Page 8

AERI

TOWN OF CETIL, YUSAN

M ikail has a very concerned look on his face. He comes into focus slowly, which is strange, but there he is, a foot away from me.

“Aeri!” he yells, his voice strained.

I shake my head and blink. I must’ve spaced out for a second.

I went to find him and Sora after I heard her cry, but now he’s standing in front of me, looking very bothered.

Which, I mean, makes sense. We just found his father’s house burned to the ground, his mule slaughtered, and his father missing.

It would be weird if he were okay. Then again, he’s done a decent job of faking it with Euyn dead.

“Hey, are you all right?” I ask.

“Me?” He points to his own chest, his eyes wild. “Aeri, you were just not moving for a full minute.”

I have no memory of that, and I’m sure he’s exaggerating, but the look in his eyes tells me he’s genuinely worried. “I… I don’t remember that.”

He shakes his head. “I couldn’t snap you out of it. It was like you were frozen in…”

“Time?” I fill in the blank.

He pales.

We stand silently in the orchard. Maybe this is the toll.

I was surprised that sinking two ships made me pass out but didn’t seem to have any other ill effect.

The amulet alone was stealing years off my life.

Using that with the ring has to do something terrible.

Nothing is free in Yusan, particularly etherum.

It’s just odd that I don’t remember it, that I didn’t feel any pain.

“Do you think this is from using the two relics?” I ask.

Mikail rubs his forehead. “I’d have to think so. You didn’t find anything about the multiplication properties in the Temple of Knowledge?”

“No, but I don’t think any human has ever had two relics.”

He frowns. “Your father did during the War of the Flaming Sword.”

“I read that he didn’t use the sword, though,” I say. “Which…if he could’ve, he certainly would’ve. Do you think that’s because…”

I trail off, trying to think of how to phrase it, but my mind is muddy again. It almost feels like I’m in two places at the same time. I shake my head and force myself to focus on Mikail, on the dirt path and the breeze coming from the Strait of Teeth. I make my mind be present.

“Is it possible the sword was bonded to you as a child?” I ask. “You’re the only royal survivor, and the amarth said something about relics not being useful while the wielder still lives.”

Lines appear on Mikail’s brow. “I suppose anything is possible. Fallador had mentioned needing the Royal Gayan bloodline to use the sword. It would be odd for him to know the relic was bound to me and not mention it, but I think that’s a question for our friends.”

Mikail gestures back to where the house stood.

“Where is Sora?” I ask, looking past him.

“Oh, she… She needed some air,” he says.

He avoids looking at me, and it’s weird.

“Should I go find her?” I ask.

He sighs, glancing down the orchard. “I think she probably wants to be alone for a little while. I doubt she’ll go far.”

“But maybe I should…” I shift my weight. I don’t like anyone going off on their own. We now have a history of things going very wrong when we split up.

Mikail nods. “All right, bring her back.”

He continues up the path, his scepter hidden in the walking stick, and I go the other way. I’m not sure what happened between them, but Mikail looked oddly guilty and overall weird just now.

Still, it’s a far better walk moving downhill. The climb was steep, and Sora had to stop a few times to catch her breath. I wasn’t winded, but my legs continue to feel strange. Well, sometimes I feel them and sometimes I don’t. And now I have that…whatever that was in the orchard.

Best not to think about it.

I swing my arms as I walk and continue through the groves, calling Sora’s name occasionally, but nothing answers me except for birdsong. I can’t imagine her ignoring me, but she did have a five- or ten-minute head start.

“Sora? Sora!” I call.

Worry creeps in as I continue without an answer. The little hairs on my arms stand, and I scan for danger, but there’s nothing at all.

Where could she be?

Good gods, why do we keep splitting up?

Annoyance floods me, but I’m not actually annoyed at Sora. I’m angry that we’re constantly in danger, and now I’m concerned because she’s gone.

I take the paved road down until I’m in the quaint little town of Cetil. I search the town square, and I finally spot her. Relief floods me, and I release the tension in my shoulders—she’s safe. Everything is okay.

Sora is perched on the ledge next to the drinking fountain. It’s a quiet space and she’s dressed demurely, but we’re strangers and everyone always stares at Sora. People in the market keep looking over. Her black hair shines like onyx in the sun.

“There you are,” I say.

She lifts her head, and her eyes are rimmed with sadness, her cheeks flushed. But she’s not crying. She’s furious. Her hands are balls, gripping her skirt. I haven’t seen her this way since she was dancing with Seok.

I drop down next to her, my earlier relief gone. “What happened?”

“Daysum is dead.”

She says it so casually that it takes a second for me to react. Gods, what? Sora’s sister is dead?

I cover my mouth with my left hand, then remember the ring and switch hands. My mind wants to deny it, but Sora has no reason to lie. I look her over. I expect her to break into pieces the way she did in Quu after Seok revealed that he sold Daysum, but she’s weirdly calm. Unsettlingly so.

Honestly, it’s freaking me out.

“I’m so, so sorry, Sora.” I take her hands in mine.

What a ridiculously tiny phrase that is. I might as well try to bandage the ocean. I internally cringe and wait for her reaction.

“Mikail… Mikail has known for weeks.”

Oh. Oh no, that’s not good. That’s why he had that look on his face. And why she left.

She smiles, but it’s a hard sneer. I really didn’t think her face was capable of that. She almost looks ugly…for Sora. Which means she looks like a normal person for a second.

“I’m sure he was waiting for the right time to tell you,” I say.

I’m not actually sure of that. Not at all.

He could’ve decided not to tell her. I wasn’t looking for the right time to tell Royo about the amulet.

I had that moment in the Light Mountains, and as much as I wanted to be honest, I chose to protect him instead.

It sounds like it was the same for Mikail.

And now we’re both in total shit for our decisions.

“I…” I start speaking, but I trail off because I really don’t know what to say. I want to comfort her, but there is no comforting this kind of a loss. Saying “there, there” doesn’t work when someone’s heart was ripped out.

“I need Seok dead, and I need you on the throne,” she says.

Sora is calm like Idle Lake, but it’s masking the horror beneath the surface. Both are kind of terrifying, honestly.

“All of this has to end,” she says. “We can’t keep going the way we have been—not us and not this realm. It has to be you. That’s the only way things will change.”

I nod, even though I don’t know anything about ruling or how I’d even take the throne. I am Baejkin, but I am a woman, and the people won’t support me. But Sora needs this right now, even if it’s not a promise I can keep.

“Okay, Sora,” I say.

Her eyes search mine, and all I think is, I will try .

She squeezes my hands. “I’m all right.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.” She smiles slightly. “I can’t absorb any of this. But at least there’s some comfort in…knowing.” She looks to the side. “She…she can’t suffer any more, at least.”

Sora watches the water continuously flowing out of the fountain. I sit, eyeing it as well. The water comes from a source—snow melt or a stream—and it flows down to here.

All of what Yusan is, what Gaya has become, starts with Tamneki, with the king in Qali Palace, and then it flows throughout the realm. That’s where it will have to end—we will have to go to the source.

“I’ll stay with the group until we can crown you, but I don’t trust Gambria,” Sora says.

“I…” I immediately lose my train of thought. There’s so much I want to say, but my mind is definitely not the same.

Sora blinks at me and then squints. “You’re a little off…”

I gesture but sigh. It’s so like her to care about me, even when she’s suffering. “It’s the relics.”

“But you haven’t used them since Quu Harbor.”

“No, but I think—”

All of a sudden, bells start ringing. My back goes rigid. Sora and I both look toward the sound. It’s coming from the temple.

Good gods, what now?

“The king is dead! Long live the king!” the town crier says. He’s a short man with a broad chest and a booming voice. He holds a scroll in his small hands. He repeats the same two sentences as he walks around. It’s not until the third time that the words really sink in.

Sora faces me, her eyes wide. “King Joon is dead?”

“What king?” I ask.

We exchange glances as we stand. We have to go tell the others. My father is dead? I guess he drowned in Quu Harbor and word is just spreading. That means I killed him, but I can’t deal with that right now. The bigger question is: Who is on the throne? How is there a new king so quickly?

Whatever happened, it can’t be good.

Sora gives me her hand, and we head back to the others.