Together we watched the ashes rise, curling up into the clouds.
When there was nothing but embers left, she finally stood. Her eyes were dark, as if smoke clung to them.
“Tomorrow,” she said through her teeth, “I will kill my father.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The shansen did not come at dawn.
He had the cruelty to make us wait until dusk, when our toes had frozen in our boots, and frost rusted our weapons as well as our spirits.
The air smelled of gunpowder and snow. Of despair.
Finally, as the sun disappeared into the river, a pearl sinking back into the watery depths of its home, we heard a rumble of thunder: the shansen’s army was coming. Their footsteps made the city walls shudder, and soon they surrounded us like a snake that had coiled around its prey.
The shansen arrived last, with Gyiu’rak at his side. A familiar emerald cloak rippled from her shoulders.
Lord Xina’s, I recognized after a tense beat. How wrong it looked on Gyiu’rak’s broad tiger frame, the crisply dyed wool like a trophy over her white fur. The demon had also claimed his gauntlets and shield, with his family’s crest emblazoned in scarlet lacquer. She flaunted them for all to see.
I darted a quick glance at Lady Sarnai. Her jaw was tight, knuckles whitening as they gripped her reins. What could be going through her mind, seeing her lover’s armor on the demon who brought about his death?
She let out a cry, and her horse charged for the shansen. As her soldiers followed, I stayed.
I had my own plan.
Edan’s arm brushed against mine, the red thread I’d tied around his wrist peeking out of his sleeve.
“Watch over my brother,” I said, “and Lady Sarnai. She cannot defeat the shansen alone.”
“Maia…” Edan reached for my hand. The red thread on his wrist glowed, as did mine. Careful not to hurt him, I curled my clawed fingers against his, sliding each one into place between his. Wishing this moment could last forever.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, I kissed him to silence his protests. In the middle of battle, it was a foolish thing to do, but I didn’t care.
“I love you,” I said, tilting my head close to his.
Then I let him go—and burst into the sky, the dress of the blood of stars folding over me in layers of twilight and stardust.
My amulet thrummed in my ears, a silent song only I could hear. My scissors used to hum to me this way, beckoning me to use them. It hadn’t occurred to me until now that maybe the scissors had been sent to prepare me for this very moment. To show me how to trust the magic singing inside me, to turn my burgeoning darkness into light.
With a spark, my amulet flared to life.
The two powers within me—my demon darkness and the light of Amana—clashed, their battle visible in the bursts of light dazzling from my dress as it clung to my skin, the silk stitching itself into my flesh to protect me from darkness. To save me.
My skirts swelled as full as the moon above, lifting me high above the ground and gliding toward the clouds.
What I saw from above confirmed my worst fear. We were losing badly. Already, our dead were piled high. We would never take the Spring Palace.
At the center of the battle, Lady Sarnai struggled against her father. She was no match for his demon’s strength.
Seize his amulet, I urged her, sending the message in a plume of smoke that took the shape of a bird and flittered off toward the shansen’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Gyiu’rak was prowling the battlefield.
If I could disrupt the link that was channeling her power to the shansen, Lady Sarnai might stand a chance.
Drawing a sharp lungful of air, I threw myself at Gyiu’rak and knocked her down. My skirts swept against her powerful legs, burning her with their touch. Smoke curled from her wounds, blistering against the backdrop of falling snow.
“I don’t have time for you,” she snarled, but I launched myself at her again. Gyiu’rak fended me off easily, grabbing my wrists. I thought she might crack my bones, but what she did was far worse. She sank her nails into my amulet.
The sharpest pain pierced my chest. My heart was being squeezed, crushed. I couldn’t breathe. My mind went gray, and I choked, my lungs hacking. I pummeled Gyiu’rak, trying to fight her off.
She only smiled, and dug her nails deeper into my amulet. Thick black blood oozed from my lips, filling my mouth with the taste of charcoal.
As I screamed, she yanked on the amulet’s chain. I’d learned from Bandur not to let her have it. If she possessed my amulet, she could control me.
Let yourself go! the demon growing inside me commanded.
I didn’t understand. My dress was flickering and careening in a panicked tempest. I couldn’t control it. The pain was too much. All of me was on fire.
What happened next was a blur of blinding heat and whirling darkness. The demon Maia overwhelmed me, brutally shutting off my senses. For a numbingly long moment, I was nothing. I saw, I heard, I felt—nothing.
When the world came rushing back at me, Gyiu’rak no longer held my amulet. Her white fur was scorched, and she growled, hoisted me high, and hurled me into the river.
The world flashed deliriously behind me as I flew backward. My body was too light, like a leaf caught in the wind. Yet my head was heavy. It pounded; I could feel my demon grappling for control over my mind. She knew I was weakened, that I wouldn’t be able to resist her for much longer.
I don’t need much time, I told her. Just give me a few more minutes, then you can have me.
I sailed across the battlefield, thrashing against the wind until my dress overpowered the demon in me. Its skirts flared, and I caught myself in midair. Once I regained my balance, I searched for Gyiu’rak.
There she was—a blur of white fur, pounding across the frosted battlefield toward a tall figure on horseback.
Terror stung me back to life, and I tore after Gyiu’rak.
Edan! I shouted, smoke leaking from my lips as I tried to communicate with him.
He did not hear me. His walnut staff was raised, summoning a storm of birds that soared above him before diving into the battle to attack the shansen’s soldiers.
“To the walls!” Edan yelled at our men, waving them to push toward the city as more of the shansen’s men fell. Then he powered his way toward the warlord.
Watch out! I sent a desperate warning hurtling toward Edan. Gyiu’rak is coming for you.
Edan turned as if he heard me. Alarm registered on his face when he saw the demon closing on him, but he didn’t change course. He urged his horse forward, racing against the tiger and charging at the shansen.