Page 55

AERI

CITY OF JEUL, GAYA

T here comes a time when everyone just needs to go the fuck to bed. We hit that point bells ago, and it’s been nothing but nonsense since.

“Should we sleep in shifts?” Royo asks as we stand in the hall outside the second-floor bedroom suites.

“We’re going to,” Sora says. She points to herself and Tiyung. They said at the end of dinner that they’re going to watch over Mikail, despite his protests.

“All right. We will, too,” Royo says. “Be well.”

He and I head into the same bedroom as before.

I mindlessly unwrap my dress and let it fall to the floor.

Hopefully we’ll be here long enough for me to order a new wardrobe and actually wear it.

I think I still have tailored clothes in Tamneki somewhere.

Plus, the clothes we left in Rahway, and the ones set on fire, lost in the woods, and abandoned in Khitan.

Royo looks the other way as I walk past him. I guess he’s back to pretending he’s my professional guard. Like we didn’t just make love in the tub earlier today.

I’ll try again tomorrow. For now, I slip under the soft covers on the feather bed. These villas and palaces always have the best food and bedding. As hideouts go, this one is pretty great.

Royo remains standing in the middle of the room.

“Come to bed.” I pat the sheets next to me.

He shakes his head, raising his chin. Ever since dinner ended, he’s been very official. It’s so disappointing.

“I’ll take first shift,” he says. “I’ll sleep when you get up.”

“No. That’s no fun at all.”

He rolls his eyes so hard his head falls back. “Yes. I have to keep watch. I won’t sleep tonight anyhow, so I might as well.”

“Why not?” I ask, yawning.

“Because I don’t think that getting rid of the governor and a few guards is enough to take and hold the city. I expect there will be trouble. I think the others do, too—that’s why Sora and Tiyung are in Mikail’s room. But nobody wants to be the one to say it out loud.”

I think through what he says, and it makes sense. I was expecting soldiers, too, earlier.

“Maybe I should wear something to bed, then,” I say.

He nods. “That would be a start.”

I toss off the sheets and get out of bed. “You weren’t complaining about me being naked before.”

He blushes, staring at the floor. “We were in the bath.”

“Decorum first,” I say.

I get a nightgown out of my bag, slip it on, and turn out the light. My whole body aches from everything we’ve been through. I fluff the pillow and lie back. These beds really are nice.

I’m half asleep when Royo calls my name.

“Aeri,” Royo says.

“I’m fast asleep,” I answer.

“You’re the worst is what you are,” he says.

I open my eyes and see that he’s sitting on the other side of the room by the windows. He looks like a king on a throne the way he fills out that armchair. I want to do unspeakable things to him, but sadly he’s in guard mode.

I smile. “Yes, Royo?”

“I… I’m worried about Mikail.”

It wasn’t what I thought he was going to say, but it’s valid all the same.

“Because you’re smart,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Nobody calls me smart.”

My heart squeezes for him, for the people who don’t understand his value, but it’s their loss.

“Because they’re not paying attention. You were the first one to realize that Mikail’s plan wasn’t going to work. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for—you have been from the start. But what specifically about Mikail worries you?”

I sit up a little so I can see him better.

“I just don’t think he’s okay,” he says.

I raise an eyebrow. “I mean, which one of us is doing great?”

“No, I think he’s driven by his ambition.” He pauses and looks at me. “Why are you smiling?”

“I’m enjoying being right about you. People see muscle and mayhem and they don’t realize how observant you are, how you analyze a situation. It’s like a secret power.”

He doesn’t crack a smile. I sigh. Of course he doesn’t.

Royo leans closer. “I think he won’t hold back. He’ll do anything to free this island, even if it means using you.”

“Oh, he definitely plans on using me.” I thought that was obvious. Mikail wants to have powers like mine, but to use in conjunction with me, not alone.

Royo slaps his hands against his legs. “Why are you so calm about it?”

I shrug. “What else am I going to do?”

“Aeri, I swear, I’m going to kill you myself.”

I lie down fully and stretch out. “Ah, what a fitting end. She died as she lived—pressed on a bed under Royo. Not a bad way to go, if you ask me.”

He slouches and looks like the most cursed man in the four realms. I laugh.

“Aeri, I need you to take this seriously,” he says.

“I promise I am. I know I sound glib, but in the end, no matter what Mikail wants, I control how much of my power is used. He can want the East and West Sea, but I have to choose to give them to him. He can’t do it alone.

Be more worried about what happens if he actually gets the Flaming Sword.

And I guess be super worried about what happens if he doesn’t. ”

Royo goes quiet. I guess they aren’t great thoughts—Mikail with that much power or Mikail failing to get the relic. Both are terrible, just in different ways.

“What I mean is—” I begin.

Royo raises a hand for me to be quiet. At first, I’m offended, but then his shoulders tense and he stares out the window.

Goose bumps run down my arms, and I slide out of bed. I walk up to his chair and peer out the window. Then I look at his face and back again.

“Do you see that?” he asks.

I don’t. Apparently, he has better vision than I do.

He points, and I squint until I finally see it.

There, in the distance, is a flame. But as I watch, the fire is moving.

It’s not one flame but many. And they’re coming closer to the palace.

If I had to guess, it’s the soldiers Mikail said were still on the island. They’re marching and carrying torches.

I put my wrap dress back on.

So much for getting a good night’s sleep.