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ROYO

CHARM BEACH, GAYA

“W hat the fuck, Mikail?” Aeri and I say at the same time.

The longbowmen fire another round of arrows, but it’s hard to even pay attention to the flames because what did Mikail just say? My stomach knots, but I couldn’t have heard him right. No way did he just ask her to kill him.

Mikail holds out a dagger. “Take this and put it into my chest or I will. It’s easier if it’s one of you, because I can guide your hand.”

“Thanks, but I’ll have to pass on murdering you today,” Aeri says.

I’m so stunned that I stumble forward. “Get that away from her. Have you gone mad? Why would you even say that?”

Mikail looks at me with sad eyes. “If she kills me, she can take the sword and the scepter and become the Dragon Lord.”

Aeri and I are both silent. Mikail coughs and then continues, “I don’t want to die. Really, I don’t. But Aeri is the last Baejkin—the last of the line who can wear that crown. Aeri, if you become the Dragon Lord, you can win this war and save my people. It’s all I want.”

“She’s not fucking doing that,” I say.

“We’ve lost.” Mikail turns toward the beach.

He stares with a mournful expression. “We lost because I couldn’t sink the fleet—not without controlling the sea.

Look at the men down there dying. You both have seen how the Weians can fight.

There’s no chance of winning. Not with the rest of the fleet coming.

And what matters isn’t my life—it’s saving the people we love.

Sora is somewhere out there. As the Dragon Lord, Aeri can save her.

Aeri can let everyone on this island live to see another day.

Or we can all get slaughtered by the Weians, including the three of us. ”

I shake my head again, but more and more Weian guard make it to the shore and fall in line.

They already took out the fortifications we built yesterday—most of our archers are dead or running.

The Weians march right over the bodies of our men and their own, trampling them in the sand like they’re seaweed.

It’s heartless and efficient. The beach is now made of blood and bone, and it’s combed with screams. At least five hundred, maybe a thousand men are already dead. More will be soon.

Aeri unclenches her fists, shaking out her hands. Her palms have red crescents from where her nails were digging into them. I want to kiss the welts away.

She looks at Mikail and sighs. Dread seizes me—she’s giving in. And she can’t. It’s too high of a price.

Mikail takes another step closer. “It’s the only way, Aeri. Believe me, I’ve thought it through. If my death puts an end to tyrants, everything, every single thing I endured, everything and everyone I’ve lost, was worth it. I know you feel the same.”

A tear rolls down her cheek, and she sniffles. No. He can’t talk her into this. I can’t let this happen. Because he won’t be the only one who dies.

I step between them. “No, Mikail. If she becomes the Dragon Lord, she’ll die, too.”

“You don’t know that,” he says. “It hasn’t been done before.”

I gesture to the two of them. The relics have tried to kill them. Time turned against Aeri, and now water is drowning Mikail. I don’t know why he thinks five relics would be a fucking picnic, but he’s wrong. She’ll die. All of the etherum put together is gonna kill a human being.

There has to be another way.

Aeri looks down at the battlefield and out to the sea. Then she looks at me. “We have to do this, Royo.”

“No.”

Her expression softens, but I can tell she’s made up her mind.

“Look at all those men moaning for mercy, Royo. And Seok has Sora. Even if we could somehow get her and win today, even if we find a way out of this, none of this will stop, because we have the relics. It will be war after war. We’re going to die either way—let us choose how. ”

Mikail nods.

Panic runs through me until I’m shivering in the heat. I’m going to lose her. This is what I felt when I was searching for her in the hot springs. And it’s worse because she’s choosing it. She’s choosing to leave me.

“Aeri, no,” I say. “No. You promised.” My voice breaks, and I clutch her hands. “Please.”

She closes her eyes, and her shoulders slump.

“Your face has so much heartbreak, and the worst part is, I know I’m causing it.

” She opens her eyes, draws a breath, then reaches out and cups my cheek.

“I don’t want to do this. I want tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow with you.

I want to annoy you for the rest of our lives.

I want boring days and warm nights next to you.

I want to win every hard-fought smile of yours and to have your hand in mine for all time.

I want to have kids and grow old with you.

On a throne or not. Married or not. I just want you. ”

Tears stream down her face, matching the trails on mine.

“You have me,” I say. “All of me.”

“But we’re not going to get that life, no matter what.

” She sniffles and swallows hard. “I wish we could have it. Gods, I wish we could. I’d live a thousand lifetimes by your side.

” She stops and kisses my hand. “But I won’t let you die by mine.

And I won’t let Sora and the men and women down there be slaughtered when I can stop it. ”

If she cut into my chest with Mikail’s dagger and ripped my heart out, it would hurt less.

“But I love you,” I say.

A smile breaks through her tears. “That’s the first time you’ve ever said that.”

“No, it’s not.” But as the words leave my mouth, I realize I’ve never said them out loud. I never told her. What a fucking chump. I should’ve told her every day.

“I’ve waited my whole life to hear that,” she says. “I love you, too.”

I squeeze her hand. “Then stay with me.”

She looks away just slightly, because the answer is no. My heart breaks in two, and I know: it’ll never heal.

“I’ll always be with you,” she says. “But it’s me or it’s everyone.

Look at them.” She points down to the beach, to the soldiers running into a hopeless fight.

To the bodies and the wounded crying out.

Eventually, the Weians will kill everyone down there and come for us.

Aeri and Mikail are right, and I know it.

“It can’t be everyone else. I love you, Royo, but it just can’t be.” She stares up at the sky, and then she focuses on me. “Oh, Royo, this was the choice of love the amarth said I’d have.”

I grit my teeth. Those fucking parrots. But Aeri told me she’d always choose me, and yet here we are. She wants to do this to save me, but there isn’t a life without her. Not one worth living.

A million arguments race to my mouth, but they die on my tongue as her eyes meet mine.

I know that look. This is a done deal, and there’s nothing I can say or do to change her mind.

Maybe I shouldn’t try. Maybe she’s making the right decision for the greater good.

Maybe it’s selfish that I’d let everyone else die instead of losing her, but I don’t really give a fuck. I’d drown the world to save her.

But I also can’t stop her.

“It’s us,” Mikail says, stepping forward.

Aeri manages a smile as she cries. “That’s right. It’s us. It’s us or it’s everyone.”

I wipe my face—not that it helps much when I can’t stop these tears.

These cursed relics and that fucking prophecy.

What do those birds even know? Aeri had offered the Sands to try to save me, but the amarth wouldn’t take it.

And now I’m going to lose not just Aeri but Mikail, too, because Aeri can’t take the sword and scepter while Mikail’s heart still…

“You don’t have to die.” I point to Mikail.

The corner of Mikail’s mouth rises. “Oh, but I do.”

“No, that’s not what they said. Your heart just has to stop.”

Aeri stares at me and then gasps. Her heart stopped when she drowned and I brought her back. I could stop Mikail’s heart and bring him back, too.

“Put the knife away, Mikail,” I say.