Page 67

ROYO

ROSE PALACE, GAYA

M ikail and I ride back to Rose Palace with Teo and Duval behind us—the only other guys who survived. In the distance, the king’s ship and the Port of Charm burn, smoking into the night sky. But I don’t give a shit about the fires Mikail set. Aeri has been unconscious for over fifteen minutes.

“Aeri. Aeri, please. Come back. Come back to me,” I whisper.

Tears stream down my face, drying in the wind. I ride holding her against my chest. She won’t die because the crown saved her, but no matter what I say, I can’t reach her. She’s like the tide slipping through my hands.

We gallop toward the city walls of Jeul. Mikail rides just as hard as I do with the relics encircling his arms.

We got all the relics. King Joon is dead.

We were supposed to have won, but it doesn’t feel that way.

Nobody’s said a word as we speed back to the capital.

That nice old guy, Fremo, is dead, Calier was a traitor, and Hana died trying to help us.

Everybody’s quiet, trying to deal with what happened.

But more than anything, if Aeri doesn’t come back, it doesn’t matter how much we won—we lost. I draw Aeri tighter, like holding her against my chest will help the ache there.

The headless body of the governor hangs chained to the top of the city gates as we ride into Jeul. It seems to take forever to get up the hill, but minutes later, we’re back at the palace. We ride up to the front steps.

I hand Aeri down, and Mikail holds her while I get off my horse. As soon as I’m on my feet, I take her back. I kiss her lips and stroke her hair.

“Come back to me,” I say. “Please. I beg you.”

Her eyelids move. Mikail startles, taking a step back, then stares at me. My heart jumps—he saw that, too. I thought I was just imagining it, but the stable boys stop and gape as well.

“Keep talking to her,” he says. “She can hear you…wherever she is.”

Hope surges through me, speeding up my pulse, and I hold her tight. “Come on, Aeri. Come back. Stay with me.”

Her lashes flutter, and then, finally, she opens her eyes.

I throw my head back and let out the longest sigh of relief. She woke up. She’s not frozen in time anymore. She didn’t leave me.

“Royo?” she asks. There’s a question in her voice that I don’t understand.

“It’s me.”

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

“We’re at Rose Palace,” I say. “You passed out on the warship, and we came back to Jeul.”

“Oh.” She runs her hands down her face, but then she slides her fingers upward, toward her forehead. She explores the gold band with her fingertips.

“That all really happened?” She’s not surprised that the Immortal Crown is now fused to her. Not at all. She sounds more exhausted than anything else.

“Let’s get her inside where you can lay her down,” Mikail says.

It’s a good plan.

Mikail leads the way, and I carry Aeri as she snuggles against my chest. My heart pounds hard, but in a good way as I feel her nuzzle me. Teo and Duval follow us up the stairs to the front entrance of the palace. They’re good guys, both of them.

We’ve just reached the doors when Fallador comes running out. Teo and Duval grab their weapons, but Fallador gestures with empty hands. Actually, he doesn’t even have shoes on. His eyes are wild, and his wavy hair is straight, it’s so wet. I think he just got out of a bath.

“What happened?” Fallador asks.

“It’s done. We killed Joon,” Mikail says.

Fallador is barely listening, looking past us. “No, what happened to them? Where did they go?”

Mikail tilts his head. Fallador is so frantic, he hasn’t even noticed the relics.

A chill settles on my shoulders. This ain’t good. I look at Aeri, but she’s barely paying attention. She blinks hard and then smiles up at me.

“Where did who go?” Mikail’s calm, but there’s the rattle of danger in his voice.

“Them! Your friends—Sora and Tiyung,” Fallador says. “I was in the bath, and I heard men in the palace. I figured they were rebels, but then I heard a scream. A man’s scream. By the time I was dressed, Sora and Tiyung were both gone. No one was here except for me. What happened?”

It takes me a second to get what he’s saying, but Mikail storms right into the palace.

He’s already inside by the time I realize Sora and Tiyung were taken.