Power flows through my body like the tides, not unpleasant but bursting to be free.
I gather myself and slip the ring onto my left hand. I close my eyes. Once it is in place, heat burns at my clavicle and finger, warm metal against cold skin. The relics are fusing to me. I try to move the ring, and it doesn’t budge—it’s a part of my skin now. The amulet must be the same.
I am one with the Dragon Lord relics. Somehow that feels both more secure and more dangerous. I open my eyes again.
“Aeri… Your eyes.” Royo stares at me with a furrowed brow. He looks intently from one of my eyes to the other.
“What?” I ask.
“They are…golden now,” Sora says, blinking.
“I don’t… Did this happen to Euyn?” I ask, looking around. I don’t think so, but maybe I didn’t notice.
Mikail shakes his head. “No.”
The difference must be that I have two of the relics of the Dragon Lord. I was able to sense Euyn’s ability to wield the ring because I had the amulet. And now the relics have changed each other and me.
No.
The blood runs from my face, my cheeks tingling. If I felt the ring on Euyn, was my father able to feel the Sands of Time on me? Is that why he made all of those promises at my mother’s funeral pyre? Was that why he kept tabs on me and had the assassin protect me in Yusan?
No, the crown must work differently. If he knew I had the amulet, he would’ve killed me and taken it from me, or at the very least kept me locked in Qali. The last thing he would’ve allowed was my freedom. He wouldn’t have risked one of the counts or Quilimar getting their hands on the Sands of Time.
My father has the Flaming Sword, but the texts in the Temple of Knowledge said that Yusan did not wield it against Wei. I thought Yusan had just lost the war, but maybe the sword never bonded to my father. Which doesn’t make sense.
How does nothing ever make sense?
Royo reaches out and caresses my cheek.
“I love your eyes no matter the color.” He smiles, thinking the aesthetics are what trouble me.
I smile back because I adore him. Because I love what he is saying. Because it’s amazing to be loved by him. I exhale as the truth hits me: the only way to keep Royo safe is to kill the rest of the Baejkins.
Chapter Seventy-Three
Mikail
City of Quu, Khitan
Sora stares at me, worried not because of the army in front of us, or the navy below us, but because I lost Euyn. Her gentle heart knows mine just broke. But I’m all right. Or at least I am completely numb right now. I’m hollowed out, nothing but a blade, and that’s exactly what we need.
Sora reminds me that I am still a human being, but just barely.
I almost told her about Daysum’s death before we left the banquet room, but telling her would’ve been to ease my burden, not for her. We’ll likely die before it will matter, and if so, she’ll see her sister again in the Ten Hells. I can spare her the endless grief and useless rage I feel right now. I can do that much for her.
“They die first,” I say.
The three others nod; Aeri is last because she’s staring down her aunt. Aeri might be the biggest surprise of anyone I’ve met. She seems like she’s nothing more than a carefree and bubbly girl, but she is unbreakable steel in a ball gown.
Soldiers shift below us, and we stand ready. A man in a suit is pushed forward by a guard.
Oh, good, it’s my old friend, Ambassador Zeolin.
He stops in front of Quilimar’s horse and then bows on his knees with his head to the wet stones. Surprisingly, she doesn’t kill him.
That’s a shame.
She speaks to him for a moment. He looks up at us and then starts climbing the stairs.
