Chapter Fifty-Eight
Mikail
City of Vashney, Khitan
Stars, if I have to hear another of Euyn’s conspiracy theories, I’m at risk of losing my own sanity. I opt to take a long walk to the Vashney messenger house, but really, I’m just trying to get away from him.
Because you can love someone and want your own space.
That’s what Gambria said. Although I continue to debate my feelings for Euyn, Gam had distinct thoughts on my relationship with the crown prince. It’s not as simple as she pretends it is, though. She calls him a colonizer and a bloodletter, among other colorful phrases, but he was a child, just as I was, during the Festival of Blood. And holding children responsible for the acts of their elders always leads to atrocity.
Still, she isn’t completely off base about him. He did want to kill the priest in the Temple of Knowledge under the guise of mercy. And then there are his thoughts on the pragmatism of sinking Wei.
I sigh deeply.
When we left the temple, we gave Royo and Aeri a sunsae to meet us in Vashney. It’s a ten-day journey round-trip, and that’s if they were able to locate the egg immediately. It is now day ten.
A little fear chills me on the snowy walk. Not because I think Aeri and Royo will betray us, but because they might fail. And then what? We couldn’t find Staraheli, and I doubt the Marnans have made it easier to access his body. We are running out of time, and what’s worse is that I still haven’t figured out Joon’s master plan. I keep probing and winding up at loose ends. But perhaps we can get to Quilimar even without an exception to the Rule of Distance. Maybe she will see Gambria—that is why I asked her to accompany us, as my backup plan.
When Quilimar first arrived at Khitan, she, of course, met dignitaries, and Gambria was by Fallador’s side. Both direct, ambitious women, they became quick friends and more. Quilimar was long thought to only be attracted to women—something not allowed for royal women who must produce heirs. Gam was a favored lady of the court, but she left when Quilimar became pregnant with Prince Calstor. I never learned why, but I always suspected Gambria fell in love and was devastated when it turned out Quilimar was bedding her own husband. I highly doubt she had a choice, though, knowing the King of Khitan. It is equally likely that the king himself banished Gambria from Quu.
It’s worth mentioning that Gam sees no hypocrisy in falling for Joon’s sister, who is also a colonizer and criminal under her definition. To Gambria, however, Quilimar had no power because even though she was a princess, she was a girl in Yusan. It remains to be seen what she thinks a little boy could have done to prevent the Festival of Blood. But hate doesn’t have to follow logic.
I arrive at the messenger house after taking the outer loop. I give the woman at the desk my fake name, and there’s an envelope waiting for me. Zahara is almost excessively clever. I’m glad she is on my side…if she’s on my side. She doesn’t have a reason to help me—not one I can discern. Therefore, I need to be cautious with what I tell her and what I believe.
After I tip the woman, I decode Zahara’s message, and once again the seemingly long code translates to one word.
War
War. Yusan is about to declare war on Khitan. Not the other way around.
I grip the hilt of my sword as everything falls into place. I’d nearly had it figured out in the Temple of Knowledge. Kings leave the safety of Qali because of diplomacy or, more likely, war. That is why Joon left the palace, and that means we were sent here as a distraction for Quilimar and nothing more. We can’t wait any longer. We have to get to Quu and somehow arrange an audience with the queen. Even if we have to shout “war” from a hundred feet away.
Stars, I hope she still loves Gambria.
With no time to spare, I hurry back to the inn.
The Revelry Inn is a white, marble-faced building, stained partially gray with age. But the patina fits the five-hundred-year-old inn. It’s four stories tall in the gilded, ornate Khitanese style. Euyn, being used to luxury, loves this inn. I think it’s a little too conspicuous, but it doesn’t matter anymore. We need to leave now.
As I walk into the lobby, I spot two familiar faces. Relief floods my chest.
“You’re here?” I ask.
Aeri tilts her head. “Where else would we be?” Then her large eyes scan the painted, domed ceiling. “Well, I guess we could’ve been dead and eaten by amarth… But no, we made it back. Did you succeed?”
I shake my head. “There was a complication. Did you?”
“We got it,” Royo whispers.
Something is different about the two of them, but I’m not certain what. Maybe nothing is new. It could just be Euyn’s constant conspiracies altering how I view them.
The most important thing is that they have the egg, which will allow us to dine at a table with Quilimar. We will be able to tell her about the impending war and Joon’s plan to take her relic. Yusan attacking should only aid us in forming an alliance with the queen. Very simply, she won’t have a choice. And then we will organize a mission to ambush Joon and take his crown.
Energy and a little hope surge through me. This could all work.
“Come up,” I say, walking to the stairs. “There have been changes, and we need to leave immediately.”
“We have some…information as well…” Aeri hesitates.
I debate between asking what it is now and waiting. I decide anything they say will just have to be repeated to the group, so it’s better to wait.
We get to the third floor. I gather Gambria and Sora, then proceed to the fourth floor, and I knock on Euyn’s door. His room, of course, is a corner suite. I had to bribe the innkeeper with a hundred marks to move someone else’s reservation. Euyn was already on edge. I didn’t want to make it worse with him not receiving his preferred accommodation.
I knock twice, and then we wait for Euyn to take down all of his traps. Royo eyes Gambria, and she stares right back at him.
“Who’s this?” Royo asks, pointing a thumb at her.
“This is Gambria. She’s an…old friend of Quilimar’s.”
Gam knows much more Yusanian than I expected. Enough for her to comment on Sora’s unexpected mercy of sparing the guard as soon as we were alone and to arch an eyebrow now at me for my remark.
I suppress a smile.
The door opens, and Euyn’s eyes become as wide as tea saucers when he sees Aeri and Royo. He has the decency to look a little ashamed, which shows a shred of conscience. After all, he did spend the last few days railing against them, calling them traitors and disloyal. And that was a terribly unfair character assassination of Royo.
“Did you succeed?” Euyn asks, gesturing for us to take a seat.
Aeri and Royo look at each other and then both nod. She blushes, smiling at the ground. I was correct—there is something different about them. If I had to guess, they finally figured out they were in love.
Good for them.
“Should I ask how you did it?” I raise one brow.
Sora smiles, looking as happy as the two of them. “She’s an incredible thief. I bet they never saw her coming.”
Aeri grins back at her. “Thanks…but, um, we did get caught.”
Euyn and I exchange looks. If they were caught by an amarth, I don’t know how they’re standing here. Royo could take one down with an axe, but from my understanding there are a hundred in the mountains. They should’ve been torn apart.
“One swooped down and talked to us,” Royo says with a shrug.
The room is silent.
“It spoke to you?” Euyn asks.
He nods. “It was the weirdest shit ever.”
“How did you survive that?” Sora asks.
“Because Aeri was kind to an owl,” Royo says. He looks over at Aeri, admiring her.
Gambria stares as if she isn’t translating the words properly. Sora’s mouth breaks out into a true smile.
“Dia!” she exclaims.
And now I’m not sure I’m translating this, either. What are they talking about?
“The creature liked that I helped an orphaned owl,” Aeri explains. “I think that’s why we were allowed to take the abandoned egg.”
Sora nods, seemingly thrilled that someone’s kindness was rewarded. Gambria and Euyn look confused at best. Royo, however, stares at Aeri as if she hangs the monsoon moon.
“Anyhow, the birds can talk, and I think… Well, the thing is…they can predict the future,” Aeri says.
All of us stare, absorbing the information with varying levels of skepticism.
“What makes you say that?” Euyn’s tone makes it clear he doesn’t believe her at all.
“The bird thing said all of us were on a fool’s errand,” Royo says. “It knew Quilimar can’t wield the ring, and it said that a war of the realms is coming.”
His words are a bolt through the room. All I can see is the word war that I decoded. But a war of the realms is much more than Yusan marching on Khitan.
From the look in Gambria’s eyes, she knows exactly what it means. Euyn pulls at his beard and adjusts his bandage. Sora looks uncertain.
“What did the amarth say exactly?” I ask Aeri. “Word for word.”
I silently pray that Royo is just misspeaking.
“He said a war of the realms and the rot of death were coming,” Aeri says. “And that we have our roles to play as fools try to be gods. Also, that I’d have to choose between love. I’m not sure what he meant by the last part—neither of us are.”
“Gods on High.” Euyn raises a shaky hand to his brow. He’s broken out into a cold sweat, and I feel the same, even though I don’t show my reaction.
Aeri looks around. “What? Isn’t that a good thing? It means we will succeed in starting a war with Yusan, right?”
I wish it did.
I draw a breath. “A war of the realms means all four original realms at war. In this case, Yusan, Gaya, and Wei would all attack Khitan at once.”
The room is silent. No one moves.
“We need to get to Quilimar as fast as we can,” Euyn says, and I nod. He limps around, packing up.
“Why?” Gambria asks. She’d been leaning against a windowsill but steps forward now.
Euyn doesn’t answer, so I do. “Because if what we think is happening is actually happening, then we’re all fucked.”