I bit my lip, trying to ignore the surge of alarm rising to my throat. “No, you should stay here. With the wounded.”
Keton frowned at me, and I wished I could take back my words. “My legs are getting stronger, Maia. I may not be as fast as the others, but I can figh—”
“You’ve already fought. You’ve already seen too much ofwar.”
“Says myyoungersister,” he chided. “I didn’t know what I was fighting for back then. Now I do. The other soldiers feel the same.”
“What are you fighting for?”
“The emperor is dead, and the shansen is halfway to the capital. You’ve seen his demon.” Keton swallowed. “If we don’t defend A’landi against him now, then heavens help us. We are doomed.”
How could I dissuade him without cheating him of the same opportunity I’d wanted for myself—to help save our country?
I wanted Lady Sarnai to march to battle. I wanted her to defeat her father, to slay Gyiu’rak and send her reeling into the underworld.
Ten thousand lives! How could any man crave power so much he would bargain the lives of his people in such a trade?
I unclenched my jaw, reining in my wrath. When I looked at my brother and saw the fire in his eyes, I recognized the same determination that burned inside me.
“I’m going to find Lady Sarnai” was all I could manage, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Take care of Baba.”
• • •
Neither Lady Sarnai nor Lord Xina had attended the funeral, but I knew where to find her. She’d slept outside by the kitchens, giving up for the wounded her claim to one of the palace’s limited rooms.
I heard her before I saw her, sparring with Lord Xina. They were so engrossed in their match they barely noticed me, and I slipped behind a pillar to watch.
Sarnai still hadn’t taken off her armor. It must have been a third her weight, yet she carried it proudly, with her shoulders squared and sweat glistening on her brow. Lord Xina was at least twice her size, but she moved with deadly grace, her fighting stick dancing to the beat of battle the way my fingers used to dance with a needle. Spying an opening in Lord Xina’s side, she jabbed him in the knee and whipped her pole to hook his ankles and bring him down to his back.
“You’ve grown slow, Xina,” she said before helping him up. “You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep lumbering around like a bear.”
“And you’ve grown weak, Sarnai. So if I lumber like a bear, at least I don’t swing my sword like an ax. What happened to your training?”
Instead of taking her hand to get up, Lord Xina pulled her down, and for the first time, I heard Lady Sarnai laugh. He’d never been handsome, but after his time in Khanujin’s dungeon his face had become a patchwork of nightmares: his front teeth cracked, his nose smashed, and his upper lip torn. Yet the way they looked at each other made my heart heavy, and I turned away from the scene, giving them a moment of privacy.
When I finally looked again, they sat together beside a fire burning in a brick pit, once used to roast meat. They weren’talone.
Edan had beaten me there.
“If you have come to beg for the tailor’s life, you are too late,” said Sarnai, barely acknowledging him as she wiped the sweat from her temples. “My mind is made up. She cannot be allowed to live.”
“Then you are not the warrior I knew during the Five Winters’ War, Your Highness.”
“And you are not the enchanter I knew,” Sarnai retorted. “Perhaps I should haveyouexecuted as well. After all, what can you offer now?”
Edan raised his walnut staff, and the campfire shot up, taking on the shape of a hawk. Only if I looked closely could I see the sweat glistening on the nape of Edan’s neck. Such a display would have been as easy as breathing for him before, but now it took much effort.
“You will not defeat your father without Maia Tamarin—”
“She will stay in the Winter Palace,” Lady Sarnai said over him, surprising even me with the sudden reversal. “That is more mercy than she deserves.”
Edan began to speak, but I stepped forward and interrupted, “Take me with you to Jappor. I would give my life to save A’landi. To save my family.”
All three looked up, surprised that I had managed to creep up on them. Had I been that much clumsier before, as Maia, or did becoming a demon give me the gift of catching everyone unawares?
Lady Sarnai’s gaze pierced mine. “Your enchanter already pleaded the case for you. I’ve come to believe that along with the loss of his powers comes the loss of his reason. The only reason you still stand free, tailor, is because of what you did for me and Xina in the Autumn Palace.” She paused deliberately, so I’d understand even that generosity was more than I deserved. “But you will not be leaving the Winter Palace.”
“You cannot keep me here,” I said, the edge in my tone sharp as a knife.
