“I need the premises secured,” she called out. “Someone get the healers here, fast.”
Lieutenant Henryk’s mouth opened and closed. “G-gone,” he rasped. “Morganya…took her regiment of Inquisitors…”
Ice bloomed in Ana’s veins. She recalled her surprise at the empty gardens, the way the Inquisitors had fallen so quickly. “Where?” she asked, grasping Lieutenant Henryk’s bloodied hand. “Where did she go?”
She knew the answer even before he replied.
“The Silent Sea,” Henryk whispered, his eyes fluttering shut. “To find…the Deities’ Heart.”
And there, beneath the paintings of Deities and angels, on the marble floors of the Palace he had served for his entire life, he drew his last breath, and fell still.
The Throneroom was filled with the quiet murmur of soldiers and civilians as Ana leaned over the body of the young lieutenant. This time, she had no tears. She took in the hundreds of wounds covering his body, blood still seeping from them.
No—this time, she felt only a surge of fury.
Her hands fisted, and she pulled on the bone-pale cloak he’d worn, etched with the crown-and-Deys’krug sigil of Morganya.
Henryk had saved her life not once, but twice; he’d remained in Morganya’s ranks to helpAna,and he had died for this reason. Morganya had known.
The Empress had left the Salskoff Palace because she no longer cared. She didn’t need a palace—she only needed the Deities’ Heart. And Ana knew that as soon as Morganya found it she would unleash her chaos upon the land.
A sense of calm washed over Ana as she straightened and turned. It was time to end this, once and for all.
“Ana!” Daya burst through the doors of the Throneroom. “The perimeter is secure; our troops are sweeping the Palace as we speak, and the Bregonian army has surrounded the Palace. We’ve—” Her jubilant expression vanished as she took in thescene around her, the somber faces of the living. Her steps fell still as she reached Linn’s and Kaïs’s side.
“Linn,” Ana said quietly. “The Deities’ Heart. Can you take me there?”
Linn nodded. “Ana, listen carefully. To restore your Affinity, you must destroy the siphon that holds it. You must remain close so that it may return to you, otherwise your Affinity will be lost to the greater alchemical currents of this world. Do you have Sorsha’s siphon?”
Ana lifted her left arm. The searock band gleamed around her wrist. “I do.”
Linn pressed a hand to her collarbone. From within the folds of her clothing, she withdrew a wooden token no larger than the size of her thumb, fastened to a piece of red string. “This is the map,” she explained, and Ana saw jagged etchings on its surface resembling a coastline, dividing the token into half: land and sea. Out in the center of the space representing ocean was the shape of a heart. “I believe it is north of the very northern tip of Cyrilia, where the Silent Sea rages closest to the Deities’ Lights.”
“Leydvolnya,” Daya said suddenly. She looked up, her expression troubled. “The Ice Port.”
“You know it?” Linn intoned in surprise.
“All sailors know it,” Daya said in a low voice. “It’s said to be haunted. That the Deities’ Lights are closest to our world there, and vicious spirits roam the land.”
The Redcloak camp, Ana realized—the thought did not find her without a streak of pain through her heart—had been near Leydvolnya.
“The Heart seems to be out at sea,” Linn said, tracing a thumb over her token. “I do not see a path to it.”
“The Ice Port was once a port before it was abandoned,” Daya said. She drew her shoulders back and looked to Ana. “Seems you’ll be needing a captain once you get there.”
Ana looked to her friends and hesitated. “I cannot ask you—”
Daya put her hand on Ana’s arm. “You didn’t ask,” she said firmly. “What do you think will happen if Morganya gets that Heart? Everything we’ve fought for here”—a wave around them—“will be lost. What do you think will happen to us? To your troops here, to the Redcloak children, to the civilians of Salskoff who came to our aid? To everyone who fought for you knowing it was the only way to a better future?” Her earth-brown eyes blazed. “I’m your captain, Ana. Let me do my job.”
Ana recalled the conversation they’d had aboard Daya’s shipStormbringerover a moon ago, before they’d landed in Cyrilia.If the world falls, the last thing I want is to know I could have fought and made a difference and chose not to.
Ana drew a deep breath and nodded. “There is no time to lose. We set out immediately.” She hesitated, her gaze landing on Kaïs. “And…I need someone I can trust to monitor the situation here.”
The soldier straightened and nodded, though she didn’t miss the glance he gave Linn. “My sword is yours to command. I would gladly stay to monitor the situation. As a former Imperial Patrol, I know procedures and I am familiar with the workings of the Palace.”
Ana reached into the folds of her shirt, where she’d tucked the piece of parchment she’d spent an entire moon refining with Daya’s counsel and the wisdom of dozens of books. There was nothing more she wished than to see the plans writ within carried out to fruition herself, but…
She held it out to Kaïs. The parchment carried the weight of centuries, of all the lives lost and dreams stolen. “Inside the scroll you will find an outline of the new Cyrilia. One run by the people, for the people. Will you safeguard it for me?”
