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Guardians often wore short gold bracers or wide wrist cuffs in public, along with our gold collars.

Since I was required to keep my tendrils hidden while visiting the sarai , I wore the matching golden strips on my arms and around my torso too.

Compared to the overall amount of gold on my body, the bracers were but a small part.

“We received new information about the Watchers,” she explained. “Apparently, they identify themselves by a scorpion tattoo on the wrist.” She pointed at my right bracer. “I need to see your wrists, Joy Guardian.”

For an organization that wished to remain secret, having a clear identification sign like a tattoo wasn’t prudent.

But the purpose of our tattoo was to prove our commitment.

Scars healed on a fae, but done in gold and sealed with a spell, the image of the scorpion would remain etched in my skin for life—as long or as short as my life might be.

“Is the council under the impression that I may be one of the so-called Watchers?” I asked, buying a moment or two to think.

Was the door to the room locked? I hadn’t heard a key turn in it. But if it was locked, I’d be wasting my only chance to escape while trying to open it.

“Please don’t take my request as an insult, Joy Guardian Kurai,” the Head Councilor said. “It’s not a matter of trust but a matter of security. We need to make sure there is no threat to the queen’s Joy Vessels from anyone with access to the sarai .”

“I understand.” I nodded serenely, removing the gold strap from above my bicep, promptly followed by the one above my elbow on the same arm.

“Oh, there is no need to remove them all,” the Head Councilor tried to stop me.

But for me to escape as a shadow, it was best to have at least some of my tendrils exposed.

“Just the bracers then?” I feigned innocence, removing the gold from my other arm, too, meanwhile.

“Yes, just the bracers will be sufficient. The tattoo is said to be on the Watchers’ wrists.”

“Left or right?” I bent down, placing the gold on the floor while taking a step back toward the door.

“Um, I’m not sure which one. I will ask you to remove them both, please.”

“As you wish.” I brought my hand to my right bracer, the one that hid the image of the golden scorpion that I got less than two months ago .

The memory of the prickle of the needle was still fresh in my mind, as was the feeling of pride and devotion I felt when marking my body in service of the Joy.

“Guards!” I yelled, leaving the bracer in place.

The Head Councilor jerked her head in alarm. The door swung open, with the guards ready to rush in.

I inhaled deeply and willed my body to disperse into a shadow.

“Get him!” the Head Council shrieked. “Quickly. He’s trying to escape. Go after him to the city wall.”

Getting beyond the city wall would be a wise choice for someone running for his life. At this point, I cared little about my life, however. I had a mission that I couldn’t fail.

Instead of sending my shadow outside of the city limits, I made my body solidify inside the gate of the sarai .

Humans had no place in Alveari. They had to leave here, dead or alive. Since my true identity had been discovered, keeping the Joy Vessels alive was no longer an option. Before I left Kalmena, all humans had to die.

I had used my privilege to access the sarai not just to have nightly conversations.

Over the past two weeks, I’d hidden forty-eight vials with explosion potion throughout the humans’ quarters.

All I had to do now was say the spell while uncorking the last one of them, and this entire section of the queen’s palace would go up in the magical golden flames, killing everyone.

I ran to the only uncorked vial under a dense hedge behind a flower arch.

I had my escape cloak hidden there as well.

Enchanted by the Joy Guardians’ magic, it would take me much farther from the city than shadow magic could.

If I timed it right and got out just a moment before the explosion, I might even survive this.

I threw the dark cloak over my shoulders. Charged with magic, its material sparkled in the folds and crackled against my skin .

“Hi, Kurai,” sounded the soft, lyrical voice of the woman who’d taught me the meaning of so many human smiles.

Ciana exited from her room on the ground floor.

“You’re back already?” Her face lit up in the way that told me how happy she was to see me.

The metal gates to the sarai flew open. Guards rushed in—an entire army of them.

“Get him!”

“What’s going on?” Ciana shrank back. Alarm shattered the happiness on her lovely face.

The guards aimed their arrows at my chest.

Jumping behind the hedge, I bent down to uncork the vial.

My lips were already forming the first words of the spell.

I memorized the words so well, I could say them in my sleep.

The spell was short. And once I finished, the flames of magic would kill them all.

The guards, the Keepers, and the humans would all be gone.

“Kurai!” Ciana cried in fear.

It had to be done. Our Joy was sacrosanct. It must be saved. Such was my purpose…

Yet I felt Ciana’s gaze on me, and my fingers trembled on the cork of the vial.

“Why are you after him? What did he do?” she yelled at the guards.

I grabbed the ends of my cloak but didn’t run.

Since I couldn’t take her life, I had no reason to keep my own.

I failed.

I didn’t deserve to live.

“Kill the traitor.” The leader of the guards gave a signal.

The guards pulled the strings of their bows. The arrowheads glistened red with the Nerifir iron that would undoubtedly kill me.

Death seemed an inadequate punishment for my failure. I’d die with no atonement, with no chance to right the wrong. Because at the last moment of my life, I completely lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

“No!” Ciana dashed to me, throwing herself against my chest.

Pushed back by the momentum, I closed my arms around her instinctively, still holding the ends of the magical cloak in my hands.

The fabric sizzled around us, merging with my shadow magic.

The released arrows sang through the air but pierced only shadows of the cloak.

Next, the magical shroud dissipated. The shadows were torn to shreds, revealing the desert that surrounded us—Ciana and me.

The cloak’s spell had worked, taking us out of the city. And once it ended, the fabric dissolved into shimmer and dust.

“Where are we?” Ciana let go of me, looking around in bewilderment. “What happened?”

What happened was that at the end of it all, I was still alive.

And it was only because of her.