Page 3

Lugotu looked at me steadily, and I felt my shoulders relax, realizing that he was not going to challenge me. He was not going to listen to the man’s rantings.

“Well, before he became so rude, he demanded to see the emperor. Should we give him what he wants?” I felt myself smile, imagining Tallu’s reaction. We finally had one of Kacha’s men alive. Even if he knew little, he could at least give us a better idea of what our opponent had planned.

Because the fires that Kacha set were too specific. Everything was calculated, and Kacha was cruel, but he was not stupid. He had a finite number of men. He wouldn’t waste any of them on a futile endeavor.

Lugotu nodded and gestured his order with one hand. Two of his men moved to the front, framing me, Lugotu, our captive, and his guard. Behind us followed two more of Lugotu’s men, their eyes sweeping back and forth with the same ferocity that Asahi’s and Sagam’s did when they weren’t sure we were safe.

The path out of the burned area was easier than the path in. Now that the fires were out, I could walk through without worrying about injuring myself further.

After a couple of hours of walking, we stopped for rest, and, using the excuse of alleviating my bladder, I was able to get some privacy. Surrounded by tall grass, I crouched near the ground. The forest wasn’t in pain here. I didn’t feel the same scream in the back of my head that had caused me to split off from Lugotu and his men.

Instead, my own body made it clear what a mistake I had made. My arm had become the sole focus of my universe, the pulsing pain making me nauseated. I could barely breathe and knew that Tallu would take one look at me in my current state and behead poor Lugotu and all of his men, regardless of how few soldiers we had left.

With a long exhale, I brought up my desire to heal myself, to live without pain screaming in the back of my head. Pressing my hand to the burned flesh, I felt it crackle under my palm. I finally dared to look at it. I had tried to avoid it earlier, assuming that seeing the injury would make the pain worse.

I wasn’t pleased to be right.

My skin had blackened, cracking and bubbling up in places. As soon as I touched the blisters, they broke and hot liquid flowed down my arm. Hissing, I covered the entire area in ice, but that only made the pain worse, as though the frozen water were made of lava instead.

Closing my eyes, I fought through my other emotions, only letting myself feel my desire to be healed, to be whole. Healing had become a familiar task as I used my magic to keep Tallu from the death promised by his curse.

But I had never had to heal anyone while experiencing physical agony.

By the time I finished, I could still feel a tingle of pain beneath the skin, and the ice had melted, dripping onto the ground in rivulets.

Panting, I straightened and examined my newly healed flesh. The skin was unbroken; even scars that I had had for years had disappeared.

When I returned to the soldiers, Lugotu glanced at my arm, shaking his head. Then he reached into his bag and took out a fresh shirt.

Pointedly, he said, “Your Highness, it seems that your shirt was burned, even though, somehow, your skin remains untouched. I can only believe the blessing of House Atobe has given you such luck.”

“Commander Lugotu, that sounds dangerously like a criticism. And I’ll have you know that the only people I allow to criticize me are His Imperial Majesty and Nohe, steward of my residence.” I pulled off my shirt and put on the new one. One of the other soldiers accepted my old one from me.

“I regret to correct Your Highness,” Lugotu said. “But you also allow your countryman, Lady Iradîo, to criticize you.”

There was a flash of black in the corner of my eye and then Terror landed on my shoulder. “And us. We are also allowed to criticize you. Especially when you are late, and Tallu is on his way to find you.”

Two

Of course, Tallu wasn’t actually allowed to come for us. I was sure that Sagam and Asahi both would have pinned Tallu to the ground for his own good rather than let him traipse onto the battlefield to search for me. But he had sent every available body out for me. Given that all of Saxu’s men were on assignments just as critical as mine had been, that meant a servant found me first.

By the time we reached camp, we had collected no less than three scouting parties, all made up of relieved servants, glad to not be searching at the edges of battle for their wayward prince.

“What did we miss?” I asked one of the servants walking with us.

Because Tallu might be possessive and concerned about my safety, but he never would have sent all these people to find me if there hadn’t been some threat. We had too few people to spare, and General Saxu was too pragmatic to risk anyone, even for his emperor’s consort.

“Kacha attacked the navy,” the servant said. “Using his electro cannon.”

I glanced at Lugotu. Over the past few weeks, we had gotten to know each other well, and I knew that he would give me a hint as to exactly how anxious I should be. He frowned, glancing to the west as though he could see the open ocean through the thick swamp trees.

We had been forced to move our headquarters away from House Chaliko because of the simple fact that Kacha knew exactly where it was. Deeper in the forest, Saxu and his men had created a network of tents and canopies that allowed them to have a fully functioning camp without irritating our new allies in Namati’s navy. The tents had been scrounged from what we’d brought with us, what House Chaliko had, and what Namati was willing to share. A few enterprising soldiers had even captured some from Kacha’s own men.

Because our men hadn’t cleared any of the forest, it was difficult for Kacha to find us.

That hadn’t stopped him from trying—first with the fires, and now by attacking the only enemy he could see: the pirate navy.

“Namati answered, but Kacha’s men escaped with the cannon, which had damaged one of Namati’s ships.” Lugotu lowered his voice. We could now hear the noise from the camp.