He nodded.
She felt the change as soon as she entered the chambers: winds, sweet and balmy with a tint of salt, stirring at her hair and tickling her exposed skin. The chamber was drenched in sunlight, the balcony doors thrown wide open, the white gossamer curtains fluttering gently. Outside, far below, the ocean whispered.
A figure was propped up on chairs on the balcony outside. Ana’s heart clenched at the sight of her friend’s slender silhouette. She stepped outside. “Linn.”
Linn glanced up from her chair. Her face was paler than Ana remembered; dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her cheeks jutted out more sharply. Ana put her hands around her friend’s shoulders. Had they always been this bony?
“Hello,” Linn said quietly. Ana tried not to look at Linn’s right arm, wrapped in bandages and bound to her chest. Her eyes flicked to Linn’s stomach, and against her will, she recalled the storm that night, the wild look on Kaïs’s face as he’d stumbled back, Linn clutched to his chest like a small, broken bird. Her vest and undershirts had been soaked through with crimson, yet Ana had only been able to watch as healers rushed to her friend’s side, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood.
The bones in Linn’s arms had been utterly shattered, with some muscles severed completely. The healers at the medical ward had done the best work they could on Linn, and said that she would no longer feel the pain. But that was all they had promised.
They had disposed of Kerlan’s body, Ramson supervising as it was carted off to a remote site to be buried where no one would find it, and where it would not soil the burial sites of those around him.
Ana only wished she had found a way to make him suffer. To make himpay.
To Linn, she said, “You look good. The healers will take care of you. You’ll return even stronger.”
Linn turned her face to Ana. “My arm may heal,” she said, “but your Affinity…” She choked and squeezed her eyes shut. “I should have stayed with you.”
“No,” Ana said. “You helped us win the battle, Linn.”
Linn’s dark eyes glistened. “King Darias came to see me. He said they are finding out everything they can about the siphons. We will get through this, Ana.Together.”
“Together,” Ana whispered, and leaned against her friend, their arms interlinked, their heads resting together. They stayed like that for a long time, holding tightly to each other.
After a while, Linn spoke. “I will never stop fighting,” she said. “I have been searching for my path all this time, but I know it now, Ana. I felt it when I freed those Affinites from the research dungeons.” She looked up, her eyes fierce. “I am going to make sure not a single Affinite in this world goes through what I went through.”
Ana’s throat closed. Linn’s words held the echoes of another brave young girl; perhaps, Ana thought, the bravest child she’d known. The one who’d had enough hope to spark a revolution.
May had wanted to bring hope to every Affinite. And Ana would never stop fighting until that was true.
She squeezed Linn’s hand. “And where will you go?” she asked. Linn had declined to return with her to Cyrilia, but she hadn’t mentioned what her plans would be.
Her response surprised Ana. “I will go back,” Linn said. “To Kemeira. If Morganya sent her forces to Bregon, then there is nothing stopping her from crossing the Jade Trail to the Aseatic Isles. I must prepare my empire.” She paused, and her face hardened. “The issues of Affinite trafficking have long run deep in the fabric of my empire, and the rest of the Aseatic Kingdoms. It is, in part, the inaction of our governments that has brought suffering to my people. It is time we fought back.”
A sudden idea struck Ana, so logical that she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it earlier. “Linn, will you be Cyrilia’s ambassador?”
Linn blinked, curiosity opening her features.
“Our empires have long existed in a state of war,” Ana pressed. “But I think together, we can reconcile our nations, our peoples.”
Linn’s face lit up, and it felt like watching the sun rise. “Ana, I would be honored to serve as ambassador between our empires.”
Ana threw her arms around her friend again. For the first time in days, a laugh bubbled from Linn’s lips, sprinkling the air like spray from a summer sea. “The honor is mine,” Ana said. “Thank you.”
“I will return to Kemeira,” Linn said. “I will warn my leadership—and all of the Aseatic Kingdoms—of the turmoil in Cyrilia. And…I will try to bargain for an alliance between our empires and gather support for the great war to come.”
Together, they turned to admire the sea. The world seemed to unfurl beneath their gazes, the enormity of their task held at bay with the whispering waters, rising and receding into eternity. Ana allowed herself to enjoy this moment, basked in the warmth of the sun and wrapped in the coolness of the breeze, arm around her friend.
And then, beneath the brilliant blue skies of Bregon, the bells of Godhallem began to toll for the Succession Ceremony.
It was a beautiful day to set sail. The waterways to the Blue Fort were lined with ships, and as Ana descended the steps of Godhallem, she noticed that the Bregonian warship awaiting her below had been reoutfitted. It flew a different flag: a roaring Cyrilian tiger, but instead of its usual silver-white, it was painted red.
Bregonian Royal Guards and members of the Navy lined the steps; they held up their hands in salute as Ana passed by. When she reached the gangplank, a familiar figure was waiting for her.
Daya gave her a full-on grin and clicked her heels together in a salute. She’d changed into a brand-new outfit, complete with polished brass buttons and high leather boots, fitting for her new role as captain of Ana’s fleet. On the back of her dark gray coat was the symbol of a woman with hair like flames. King Darias had specially commissioned the coat for her, out of respect for the goddess Amara of Kusutri.
Ana couldn’t help but smile back. “Don’t salute me,” she whispered, giving her friend a nudge. “I can’t get used to it.”
