their constant victory, they would accept any provocation to gain more tribute. And he controls Gaya.
But it’s equally likely that it was, in fact, Quilimar. I’ll need to ask my sister directly to figure out if she did it. Hopefully, as I take her ring to give to Joon. If he is starting a war and has three of the relics, the ring just became that much more valuable to him. It would be enough to pardon our group and give us the spoils he promised.
He, very simply, has bigger concerns than six people committing a little treason. With the odds stacked against us, it’s the only way we’ll all survive.
I’m about to point that out when Gambria speaks.
“Skies,” she says. “We can ask Fallador if he’s heard anything about the Sands of Time.”
“I have, and he hasn’t,” Mikail says.
I turn my head because that’s a name I do know. Fallador is one of Mikail’s sources—one I have always suspected he was in love with. It’s something in the way he says his name, a look in his eye—just a small tell. Mikail says I’m paranoid, but being paranoid doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Not all the time.
“Where is Fallador?” I ask.
“In Quu,” Gambria says. “Unless you’ve heard otherwise.”
I glance at Mikail. Of course—that’s who he went to see the second we docked in Khitan. He looks to the side casually, as if it doesn’t matter. As if Fallador isn’t the reason he hasn’t visited my bed since we left Yusan.
Jealousy flames inside me, corrupting my thoughts like poison.
“No, I haven’t,” I say.
I grit my teeth. I’m so furious I could scream. Then I remember that helping Joon will mean I’ll soon be crown prince of Yusan again. I won’t have to worry about being betrayed at every turn by the ones closest to me.
I steady my breathing and put my mind to making a plan to steal the ring, whether the others agree or not.