“Ailor,” I whisper. “What happened? Where did they go?”
No response.
An ice-cold chill runs through me. No. No, no, no. It can’t be.
“Ailor? Ailor!” I yell out. I don’t care about being heard. Where is he?
With shaking hands, it takes me a couple of tries to light the lantern. Finally, I get it lit and pick it up.
There’s no one across from me. No one in the straw or by the latrine.
All that’s left of Ailor is a smear of blood on the stones near the door.
Stunned, I stand staring at the wet blood. It takes me entirely too long to realize that Ailor chose to sacrifice his own life to save mine. That he’d planned it out. That’s what he meant when he said “we’ll see” about me living longer than him—he must’ve already decided that when the time came, he’d pretend to be me. That whoever they’d send to kill me would know me not by my face but by my cell, and with two of us in here, both grimy and bearded, they’d choose the one with a noble collar. And that’s why he said to tell Mikail he loved him.
I gasp, shuddering. I cover my mouth with my hand.
Ailor’s true colors did come out at the end, and those were of a man willing to give his life for a stranger who showed him kindness. A man who thought of his son with his last breath.
Tears sting my eyes, and I sniffle. My first impulse is to hold them back, hold the emotion in. To not disgrace myself, my rank, by crying. To be a man and not risk Seok’s disgusted backhand because of my reddened face or tearstains. But a man I barely knew was just murdered, chose to pay the ultimate price, to buy me a chance at surviving. He is worth the tears that beg to be shed.
I lean against the wall, and I cry softly at first. Then deep sobs rack my chest, and I cry and wail and thrash.
I sob on and off until keys turn in the door. And by then, I’m ready for whatever fate has in store for me.
Chapter Sixty
Euyn
The Northern Pass, Khitan
We race the Northern Pass back to Quu, eager to reach my sister. I take a seat up front in the sleigh between this Gambria woman and Mikail. Sora sits in the back with Aeri, Royo, and a trunk full of clothes. Somehow, Aeri found the time to acquire a new wardrobe. She and Royo are noticeably closer than when we left the Temple of Knowledge, but I no longer believe they’re plotting against us.
Mostly.
I do feel a twinge of guilt for accusing them, but I had my reasons. Trusting Aeri would be a fool’s game when none of us are beyond betrayal. Especially not her.
However, no one has mentioned my theories to them. Everyone is far more concerned with a war of the realms and what it will mean for each of us and Yusan.
“Are you going to tell me why you think we’re all fucked?” Gambria asks Mikail. She’s speaking in Khitanese. Her accent is slightly off for a native speaker, but I can’t place where she is from.
“If there is a war of the realms, what happens?” he asks.
Gambria glares at him. “Are you a tutor now? It means Yusan, Khitan, and Wei go to war with one another.”
“And Gaya,” he adds.
Her eyes pray up to the snowy sky, and she sighs. “And Gaya.”
Once she says the name, I realize this woman looks Gayan, not Khitanese. That’s probably the reason for the occasional word sounding off. I was woozy at the time, but I think they were speaking Gayan the night she rescued us.
Mikail has never mentioned Gambria before. At first I thought they might have been lovers, but there’s so little chemistry between them that I don’t think she even likes him as a person. Which makes saving us a puzzlement.
She must be one of his Gayan sources. Yusan keeps constant secret and overt tabs on the colony. With all the laoli we found in the warehouse, I’m sure he’s been looking into it.
Still, it seems like there’s more to the story. They are too familiar for her to just be a source.
“A war of the realms would also mean that all of the relics of the Dragon Lordcouldend up in the same place at the same time, wouldn’t it?” Mikail says.
