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MIKAIL

THE STRAIT OF TEETH

I t wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Joon is dead at my feet. I struck the tyrant down with my own blade, avenged my people. We won. This is all I’ve wanted, but as I stare at Hana’s eyes, all I can think about is what I’ve lost to get here. It doesn’t feel like a victory at all.

I reach down and lower Hana’s eyelids. Gods guide her soul.

“Aeri!” Royo cries.

He catches her as she falls.

“Aeri! Aeri,” he cries. “Mikail, help. I don’t think she’s breathing.”

She’s stiff as a board as he cradles her. Her eyes are closed this time, but he’s right—she’s not breathing. She’s frozen in time, and it’s worse than before because she used her powers again to save me.

I shake off my stupor and grab the Immortal Crown. It’s speckled with blood, but the drops are hard to see on the rubies. The relic is surprisingly light in my hands. The fake was much heavier.

I go to place it on Aeri’s head, and Royo pulls her back, away from me.

He bares his teeth like a dog. “You don’t know what that’ll do to her.”

No, but we also don’t have time to debate this.

“It’s true, I don’t,” I say. “But it’ll save her life right now.”

Lines mar Royo’s face—his scars and his worries. He looks at her, then the crown, and then her face again. He gives me a short nod as pain swims in his eyes. Our choices are between bad and worse, but without this, I’m certain she will die. Anything is better than that.

“I trust you,” Royo says. He moves Aeri closer to me.

The weight of his words hits me. I hold my breath as I slide the crown over her hair.

The second the crown meets Aeri’s skin, the metal completely changes, flowing around her.

Stars.

It was a crown with peaks and gems. I just held it in my hands a second ago.

Now, it’s a solid gold diadem on her forehead with a ruby and diamonds in the center.

I touch it, but I already know that it’s now fused to her like the other relics.

Something happens when a person has more than one.

Some merger with the etherum. It doesn’t just multiply powers; it melds the relics to the skin.

As strange as that is, the most important thing is that her chest suddenly rises and falls. Royo and I both sigh in relief.

“Thank you,” he says with tears in his eyes.

I nod and put a hand on his shoulder. At least that’s one problem solved. There are around ninety of them still asleep downstairs.

I don’t understand why Joon didn’t ring the alarm bell the second he saw us. Maybe he actually cared about Aeri, or maybe he wanted to toy with us, or ultimately, he wanted the relics beyond logic. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have the time to stand here and wonder.

I grab the Water Scepter from where Aeri dropped it, and then I approach Joon’s dead body. I swing my blade and cut the Sword of Gaya from his belt, then kick him to the side. His head rolls last, since it’s barely attached.

The Flaming Sword of the Dragon Lord is a beautiful blade of pure gold with gems embedded in the pommel. I reach down and grab the hilt.

Instantly, power like I’ve never felt before surges through me.

Images of Gaya flash through my mind. As a child playing on the island, I was always told to run back home when thunderstorms rumbled across the sky.

One day, I saw why. A boy was outside in the charm fields, and all of a sudden, a bolt came out of the clouds.

Lightning struck his body, and he literally glowed with all of the energy.

This has to be a similar feeling. Every inch of me feels lit from within.

My vision clears just in time for me to watch as both the sword and the scepter become liquid, snaking up my arms like bangles.

And then they become solid once more. The scepter is now a blue metal rope circling up my forearm, and the sword has become a gold band on my right.

Duval and Teo drop down to one knee, which is not easy for Teo, since he was shot.

They are my last men still alive. I need to keep them that way.

“We have to go,” I say.

Duval rises, and Royo stands, picking up Aeri.

“But…” Teo begins. He clamps his mouth shut as he colors, but his eyes dart to his traitor brother. Calier’s body is on the ground, and I can’t say I care much about releasing his soul, but there are also the bodies of our fallen nearer to the door, including Fremo.

But we don’t exactly have time for a pyre and prayers.

As soon as I think of fire, the gold relic vibrates on my arm. Right. There’s a far easier solution.

“I’ll light the entire ship on fire once we’re on the rowboat,” I say.

First things first, though. I take my sword and swing it downward to fully behead the king.

“Baesinga,” I whisper.

Joon’s head comes clean off with the snap of bones. I lift it up by his hair and then nod to the remaining men.

The four of us proceed in a sweeping motion, stepping over bodies, until we reach the cabin door.

I take a deep breath, grabbing my sword in my free hand, and then we spill out onto the deck.

Duval grabbed one of the crossbows. He holds it up to his eye, meaning…

he has no idea how to use it. Teo stands ready with his sword, ignoring the pain in his leg.

The night is still as we silently skirt to the back of the cabin. I can’t see the rowboat, but that was the point. I reach my left arm out and call the sea to me.

Nothing.

I try again. Still nothing at all. No tides or swells. The water doesn’t move aside from the usual waves.

I can’t touch the sea from this high up, but there’s no feeling. The relic doesn’t hum or respond. The command isn’t there.

My stomach drops. What is this? I thought two relics together were supposed to multiply power, not lessen it. But there’s no time to think this through. We’re too exposed out here.

Two guards shout from down the ship. Footsteps come pounding toward us. We are out of time.

“Can you all swim?” I ask.

Teo and Duval nod.

Royo shakes his head. “I can, but she can’t.”

Duval shoots at the guards and actually manages to hit one. But I wish he hadn’t. The man cries out with a terrible howl.

Stars, he’s as loud as the alarm bell.

“She won’t drown,” I say. “We need to jump—now.”

Royo looks around as if trying to find another means of escape, but there isn’t one.

I give the signal, and we all jump overboard, landing in the cool water just as daggers chase us.

As soon as I dive under, I remember we are too close to the Strait of Teeth for comfort. Monsters don’t respect artificial borders. If Wan was killed or captured, it’ll be a long swim back to the Port of Charm.

I surface and search for the boat. Echoing across the water, there’s a faint whistle. I stare in the distance but spot the rowboat just twenty yards away. Wan must’ve seen us jump and rowed closer.

I want to help Royo swim with Aeri, but I’d just get in the way. With fast arm strokes, I make it to the boat, then climb aboard. Wan and I both assist the others scrambling in.

“What is that?” Royo asks. He flails in the water as I take Aeri from him. Duval and Teo get her onto one of the benches.

I scan the water, but I don’t see anything.

Wan and I both struggle to help Royo in, which is hard because he’s floundering.

“Ten fucking Hells, I swear that was an iku.” Royo thrashes as he throws a leg over the side of the boat while we tug his arms.

“It was probably just a fish,” Wan says. “Iku don’t come this far.”

“It was definitely a fucking iku,” Royo insists, now completely in the boat. “I almost got eaten because you rowed away!”

They begin to bicker, but I’m staring at the Weian warship. I still need to release the souls of our fallen, but I couldn’t even call the sea. I need the ship to catch fire, but the Flaming Sword is now a decoration on my arm.

The gold band begins to vibrate, an irresistible hum filling my mind. I raise my arm almost on instinct.

Light on fire.

Then I snap my fingers.

In a whoosh and flash of light, the white ship is completely engulfed in flames, a bonfire on the water, illuminating all the ships around it.

Stars.

I stare at my arm, and now I see what I can do with two relics.

Royo and Wan stop arguing. Everyone is silent as Fremo, Hana, and even Calier’s souls are released, and the men below deck start screaming. They will be released soon, too, but not Joon. Never him. When I jumped overboard, I dropped his head to the bottom of the sea.