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MIKAIL

CHARM BEACH, GAYA

“I think I’m a little lost,” I say. “How is stopping my heart not killing me?”

“I can drown you just until your heart stops and then revive you,” Royo says. “I did it with Aeri.”

I look over at Aeri, and she nods.

I rub the back of my neck. I suppose it makes as much sense as anything. If they’re right, stopping my heart should undo the binds of the relics. Aeri would be able to take the sword and scepter, just as the crown bound to her once Joon was dead. And if they’re wrong, well, I die either way.

Then an idea hits like a lightning bolt. “Wait—can’t it be Aeri, then?” I ask, hope rising. “You can stop her heart, and I’ll take the amulet, crown, and ring from her. I’ll become the Dragon Lord instead.”

Royo stares at her with all the hope in the world in his eyes.

She purses her lips and shakes her head. “You said yourself I’m the last Baejkin. We don’t know what the Immortal Crown would do to you.”

“I’m willing to gamble,” I say.

Royo nods, maybe a little too eagerly, but I get it—he doesn’t want to lose her. I don’t, either.

“I’m not,” she says. “If you died from the crown, I’d still have to become the Dragon Lord, and then neither of us would go on. Your people wouldn’t have a king, and you’d be ashes for nothing. We know I can be the Dragon Lord. Put the knife away, Mikail. Let’s be done with this.”

None of it makes sense because we can’t bring people back from the dead; otherwise, I’d have Euyn still here with me. But I suppose in the worst case, I stay dead. Sounds good to me.

I sheathe my blade.

“All right. As to drowning me, do we go to the beach? Because…” I gesture to the war below us.

Royo shakes his head, his eyes and nose still red. “It only needs to be a few inches of water. Duval, can you see if you can find anything?”

Duval runs to the tent and then brings back a large green-and-white ceramic bowl. We use those to wash blood off our hands after the fighting ends.

I want more time to think this through, but it’s in short supply. Every second I delay, more men and women die trying to protect my realm. More of my people suffer. I exhale as I make my choice.

I kneel and stare at the bowl, then laugh to myself. Royo is going to drown me in here. Not quite the blaze of glory I’d hoped for. But this might as well happen.

Duval bows to me and then holds the bowl steady. “En Gaya.”

“En Gaya,” I say.

I lower my head until my face is nearly touching the surface, and then I take a last breath. I dip my face farther, until my nose and mouth are covered in cool water. Royo’s hand clamps on to the back of my neck.

I try to maintain my calm. At first, it’s easy, but then I quickly run out of air.

My heart races as my lungs begin to burn.

The desperate need for survival takes hold.

My relics vibrate so hard that my arms shake.

It feels like another seizure, but it’s not.

I need to get up and breathe. I need air.

My fingers itch to light Royo on fire and to save myself at any cost. But I can’t let that happen.

This is the plan. This is what we agreed to. I inhale the water before I can hurt anyone.

I thought I knew pain, especially with using the two relics and all I’ve endured.

Apparently, I did not. My throat and lungs feel like I swallowed fire as my chest is racked with the worst agony I’ve ever experienced.

I try to flail, but I’m held in place. And then, when I can’t take it anymore, it stops.

Suddenly, there’s nothing. No pain. No hand gripping me. Nothing at all.

When I open my eyes, I’m standing on a road made of ash and bone—human ash and bone. It’s neither morning nor night. Instead, the sky is an unnatural shade of red. Bare black trees like the ones in the sacred woods line the road, and people shuffle past me.

But they aren’t quite people—they’re nearly see-through.

This is the Road of Souls.

So I died after all.

I smile, peace filling my mind. Royo drowned me, and he wasn’t able to bring me back for whatever reason, but with my death, Aeri will now become the Dragon Lord.

She’ll defeat our enemies, and then I will see her again in the Kingdom of Hells, or maybe, hopefully, she’ll find a way to survive.

If anyone can escape through a loophole, it’s her.

She’s capable of so much more than she’s given credit for.

I start walking. I don’t need directions, since the road only leads to one place. I can’t see the Ten Hells as much as I feel them. Maybe, after I’m judged by Lord Yama, I’ll be with Euyn again. I’d rather suffer torment with him than live in paradise alone.

As soon as I think his name, a figure begins to move against the crowd.

He’s different from the rest of the souls who mindlessly shuffle down the road.

Most of those are the Weians I lit on fire.

But this figure is walking toward me with purpose.

I reach for my sword, but then I remember that blades don’t matter when everyone is dead.

Perhaps it’s Saja, the Soul Reaper.

When he gets closer, though, I know who he is from just the way he holds his head too high.

Euyn.

My heart fills, but I temper my joy. Euyn died weeks ago. He’s been judged by Lord Yama in the Kingdom of Hells by now. His three years of doubtless punishment have already begun. So is it some other malicious spirit? Am I simply imagining what I want to see?

He gets closer, and it truly looks like Euyn.

Maybe it could be him. I suppose no mortal knows the afterlife for certain.

We believe souls reincarnate after three years, but by the time you experience the Ten Hells, it’s too late to share your story.

Maybe there’s a waiting period. Maybe it’s not three years.

“Mikail?” he asks. He sounds as uncertain as I feel, but it’s his voice.

“Euyn?”

He smiles widely, and then we finally embrace. I wrap my arms around him, and he does the same. Stars, it really is him. I’m surprised that I can actually feel him without a body. But it makes sense—we love with our souls.

I hold him as an incredible comfort fills me. It’s the joy of a warm bed on a cold, rainy night. I savor every second, pressing my hand against his head, his back. I forgot how much I missed this. No, that’s a lie. I’ve known the emptiness since the banquet room. I just couldn’t dwell on it.

And then I kiss him. It’s not quite the same without a body, but it’s like I touch his soul. It’s better, more beautiful.

“I’ve missed you,” I say. I thread my fingers through his. “There’s so much to tell you.”

“I’m sure there is.” He smiles. “There have been quite a few souls lately who have spoken of a lost prince of Gaya who was once a Yusanian spymaster.”

“They’ve mentioned me? I’m flattered.”

He shrugs. “Souls often talk about the way they died.”

With nothing to say for the body count, I shrug back at him. He laughs.

“How are you still here?” I ask, though I can’t stop smiling. “I thought souls go right to the Kingdom of Hells…or at least that’s what we’re taught.”

“Normally they do, but I died bonded to a god relic, so I’ve been able to stay on the road, despite the Soul Reaper’s pull. I lingered because I thought I might find you. And now, I’m sorry I have.”

“Why is that? We’re together now.” I hold up our entwined hands.

He shakes his head. “But we’re not. You have so much life, Mikail. Even now I feel it pulsing through you. I’m not sure how you wound up on the road, but you shouldn’t be here. Not yet.”

Just as he says it, I feel a pull, like a tear through a slip of paper. Royo’s voice fills my mind. He’s trying to call me back to Gaya. Back to life.

No.

I ignore him. I found Euyn. I want to stay. There’s nothing in the realms worth more than this.

“I know what you’re thinking, Mikail,” Euyn says with a frown. “No. It’s not your time.”

“It wasn’t yours, either. I should’ve…”

I think of all the ways the audience with Quilimar could’ve been different if Euyn had told me his plan or if I’d picked up on it faster. I would’ve gotten him the crossbow. We could’ve fought our way out, side by side. But instead, Quilimar murdered him in front of me.

“It was my time, Mikail.” He strokes my face. “It was.”

I shake my head at the unfairness. The gods aren’t fair, and I know that better than anyone, but this was a murder that had nothing to do with them.

“She killed you.”

“Oh, I’m aware.” He laughs. “But Quilimar made a mistake. I saw it in her face before I died.”

The others have tried to tell me this—that she believed he was reaching for a weapon—but I disagreed. It didn’t look like a mistake to me, yet it’s hard to deny Euyn’s own words.

Once again, I feel my soul being yanked from the road. I fight to stay, to keep my feet in the ash.

Gods damn it, Royo is insistent. He needs to leave me alone.

“Go,” Euyn says.

“No.”

He stares at me, unamused. “You must. There’s so much for you to do in this life still. I won’t let you cut your time short for me. I’ll be yours in the next life, too.”

Euyn sounds so certain, but how can he be? If we go to Lord Yama together now, we’ll reincarnate at the same time, no matter the punishment. Otherwise, everything is left to chance.

“But what if we don’t find each other in the next life?” I ask. “What if I live long past you? What if we miss each other in time? What if we keep missing each other? What if—”

He smiles. “Mikail, you’re worried about the wrong things. I used to do the same, but you and I, we are meant to be. You were a Gayan village boy who found me in Qali. I will find you again. Worry about your life now, not what’s in the future. Now go. You don’t belong here.”

“Euyn…” I don’t want to leave him. Not when I have him here with me. I can’t.

“Do this for me.”

Stars. I tip my head back because what am I supposed to say to that?

“I love you, Mikail.” He leans forward and kisses me. My soul fills with that pure joy only he brought me.

“I love you, Euyn,” I say.

“In this life and the next,” he says.

“Forever.”

We lock eyes. I want more time. Just a little more time.

“Go,” he says.

“You’re insufferable.”

The corner of his mouth rises as he lets go of my hand. “I’ll see you again.”

When the next pull comes, I give in. I let go of the road, and Euyn fades from view.

I open my eyes, and I’m lying on green grass with Royo’s face extremely close to mine. I just miss his nose as I vomit up water.