Page 53

MIKAIL

ROSE PALACE, GAYA

I walk through the palace with Zahara, who is actually a poison maiden named Hana.

I’m surprised I didn’t pick up on it before, as she is beautiful enough to be one of Seok’s poisoners.

But I suppose she’s not the first royal spymaster able to hide their real identity.

I’d excuse the lie, but I haven’t even been crowned, and there’s already been an attempt on my life.

I can’t allow anyone to be close if I don’t fully trust them.

And I don’t trust her.

We find the staircase that leads up to the watchtower. The top of the tower is five stories above the palace and the highest point on Gaya. I remember seeing the tower from my village as a boy. At the time, it felt comforting, like there was always someone watching over us.

Hana and I climb until the stairs become a spiral, and we go all the way to the open-air lookout.

The evening is cooler, and the wind smells of the salt of the sea.

The sun is setting, but nearly the whole of the island is visible from here.

I eagerly search for my seaside northern village, but there are no signs of it. No buildings at all.

My breath catches. There are no northern villages. Instead, it’s charm fields as far as the eye can see. Yusan slaughtered tens of thousands of people and then erased them from the face of Gaya.

I stare as my heart pounds, anger seeping through my bones. Yusan razed the homes and replaced them with the drug plant like nothing ever happened. Like Gayans never existed.

Across the water, to the northeast, are the lights of Tamneki. I grip the ledge. I swear I’ll see it burn before this is over. I will pay them back body for body.

Hana moves, and I feel her next to me. The poison maiden, the spy, the double agent working for both Joon and the western count.

“Rune specifically said that Fallador was feeding him information?” I ask.

“He didn’t name him,” she says. “Rune said he was working with someone in your group, and then he didn’t have any solid information once you left Rahway, so that is my theory.”

That’s confirmation enough.

My heart squeezes as my head falls. There’s real pain in my chest, and I don’t know why I’m so disappointed. Fallador has lied to me since we met. Another deception shouldn’t come as a shock. But he and Gambria betraying me cuts the deepest because they had been my only remnant of home.

I inhale a breath of sea air. It doesn’t matter. I am home now.

But how long will I last? How long until the might of the other realms comes crashing down on us? How long until the soldiers on the island figure out that I have taken the palace? How will we defend it with a handful of guards and three relics?

I continue to stroll around the tower. From the southern end, I see the tops of the black wood forest and the mist that covers the sacred woods. Once upon a time, it must have been beautiful, but now it’s a ghastly reminder of what was stripped away.

I lock my jaw. Joon will pay for this.

The ones we hate die first.

“Is Rune in an alliance with Seok or Joon?” I ask.

“I don’t know.”

Surprised, I turn and face Hana. She looks sincere, but looks are deceiving with spies.

“Rune should arrive with his army in Tamneki within a day or so,” she says. “But the Weian warships will reach the capital around then as well. Knowing Rune, he will wait and align with whomever he thinks is likely to win. Seok has Qali, but Joon has Wei on his side, as well as the Immortal Crown.”

It does sound like that desert snake to wait and throw his support when the battle is already decided. We could also let Seok and Joon destroy each other and then take on the weakened victor—it’s the smart play.

“What will you do?” she asks.

There’s nothing in the world that could make me tell her my actual plans.

“I’m going to hang the governor from the city gate, and then I’ll decide,” I say. “On second thought, I’ll behead him and throw his skull into the sea first, as he did to my family. And then I’ll crown myself king. After that, I’ll hang his body.”

Hana nods.

I stare directly at her. “Because of the aid you’ve given me in the past, and even tonight, I’m giving you this one opportunity to flee.”

“Mikail…” She stares at me, and then she tilts her head and sighs. “I can’t prove my loyalty to you, can I?”

“No, you cannot, and I can’t afford another traitor in our midst. The safest place for you would be Khitan, as whether Seok or Joon wins this war, neither will be interested in seeing you alive, and Wei and Fallow are no place for Yusanian women.”

“You know, Sora and I once had a dream to escape to Khitan together, but now…” Her voice breaks, reflecting her heart. She swallows hard and shakes off the memory. “Safety in death, my friend.”

“Safety in death,” I say.

Hana hesitates, seemingly wanting to say more, but there’s nothing more to say. She takes the stairs back down.

A part of me wants to stop her, but this is no time for sentimentality. It’s no time for emotions at all.

I stay in the tower until it’s dark and I can no longer see the island except for twinkling lights. Alone, I plot our next moves in this dangerous game.