Page 34 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)

Thirty-Four

Xiang

T he weight of guilt hung around Xiang’s shoulders as he tended to Jayna where she lay on a pallet on the monastery floor. If he hadn’t seen the similarities between Audra and Bolin, and hadn’t asked where she was from, then they’d have killed her and moved on. His hesitation had resulted in the deaths of Nori and eight soldiers.

The Oji’s wrath had reduced the corpses to husks of double burnt ash sculpted to look like people. Disposing of their remains had caused one soldier to vomit when her lover crumbled in her arms. Some bodies remained more solid—like the one on the Requin —with a papery, wasp’s nest outer shell. But Nori’s remains disintegrated into dust with a single touch.

Lua shouldn’t have been that strong. Even anchored, he should still be recovering. Yet he’d tethered to the outside of the tower and killed them all so quickly. It had taken the Oji months to recover when he was anchored to Dain.

Jayna’s wound ran from her collarbone to her breast. The situation might have been awkward if she doubted his nature. But their relationship had always bordered on a non-romantic kinship .

Each shallow inhalation tugged her flesh apart while Xiang finished dressing it. Jayna lay silently on her back, watching a ray of Starling inch across the floor. She hadn’t spoken in hours. Lua’s assault had stolen more than her magic.

“Galia will be waiting for you in Uduary.” It was the only solace he could think of offering.

She closed her eyes, her voice a whisper. “What will happen when we get there? I never expected anything, but I hope the Oja won’t kill us for our failure.”

Xiang fastened her shirt and eased her upright. “It was my decision to bring Audra in. I alone deserve the punishment.”

Her lower lip trembled. “Neither Nori nor I knew she was his anchor. And why did he come so late? Anchors are limited by their distance, but I sensed nothing until he was outside these walls. I should have known he was so near. Should have acted faster.”

“Then you’d be dead alongside Nori,” Xiang said. “I realized who she was, but I hesitated. Everything happened too fast. I killed our people.”

She squeezed his arm. Guilt, it seemed, held them both.

“Let’s get you moving.” Xiang pulled her gently up while balancing on a makeshift crutch made by a soldier. It did little to alleviate the anguish in his fractured left leg. They tottered to the door together and stepped into the bright hallway. Starling light streamed through the broken ceiling, reflecting off the cracked stone flooring. Four vacant-eyed soldiers sat around a small fire they’d built in the middle of the hall. They nodded respectfully as the pair passed.

One of the oaken doors at the entrance was long destroyed, the other hung newly askew from its hinges. Stepping into the shadow of the building outside, Jayna took a long breath. A new scattering of large rocks lay where they’d fallen from the tower.

“We should leave,” she said.

“We can wait, if we need to,” he said. The jostling of the ride would slow her healing. “How do you feel?”

Her eyes squeezed tight, a tear escaped down her cheek. “Empty.”

“I should have killed her,” he muttered, more to himself than her.

“Brav should have killed him when the constraining bolt was in him.” Her hands clenched. “Why didn’t they? Why does the Oja want him alive? When people find out what he’s done, they’ll demand his death and she’ll be made Rajav anyway. It makes no sense.”

Xiang’s pause let her know there were things he couldn’t speak of, not even standing alone, bonded in their grief. Rather than offer false platitudes, he shook his head sympathetically. It did nothing to placate her.

“I want him dead,” she said.

“Do you want that more than you want to see Galia again?”

She looked away and wiped her eyes. “What do we do now? Half our soldiers gone. Nori.” Her breath trembled. “Obviously, we can’t take the Oji alone.”

“True, but there will be another opportunity,” Xiang said. Her eyes slid to his. “At the coronation in the Silence monastery. According to our Oja, there will be a moment during the eclipse when he’ll be vulnerable.”

“Coronation? They wouldn’t without Song approval. Without ceremony? The tribes will be thrown into chaos.”

“The Oji only cares for what he wants. And killing his own people won’t stop him. He’ll even kill his new anchor if she hinders him.” There was doubt in those words. The way Lua looked at Audra was revealing. The way he’d listened to her, even more so. “She has the bloodstone.”

Jayna turned. “Will she wear it?”

“I don’t know, but I think it’s possible. The eclipse might be our last chance to stop him.”

Jayna wrapped her arms around herself. “We should go.”

“You’re not strong enough.”

“I’ll manage. We need to make it to the monastery.”

Xiang watched her from the corner of his eyes. “And Galia? You would leave her waiting?”

“Galia understands duty,” Jayna said.

Xiang sighed, nodded. “As do we all.”