AERI

CITY OF RAHWAY, YUSAN

D id Sora just attack Mikail? What is happening right now?

Royo and I run down the steps of the terrace, heading toward where Fallador restrains Sora. Gravel crunches under my boots as we hit the paths. Everyone wonders why I prefer short dresses—it’s because I can run away so much faster in them. This time, though, I sprint full speed at danger.

I pull a throwing knife from the side of my dress and one from the band on my thigh. Royo slips on his brass knuckles. My relics vibrate, but I don’t want to use them. Not until I figure out what happened. I don’t want to kill Mikail, and I’d rather not kill Fallador.

Yet I know in my heart I’d slay both to protect Sora.

Royo breathes hard, his broad chest rising and falling. We’re both winded by the time we reach them. But my heart feels lighter, being a team with Royo.

That is, until I get closer.

Tears stream down Sora’s face. Mikail has a hand to his forehead while Fallador just looks confused.

What is this? What’s going on?

“What did you do?” I ask Mikail.

He stares at me, eyes widening. “ She just tried to attack me , but other than that, I don’t know.” He runs his hands over his wavy hair and sighs, his shoulders slumping. “That’s a lie—I do know. She thinks Tiyung is dead and that I knew and didn’t tell her.”

Oh shit.

His words knock the air from my chest. Poor Sora—first her sister and now Ty. I don’t know what exactly Tiyung meant to her other than a hope for tomorrow, but that is a tremendous loss. For all of us, but especially her. And there’s only so much loss someone can take without breaking.

“Oh, Sora,” I say, clasping my hands together. “Rune told you this?”

Earlier, I let Royo sleep because I enjoyed watching him rest peacefully. He’s so much younger, less guarded when he’s asleep. Years leave him, and he’s just…mine. I thought nothing was happening at the villa, that at most we’d miss lunch. Apparently, we missed a lot more than that.

Sora shakes her head. “Not Rune.”

“Where did you hear this, then?” Mikail asks. His expression sharpens, his features alert. His shirt is torn, and he’s bleeding. A purple stain spreads on his sleeve as his red blood mixes with the blue of his shirt. He doesn’t seem to care, though.

She looks down at the gravel. “Someone I know.”

Mikail eyes her. “The courtesan?”

I glance at Sora. I thought they’d seemed familiar last night. For a second, I wonder if Misha is a poison maiden—she’s certainly pretty enough. But then I remember that if she were a poisoner, Rune would already be dead.

Sora looks to the side—that’s a yes. She moves her shoulders, silently asking for Fallador to release her. Mikail tips his chin, and Fallador lets her go. There is a dagger on the ground and also a knife. They’re both Sora’s. I recognize those decorative handles—we picked them up in Cetil.

“Sora, I swear and I vow that no one told me he died,” Mikail says.

He pauses to let his words sink in. “Last I heard from my source, he was alive. I assumed nothing changed because I had someone in Idle watching out for him. I will send word as soon as I can to confirm, but don’t lose heart.

I don’t put it past Rune or anyone else to spread a rumor that he died. ”

Her purple eyes move rapidly as she tries to sort out who is telling the truth and who is lying. Poor Sora. It’s harder than it should be.

“Why did you mention Gambria?” she asks.

I look at Mikail, Fallador, Sora, and then Royo. Once again, we’re in shambles and she’s not here. She has a funny way of disappearing right before blood splatters the ground.

Mikail draws a breath. “She was the reason the assassins found us yesterday.”

No one makes a sound. Even Royo holds his breath.

“You mean found Aeri and me,” Sora says.

Tension crackles between them as Sora faces off with Mikail.

Fallador slides closer to Mikail. Royo moves a step nearer to Sora.

I wring my hands. This feels like when we were outside of the warehouse in Oosant and Tiyung wanted to spare the barmaid and her father.

Only, this time, it’s worse. We’ve all been through too much for this to be happening now.

But maybe it’s happening because of what we’ve suffered.

Mikail casually waves the walking stick, trying to defuse the situation. “You were the target, but she betrayed all of us.”

“How do we know this guy wasn’t in on it, too?” Royo points a thick finger at Fallador.

“I wasn’t.” Fallador’s eyes are wide, and his face is earnest. “But you have no reason to believe me.”

He’s right. Only time can prove loyalty—and we don’t have enough of it.

“So is Gambria dead now or what?” Royo asks.

Fallador flinches at the blunt way Royo just phrased it, but I’m certain we all want to know.

“The latter,” Mikail says. “She’s gone back to Khitan.”

In other words: he let her go.

Conversation stops. So, Gambria did, in fact, set us up. She might have done the same in Gaya. I could’ve died either time, but Mikail let her go because they have history together. What a terrible time for him to discover mercy.

I swallow the hurt clogging my throat. I thought he cared, and maybe he does, but not enough.

“We have to leave Rahway tonight,” Sora says, finally breaking the silence. She side-eyes Fallador. She doesn’t trust him, and maybe we would be foolish to trust anyone else now. But she says it so definitively that she must have heard something.

“Why?” Royo asks.

She hesitates. “Because we aren’t safe here.”

Mikail looks from Sora to Fallador and back. “What do you want to do, Sora?”

“We will tell Rune that we have to leave but we will meet him in Tamneki. In the meantime, have Fallador stay with Rune and report to us on the western count’s plays and plans.”

She wants to get rid of Fallador. I don’t blame her, even though, honestly, I like him. But there’s a lot she’s not saying.

“And where are we going in the meantime?” Mikail asks.

“To Oosant,” she says. “We need to figure out who owned the warehouse. I saw one of those pouches today, and it jogged my memory. The drugs belonged to either Seok or Rune, and we need to know which. Locals in the borderlands must know something. They couldn’t have snuck that much laoli in from Gaya without anyone seeing. ”

We all weigh the idea. I’m surprised Sora would want to return there, given how the gang kidnapped her, but she’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.

Plus, we did kill everyone, so maybe there’s not the same danger.

The drugs do seem to be tied to all of this.

It was too much money to not involve the counts… or my father.

But I don’t know why she thinks we need to go right now.

Mikail studies her. “All right, Sora. Be ready to leave in a bell.”

Sora stares back at him and nods. She lifts the hem of her long dress and steps over the blades on the ground, headed back toward the villa. I hesitate for a breath because something feels very strange about all of this, but then I turn and follow her. Royo is at my side.

We exchange glances. His brow is furrowed, and he’s rubbing at his scar. So, I was right—something was strange.

We catch up with Sora on the stairs. Fallador and Mikail have stayed back on the path.

“Get all of the weapons you need from the armory,” Sora says quietly.

Royo nods. “We’ll need ’em for Oosant.”

“We’re not going to Oosant,” she says.

Royo stares at her, and I’m sure I look just as confused.

“But you just said—” he begins.

“We’re going to the Temple of Knowledge,” she says. “We have to figure out what happens when all of the relics are combined. But more than anything, we need to get far away from here.”

“Why?” I ask. It’s been weird, blacking out, but it doesn’t seem that urgent.

“Because I think Rune will use Fallador to kill you and Mikail in order to present the relics to King Joon.”

I pause on the steps as my pulse thuds in my throat.

Something about her theory feels right. My father has the other two relics.

With mine and Mikail’s, he can become the Dragon Lord and impose his will on all the realms. My amulet and ring vibrate, the etherum rising to the threat. But the danger is in my mind.

For now.

I shake my head. “But we looked for information on the multiplying powers and the legend of the Dragon Lord, and we didn’t find anything in Khitan.”

“Because King Joon’s spies had gotten there first,” Sora says.

I realize what she’s saying. We have no way of knowing if they destroyed information before we reached the temple. And if my father’s plan had always been to reunite the relics, he’d make sure we wouldn’t find anything.

“So, we go to the temple here?” Royo asks.

Sora shakes her head. “No, it could also be compromised. We have to go back to Gaya.”

“Mikail wasn’t sure it existed,” I point out.

“We have to try,” Sora says.

Returning to the colony would mean either taking a riverboat and then a ship to the island, or Mikail using the Water Scepter. I don’t think we have time for a riverboat.

“You mean with Mikail?” Royo asks.

Sora nods. “Of course.”

We get to the terrace and stop at the top of the stairs. The worst effect of the relics is how the toll has slowed my thinking. Why did she just lie to Mikail, then? Why the ruse?

Royo shakes his head. “I don’t get it. Why not say all this before?”

She tilts her head. “Because Fallador was standing right there.”

“But he…” I begin, and then I trail off because I’m not actually sure of his loyalty, and that’s the issue.

Sora glances at me. “You didn’t notice? Mikail doesn’t trust Fallador, either.”