34. Zai
Zai
The gangplank rattled under my boots as I trudged aboard after Tera. The rest of the crew filed up behind us. My jaw ached from how hard I’d been clenching it the entire march back. My bolster had hummed beneath my skin the entire time, keeping me moving but draining my energy.
I caught the railing, and my legs gave out. I slid down, slamming my tailbone into the deck.
The trek back through the Moon Queendom’s forests and swamps had stretched into an eternity. Tera and I were the only ones with severe injuries, and we’d treated them as best we could with makeshift bandages.
Jorek the Medic descended on us immediately, his weathered hands steady as he peeled back the blood-soaked cloth binding Tera’s shoulder.
The crew swarmed across the deck. Lark’s voice carried from the quarterdeck, directing the chaos into coordinated motion. The ship groaned and lifted skyward.
“So, what happened?” Kestrel called over the wind. “Did you find him?”
No one seemed willing to meet his eyes. Tera had been furious with the crew, scolding them for their cowardice against the Dual Wielder.
Flint hauled on a rope, muscles bunching beneath his shirt. “‘Course we found the dross-stained bastard. But the moonfolk had him holed up tighter than a cliff drake in a hail storm.”
Kestrel bounced on his toes, his chipped tooth flashing. “Tell me everything!”
Grumbling, Flint secured the line. “We tried takin’ him. Didn’t work out so well. Even after they just fought a herd of colossal monsters.”
“Colossal monsters?” Kestrel’s voice pitched higher with excitement.
Other crew members jumped in, adding their own versions of how monsters had swarmed the town in waves and the Dual Wielder and moon girl had fought them off with devastating powers.
Jorek finished patching up Tera and slid his medical bag toward me. His weathered fingers took off my boot and peeled away the blood-soaked bandages from my foot before removing the ones on my hands. He prodded the punctures, nodding and muttering to himself.
The captain hauled herself up the ladder to the quarterdeck with a one-handed grip, sparing her injured side. She claimed the wheel from Lark, who stepped aside with a respectful nod.
For once, the navigator didn’t return to her usual post by the map. Instead, she climbed down to the main deck, positioning herself a few paces away from where I sat leaning against the railing. Her head tilted, listening as the crew described the fight.
Flint leaned against the mast, grinning at Kestrel. “Aye, you should’ve seen it. The Dual Wielder and his little girlfriend carved through those beasts like a sun miner through stone. Slaughtered ‘em like they were nothing.”
For some blazing reason, the word girlfriend rasped against something raw in my chest.
Jorek opened a jar, and a foul stench invaded my nostrils. He smeared the grainy salve across my wounds and bound them with fresh bandages.
The crew’s voices layered over each other, recounting how they’d attacked the Dual Wielder. They’d thought they had him until that traitor woman had loosened his restraints just enough for him to wield his fierce magic.
“I almost shit my trousers.” Mouthy Mara shouted over the wind, her dark-brown hair braided tight. “Was afraid he’d go an’ blow up again.”
Others jumped in, voices tumbling over each other in relieved eagerness as they admitted their shared fear of the Dual Wielder.
“That’s exactly why you all failed.” Tera’s voice cracked like a whip across the deck. “Bunch of scorching cowards, the lot of you.”
The laughter died.
Flint cleared his throat and launched into the rest of the story—how the traitor had sent the Dual Wielder into the river.
Jorek patted my shoulder, murmuring something about not tearing the bandages. He pushed to his feet and shuffled across the deck to stash his supplies in the medic’s cabinet beneath the quarterdeck.
Flint pivoted toward me, eyes gleaming with a brightness I’d rarely seen in him. “And then the crackin’ woman went and shot a metal dart straight at me face. And this one—” He jabbed a finger in my direction, voice roughening. “Saved my life.”
My jaw clenched, heat prickling up the back of my neck. The words hung between us, heavy with sincerity I couldn’t quite stomach.
“It was nothing.” I pushed myself upright, bracing my back against the railing to keep the weight off my injured foot.
“Aaw, that’s so sweet!” Kestrel’s voice pitched bright. “Zaaaii, you saved Flint! Just like you saved me!” He clasped his hands, pressing them to his chest. “You’re our savior! Our hero!”
“Cut it out.” My fingers dug into the bandages as I turned away, facing out over the railing.
Below, Blightlands stretched in barren browns and dark green.
Kestrel whirled on Flint. “And then? What happened with that woman?”
Grimness crept into Flint’s voice as he recounted the traitor’s death.
The memory crawled through me—her body melting, crumpling, blackening beneath our heated palms.
But she’d been a traitor. She’d aided the Dual Wielder. Worse, she’d abandoned our country for the wretched Moon Queendom.
She’d sealed her own fate and had met the ending she deserved.
Lark leaned her back against the railing beside me, listening in silence while the crew’s chatter filled the deck.
My words came out low, meant for her alone. “How could she throw her life away like that to help moon people?”
“You mean that sun wielder?” She turned, facing out over the railing beside me. “I don’t think she saw them as moon people.”
My brow furrowed. “Then what?”
“I think she saw them as just people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look around. You’re surrounded by outcasts shunned by our own country. But we found others to care about. They happened to be a crew of pirates. I don’t think that woman was any different. She just found a different crew.”
My jaw worked, words lodging in my throat. Part of me wanted to say the pirates deserved their exile. But the retort died before it reached my lips. I was an outcast, too.
Lark’s voice grew quieter, gentler. “None of us choose the families we’re born into. But we can choose the people we love and care about.”
A growling dismissal rumbled from my throat.
“Spoken like someone who’s never known the burden of ruling a Kingdom.
” The words ground out of me, rough and reluctant.
“Even if I’m exiled, I’m still the sun prince.
I can’t just choose to abandon my duties to my family and the Kingdom.
Just like the sun can’t abandon its duty to warm the world.
” Mother’s words spilled from my lips, her lesson branded into the essence of my very existence.
Lark’s gaze traced the horizon where the setting sun painted the sky with fading pink and purple.
“The sun provides warmth, true. But it also scorches. Burns crops. Bleaches color. The sun’s duty isn’t to keep the world warm. Its duty is to shine without caring where the rays land. And duty without wisdom doesn’t seem very prudent to me.”
My knuckles tightened around the railing. She twisted Mother’s words. And the worst part was how much sense it made. By the blaze, the woman had a gift for saying precisely what I least wanted to hear and making it impossible to dismiss.
She tilted her head, studying me. “Remember what I said about why I chose to do my research despite knowing the risks?”
I frowned, thinking back to her choice of words. “You mean how people can’t navigate by stars they refuse to look at?”
She nodded. “When people are too busy chasing what’s right in front of them, they often fail to consider where they’ll end up.” Her gaze found mine again. “Think about it. What are you chasing, Zai? And will it lead you where you truly want to go?”
The question bored through my chest like a drill through stone.
My path had always been carved out for me from the moment I’d been born.
A life in the palace, serving my family and the Kingdom, no matter the costs.
But if that was taken from me and duty no longer defined me, what path would I choose?
My gaze searched the sky, as if the answer might reveal itself between the clouds.
Lark pushed off the railing and climbed up to the quarterdeck, leaving me alone with her words tumbling around in my head.
Where did I want to end up?
The image of moon girl took shape in my mind.
Lora. The name unfurled through my thoughts like a whispered incantation, dangerous and alluring.
She’d overpowered me, pinned me to the ground, and had the chance to kill me. She should have killed me. And she had that determined look, like she really meant to. But something held her back.
Father would’ve called it weakness. Yet something about her just radiated… strength.
Perhaps Lark was right. Perhaps I’d been so busy chasing Father’s approval that I couldn’t see the stars.
But they were appearing before me now. Particularly one brilliant star who’d slipped away in a cascading river. My lips twitched at the memory of her cheeks heating when I’d called her a pretty liar.
A small part of me relished their escape, because it meant I had to keep chasing her.
No… him.
I had to keep chasing him.
The Dual Wielder, not the moon girl.
She wasn’t what I wanted. Wasn’t a star worth navigating by. She was a blade pointed at everything Mother had taught me to protect. The Dual Wielder would bring ruin to the entire Sun Kingdom if no one stopped him.
Find allies, but trust no one.
I clung to Father’s words like an anchor against Lark’s idealism. The char-touched navigator had almost led me astray. But I wouldn’t let my softness get the better of me, like I had with Therovan.
Moon girl was the enemy. An obstacle standing between me and my mission. Nothing more.
Even if she was pretty. Even if her defiance ignited something wicked in me. Even if the mere thought of her sparkling eyes made my heart race.
Lights above, I had to get that blaze-wretched filth of a woman out of my head.