“Can I at least speak with him in private?” I ask Temujin.
He hesitates but eventually nods. “I suppose that’s fine. Just let me get him situated.”
Temujin and Serik disappear, and I pace outside the door, too furious to feel the twinge in my leg as I stomp from one end of the shack to the other. The monster scrapes and roars in my gut, and I laugh bitterly because the one time I actually want to set it free, there’s not a single ribbon of darkness to call.
After an eternity, Temujin reemerges alone. “You have ten minutes.”
I shoulder past him. “How generous.”
“Would you do anything differently?” he fires back.
I grumble, which is the closest I’ll ever come to agreeing with him. Then I push through the door and slam it behind me.
The shack is cluttered with unused sleeping rolls and satchels and gray Shoniin tunics. Everything is coated in a fine layer of dust, other than the sliding boot prints Serik left across the floor. I follow them around an enormous pile of mismatched leather armor and find him in what can only be described as a cage. The back half of the room has been quartered off with thick wooden bars that stretch from floor to ceiling. Serik stands behind them, cursing under his breath as he bangs on the rungs, checking for weak points.
“At least it’s not Gazar.” I force a brittle laugh.
Serik’s head snaps up. “Gazar would be preferable. What is this place? What are you doing here? And what did you promise that deserter scum?”
“I don’t even know where to begin.” I slouch against the bars and let my legs slide out from under me, until I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor. Serik does the same on the other side of the bars. Our arms briefly touch through the gaps, and the frayed edge of his sleeve tickles my wrist. The familiar scent of pine ink and parchment envelops me, and I have a sudden urge to reach for his hand. Needing to be closer so he can flash me his moon-eyed smile and tell me everything is going to be fine.
“I knew better than to trust Temujin,” I say after a full minute of quiet. “But it’s not like I had options. You were bound for Gazar, and this was the only way I could think to save you.”
“What did you promise him?” Serik asks, gentler this time.
I swirl my finger through the dust on the floor. “What do you think? What has everyone always used me for?”
“But that isn’t even possible….”
“It is now.” I turn to face him and tap the angry red wound at my throat.
I expect Serik to cringe at the meaty mess, but his lips flatten and he scrambles back to his feet. “I’m going to kill Temujin—”
“Stop shouting. He didn’t cut it out. I did.”
His hands slowly drop back to his sides. “Why? I never believed you needed that stupid rock, but why would you do that forhim?”
“It wasn’t for him. It was for Orbai.”
“But Orbai’s fine.” Serik gestures toward the ceiling. Every few seconds my eagle’s discontented screeches filter through the shack.
“She’s fine because I shielded her with my darkness. After Temujin disrupted my torture at Qusbegi, Ghoa sent me into Sagaan to track him and infiltrate his ranks. But while I was in the capital, I found thousands of shepherds freezing and starving on the winter grazing lands. Apparently, the Sun Stokers have been detained at the war front because the Zemyans are advancing. Ghoa claimed an alternate relief effort was underway, but I lived among the shepherds for a week and never saw a crumb of food or a stitch of clothing from the empire. Temujin and his Shoniin are the only ones providing aid—”
“So?” Serik interrupts. “That’s nice and all, but is it enough to jump headfirst into their deserter movement? And what does it have to do with Orbai?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I didn’tjumpinto any movement. I wasn’t even considering joining the Shoniin—and Temujin knew it. That’s why he told me you were being sent to Gazar. At first I refused to believe Ghoa would allow it, but when I confronted her, she got so angry that she lost control of her Kalima power and shot daggers of ice at my chest. Orbai dodged in front of me at the last second and saved me.”
“Ghoa didwhat?”
I nod gravely, reliving Orbai’s tortured wails. “I cut out the moonstone and darkened the grazing lands so we could escape. But I couldn’t take Orbai to a healer in Sagaan without being recognized, so I came here.”
Serik wilts back to the floor and mutters,“Blazing, burning skies.”He bunches his sleeves in his fists, puffs out his cheeks, and exhales a long breath. “And where, exactly, ishere?”
“This is the realm of the Eternal Blue—the first level of heaven, reserved for the most devout followers of the Lady of the Sky. Her world within our own.”
Serik stares at me without blinking. “You expect me to believe we’ve been whisked away to the land of the First Gods?”
“How else would you explain this place? We’re clearly not in Sagaan anymore.”
