Red banners flailed against the wind, embroidered dragons flying among the troops. My horse moved so fast to keep up with the others I hardly noticed we were heading toward the gate, and into battle.
When I heard the first explosions of cannon fire, I mistook it for thunder. But thunder did not hurl stones and tiles into the air like fireworks or make trees erupt in brilliant plumes of black and amber smoke. Every subsequent burst rattled my heart.
My demon sight flickered, making my eyes burn as it soared beyond the Autumn Palace to the valley below.A slab of wood, a sign for what had once been an apothecary, clattered from a broken roof. The entire town had been destroyed. Ash rained from the sky, and corpses—mostly civilians, whose brows were still wrinkled with fear—littered the roads.
My head hurt. So this was war—this was why Keton woke up in the middle of the night, screaming and sobbing, after he’d returned home. The ache in my heart, which had dulled since Bandur had claimed me, flared for just an instant. And with it, the old Maia.
A spark of hatred ignited in me.
Outside the palace walls, the shansen’s banner flew, the tiger’s snow-white fur glistening against jade-green silk. With a shudder, I thought of how the warlord had changed on the night of the banquet. How his demon’s amulet had smoldered, smoke billowing in the form of a tiger before it devoured him.
Notit. She.
Gyiu’rak.
Arrows spat up from the palace ramparts, arcing above me in a neat line, so high they looked like dots, and a flock of birds bolted at the approach of the shansen’s army.
The warlord and his men raised their shields and charged through the hail of arrows. Men fell on both sides, and more arrows flew. Then the gates roared open, and the emperor and his legions spilled outside.
The emperor’s soldiers barreled forward at the enemy, horses’ teeth gnashing as they galloped past me. Forgotten, I kept to the shadows of the gates, watching the shansen and his sons cut down every man who dared get in their way, watching Khanujin glow with the enchantment from my cloak as he exhorted his men to fight and die for him.
But it wasn’t the emperor or the shansen who captured my attention: it was a woman among the warlord’s ranks—one whom I had never seen before, mounted on an ivory steed.
A smile graced her lips as she rode serenely into battle. Even on horseback, she appeared taller than was natural, her sinewy limbs bare, a cloak sailing behind her shoulders. Long white hair striped with black at the temples flashed behind her, rippling like the pearlescent armor she wore over her wrists and torso. Like Emperor Khanujin, she was beautiful and strange, so mesmerizing some of the soldiers stopped to stare at her. The bile rose to my throat when I saw the gleaming claws handling her horse’s reins, the sharp teeth behind her smile—more feral than serene as she drew close—and her eyes.
Rimmed with the liquid gold of amber and honey, and red as blood in the center.
Ademon’seyes.
“Gyiu’rak,” I whispered. This was her human form.
With supernatural speed, she struck three of the emperor’s soldiers dead. Bodies fell around her as she darted between swords and spears, too fast for any human hand to touch, her claws sharp enough to slice through flesh—through bone.
I’d seen what Gyiu’rak had done to Khanujin’s soldiers the last time I’d encountered her. It didn’t matter whether she was tiger or woman; all it took for a demon to kill was a touch.
There was no way Khanujin would win this battle.
I spurred my horse forward. At my command, its hooves thundered toward the emperor.
“You cannot win!” I yelled at him. “We must retreat.”
Khanujin brushed me aside with a flap of his sleeves, and two of his guards flanked me so I couldn’t go after him.
Cannon fire drowned my shouts, but then I heard Gyiu’rak’s deafening growl and the slice of her claws against the wind as she hurtled toward the emperor.
Strength bubbled in me with violent potential.You can savehim.
I had only a second to decide. I’d already broken my promise to Edan, so why not heed the voice? Why not give in?
Do nothing, and the emperor will die.
I ducked between Khanujin’s two guards and grabbed the emperor by his shield, pushing him off his horse.
The demon slammed into me instead, the impact so brutal I flew off my saddle, landing hard on my back.
My horse collapsed, dead. Gyiu’rak pulled her claws from its flank and sprang to her feet, ready to launch herself at the emperor again.
“Run!” I shouted to Khanujin.
