Yet something didn’t make sense.
Why did Bandur think the pearl would choose him over Khramelan? True, it hadn’t exactly leapt into Khramelan’s heart the moment I’d set foot on Lapzur, but why?
What was I missing?
“I’ve been trying to find Khramelan,” I said. I started out of our hiding place, but Takkan pulled me back.
“Bandur will be expecting you. Let me go first.”
I shot him my fiercest look. “You promised you wouldn’t do anything heroic and stupid, Bushi’an Takkan, yet you leapt into the middle of Lake Paduan like a fool. Don’t think I’ve forgotten.”
“Jumping off your brothers’ backs wasn’t heroic or stupid,” he replied. “It was a calculated move to get Bandur away from you.”
“You could have died!”
“But I didn’t.” He touched his nose to mine tenderly. “Nor did I leave you.”
My lips parted. I wanted to argue that he was weakened, that Bandur would kill him. But trying to reason with him would only waste precious time. For I knew he would come with me no matter what I argued. So instead, I compromised. “We’ll go together.”
“Lead the way.”
I grabbed his hand and ran. Our steps echoed behind us, and my breath grew heavy as we wove our way into the heart of Lapzur, making for the tower. Around us, the buildings flickered, but I ignored the dark illusions they tried to present.
At last, we approached the statue of the God of Thieves, and Takkan clutched Bandur’s amulet over his chest. I didn’t see the Demon King, but he had to be near. The amulet was tugging us forward, as if by a string. It allowed us to pierce the invisible barrier that had blocked me before, and we ascended the stairs to its courtyard.
There was Bandur, surrounded by Lapzur’s demons. So it was true—he had won them over to his side.
At the sight of me, he picked himself off a dead and crooked tree and swaggered to life. He was smoke no longer but a fully fleshed wolf with gray fur, blood-red eyes, and razor-sharp claws.
“There you are, Shiori’anma, as expected,” he said in greeting. “Why so sullen? I told the demons you were clever, and I even spared you their usual tormenting. Do you not appreciate my thoughtfulness?”
Takkan’s hand went to Bandur’s amulet. “Return!” he shouted.
Bandur’s body convulsed, smoke fraying from his arms and pointed ears, but he resisted. “You bore it well, Bushi’an Takkan,” he said calmly, “but alas, it has no power over me here—in the heartland of darkness!”
To prove his point, Bandur summoned the amulet back to his possession. He chuckled as Takkan and I stepped back, both stricken. “Let us pass,” I demanded, hating how my voice shook. “Khramelan must be reunited with his pearl.”
“I heartily agree, Shiori. A promise is a promise, after all. Don’t let me keep you from honoring it.” Bandur gallantly moved aside from the tower entrance. “Go on ahead.”
These were the last words I expected from him.
It was a trap. I knew it was a trap, but what choice did I have?
“Don’t,” Takkan whispered.
I forged on, and together Takkan and I ascended the tower, scrambling up the hundreds of steps two at a time. When we finally reached the top, the pearl was humming louder than it ever had, and it beat like a drum against my hip.
The Wraith was still there, sitting on the edge of the roof. Darkness wreathed him, making it impossible for me to see more than the outline of his back as I approached.
I opened the satchel one last time for the pearl and held it up. “I have brought you home,” I told it. “As I promised.”
At the sight of the Wraith, the pearl swiveled out of my hands and emitted a brilliant light. But it did not go to him. Instead, as fast as a comet, it shot out into the fathomless dark of the night.
Khramelan finally turned then and raised a thick black talon. In one swipe, he wrapped it around my waist—and leapt off the tower.
Up swooped the dragon, and the Thief’s Tower disappeared beneath the clouds. Wind pelted my face, stinging my eyes so fiercely I could barely see.
“Khramelan!” I shouted, thumping my fists at him.
His beating wings overwhelmed my cries, and we flew higher, pivoting until his massive back was to the moon. There he hovered, allowing Imurinya’s silvery glow to limn his dark form, from horn to talon, glinting off the jagged ridge of his spine.
Smoke curled along the tips of his wings, which folded seamlessly into the starless night, and each of his onyx-black scales was edged like the tip of a spear.
His eyes were mismatched, as Elang’s had been. One was deep red and merciless—like a demon’s. The other was blue as the sea—his dragon eye. In their centers glittered two broken pupils, each split in half like the pearl.
“Khramelan!” I shouted again.
This time, the dragon growled. The sound made his entire body tremble and set my ears ringing. Everything hurt, as if I were inside a drum that had just been struck.
“That name is not yours to speak,” he snarled. “Say it once more, and the dust of your bones will join the other imbeciles who dared trespass on my island.”
“You would have killed me already if that were your plan,” I said, finding courage by focusing on his mismatched eyes instead of his hulking figure. “But I came here with your pearl. It must be calling for you.” Wherever it is.
He did not reply. He didn’t even acknowledge that he had heard me, though I knew he had.
“Khramelan!” I cried. “Take your pearl back!”
In a rush that made my stomach leap, he lifted me, dangling me before his broken eyes.
“Did you kill her?”
Her? Is he talking about—my stepmother?
“No, no!” I cried. “I’m her—”
“It matters not who you are.” His fangs grazed his bottom lip as he glowered. “You think because my darkness is lifted, I will take mercy upon you? Stupid, brazen girl. Never in all the ill-fated years of Lapzur has anyone dared bring another demon here.”
My breath caught. Of all the preposterous things—Khramelan thought Bandur and I were allies? “You misunderstand.”
“There is nothing to misunderstand. You are not the first to come here since her death. So long as I am guardian of this island, it matters not how darkly I see. I spare no one.”
“No!” I shouted. “I brought Bandur here to make him the guardian—and free you!”
“So you gave him my true name, which has allowed him to lead my own demons against me? Helpful indeed!”
“That…that was a mistake,” I admitted. “But if you reclaim your pearl—”