“Look, I know it’s all terrible,” she says. “I don’t pretend like you should be smiling or anything. But Daysum is still alive. We can figure this out and save her, but in order to do anything, we have to get out of Quu. You have to snap out of it for ten minutes. Just…can you give me ten minutes? Once we find winter horses, I can lead yours, but you have to stay with me until then.”
I hear her. I do. But I failed Daysum. It would be better for Aeri to go without me. Then she wouldn’t have to risk me failing her as well.
I shake my head.
“Sora…” She trails off and purses her lips as if she’s debating telling me something. “Seok is with the guards.”
That name makes me focus. I wipe the rain from my face and dig my nails into my palms, arms trembling. Seok. The Count. I will see him suffer. I will see him choke on poisons. I will be the one to show him that power is an illusion but being powerless is real. I will be the one who tortures him to his blood-soaked death. But in order to do that, I need to escape now.
I raise my head and set my shoulders back.
“Come on,” Aeri says. “He told you just to break you, but you survived. And you can’t kill him if we’re caught here.”
She’s right. I have to keep going. I have to see this through. I force all my feelings aside and become a blade once more.
I get my legs to work, and we start to run. She’s very fast, even in a long dress and heavy cloak. I should’ve remembered that from Yusan. I struggle to keep pace with her, my legs working harder under the weight of this ball gown and fur, but I manage.
After a few turns, we get to the stables, and she slows to a walk. We saunter up, appearing calm, as if we’re not fleeing, but I’m glad we stopped running. My lungs haven’t been the same since Oxerbow poisoning when I was sixteen. I get winded easily now.
“Wait here,” she says. “You’re too memorable.”
I stand around the corner from the stables. Aeri blows out a breath and then fixes her posture and strolls like a lady.
As I pull my cloak around me in the rain, I try not to think about everything that happened tonight. But as time passes, the reality of it drags on me. The energy I found in the alley dissipates. I try to focus on something, anything other than Daysum. Instead, I wonder what will become of that little owl Aeri was taking care of—Dia. I hope she will survive. But I know in my heart she won’t. There are too many predators. There are too many dangers in this world to just be a pretty little thing.
I look up at the monsoon moon, and there she is. I squint. It can’t be her, but what are the odds of there being two owls this small? She followed us. I didn’t think she could fly, but she’s stronger, more capable than I thought.
Dia lands on the roof of the stable and lets out a small hoot. For some reason, I feel hope bloom inside me like a crocus in the dead of winter. The blossom clears my mind. Maybe I am more capable, too.
Aeri is right—Daysum is still alive. As long as she’s breathing, I can’t stop. I won’t. Another wave of shame snakes around me for wanting to give up. But shame is only what you feel when you can be better.
A minute later, Aeri comes out with two horses. I manage half a smile at the girl, the thief, the princess who saved me. But she’s not looking at me. She’s staring at something else. I turn and watch smoke rise in the distance. It’s coming from the direction of the inn.
“We’re definitely going to get blamed for this.” Aeri groans, then shakes her head. “Whatever. We’ll deal with it later. Get on.”
Putting my dress boot in the stirrup, I climb into the saddle and wrap my heavy cloak so it stays closed. I cast a last glance at the flames smoking in the rain. Then I spur my horse to follow Aeri into the night, hoping that no one other than Dia is tracking us.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Royo
Lake Cerome, Khitan
We had to plod through the snow for two fucking bells just to catch up with the sled. The stupid deer had wandered so far away that it took forever to find them. My old boots got soaked and ruined, but we got back on in one piece at least.
Now, we’re at Lake Cerome—just about. We’re in a small town right outside the lake. There’s not much to it—a bread house, a pub, and a feed store. I’d guess about two hundred people live here. It’s a good thing we stopped in Vashney for supplies and new winter gear.
“We need to come up with a plan,” Mikail says, tying the sled to a tree. The tree is next to berry bushes, and the deer help themselves. We only caught them last night because they’d stopped to graze.
Now, we need to get to some books in a temple under a frozen lake, which I still don’t get. None of it. Why would people devote their lives to dusty, dry pages, anyhow? I read what I had to in school, but I quit when my mother died. I’d see swells with books sometimes in Umbria, but I never understood it. Why spend the money when the same mun will keep you in bread and ale? I guess we need the information. But how are we gonna get into this temple?
We’re all arming ourselves with as many weapons as we can carry. A temple shouldn’t be dangerous, but we need to be prepared.
I slip another knife into the vest I bought in Vashney. Euyn takes out camping supplies. I quirk an eyebrow. It’s late afternoon, almost dusk, but we’re not staying overnight. We need to get back to Quu as fast as we can if the girls are in danger.
“What’s all that for?” I ask.
Euyn tugs open another rucksack and shoves in a blanket. “It may take some time, but I think the best way in is to wait for a priest to come to deliver records and then follow him or…persuade him to take us.”
