TALIA
I come to with a pounding headache and little blue lights dancing behind my closed eyelids.
“On your feet now,” a menacing voice growls in my ear. The soles of my feet are on the ground, grass crunching under the thin slippers. But a hand rests around my throat.
With great difficulty and through the beating of a thousand drums inside my skull, I open my eyes. It’s nighttime and I’m on the plaza, surrounded by Fai. Who are in turn surrounded by Nimali. Most are shifted into animal forms, and I shiver at so many vicious predators so close. Of course they always have been—they were just in disguise. How did everything go so wrong?
When I try to turn my head, I’m stopped by that grip around my neck. I get a glimpse of my captor, though—Von. His other arm is a band around my waist, holding me as close as a lover but cruelly.
I search for Ryin and find him only a few feet away. An empty perimeter surrounds Von and I amidst the crowd, like no one wants to get too close, but whether to me or him, I’m not sure. Ryin’s jaw is clenched so tightly, it’s like he’s going to crack a tooth. His eyes are blazing, not just with his daimon but with pure rage. The gaze is directed at Von, and Ryin seems like he’s a split second away from launching himself at the man.
But I realize why he doesn’t. A Fai man and a woman stand on either side of him, gripping his arms. They are holding him back from charging at us.
If me being a hostage can help the Fai out of this, then I can understand why they wouldn’t want Ryin to intervene. Though I can’t move my neck much, I shake my head as much as I can. His eyes narrow and his lips press together.
In my peripheral vision, the light from Von’s glowing eyes shines. The added strength his daimon provides is clear from the iron bands around my waist and neck. It would be so easy for him to kill me, but then how would he negotiate?
“What is the meaning of this?” an enraged voice roars somewhere out of the range of my vision. Lyall.
Von turns us so that I can see the edge of the plaza where the king stands surrounded by guards.
“Tell your people to stand down,” Von shouts. “Release the Fai to return to our homeland. Once we arrive safely, you will receive word on what is necessary for us to return our hostage…unharmed. However, if you make any false moves, if a single Fai comes to harm…” His grip around my neck tightens, and I whimper involuntarily. “You will receive your daughter back in pieces.”
I thought Lyall looked angry before, but it’s nothing compared to his expression now. His chest heaves. The glare he sends Von would turn my hair white if it were settled on me. He must know that I released the Fai souls, but he doesn’t know why. He hasn’t completely written me off yet, it seems.
My captor’s grip on me doesn't loosen. Thankfully, it doesn't tighten either.
Then Lyall turns away. I think he's going to do it, order the soldiers to retreat and let the Fai go in order to get me back. These men and women who have been toiling under duress for so long will have their freedom—I can’t be mad at that, even if it means I get carted around the city as a hostage.
Shad is at Lyall’s side now, speaking urgently with him in tones too low to hear. He looks like he’s trying to convince him of something, but Lyall brushes him aside and stomps away a short distance. Neither the prince nor his guards follow.
Then he spins around, his caramel complexion darkening almost to purple. “You would threaten my daughter!” Spittle flies from his mouth as he screams, his booming voice taking over the plaza, echoing off the buildings.
“You would dare touch one hair on her head and expect to live to see the morning?” Lyall’s eyes seem to almost glow with pure fury.
“Nimali!” he shouts, his entire body shaking with something much like madness. “I want one Fai life taken for every second the princess is in their clutches. Destroy them all until she is in my arms again.”
I stiffen, dread and terror turning me to stone. Von’s fingers are bruising, cutting off my air as his hand tightens. “If even one of my brothers or sisters dies this night, you will too,” he snarls in my ear.
His nails cut into me and a trickle of warm blood snakes down my neck. Ryin is hissing, struggling against the two people holding him. Xipporah cries out in protest and launches herself at the woman restraining Ryin.
And while I expect the Nimali soldiers to immediately leap to their king’s command, they hesitate.
“Nimali!” Shad yells. He stands several feet from Lyall, his arms spread apart. Ryin calms and so does Xipporah and her opponent. “Your king would have you break your covenant. We do not kill innocents. Not every Fai before you is a soldier, and those that are were captured as prisoners of war—covenant sanctioned. We must fight with honor as our daimons demand or risk losing them.”
All around us Nimali, both in human and animal form, seem torn. They look to one another and then to their king and their prince.
“I am your king.” Lyall’s voice is more controlled but still manages to carry. “I am your law.” He rounds on Shad, who straightens to stand even taller. “Prince Shad,” Lyall’s voice drips with condescension. “The Umber who was gifted a dragon daimon. You have never had the necessary strength to rule our people. Even now you work against me, scurrying behind my back, trying to bring others to your cause. I had hoped your machinations indicated the proper ruthlessness necessary to rule, which is why I allowed it. Prove it to me now. Demonstrate that you deserve the throne. Do your duty. Shift and destroy the enemy who would threaten us. Do. Your. Duty!”
Shad’s jaw is set and his arms cross. “I will never purposefully kill an innocent. I will not betray my covenant.”
“I am your covenant,” Lyall says. “And you will obey me or you will die.” Then he takes two steps back, and with a flash of blinding light, the red dragon is before us.
There almost isn’t time to blink before a gush of flames pours from Lyall’s mouth. It hits the burst of light that explodes out of Shad as he transforms, but it also hits the Nimali soldiers who had stood near the king, Lyall’s own honor guard.
No blue dragon emerges from the flames. The flashing light of Shad’s shift still shines—is he caught in the space between human and dragon? The fire Lyall produces seems endless. I don’t even know how long it lasts. A half-dozen of his own men lay in a charred heap when it’s over, but Shad is still caught in that brightness of the shift.
Then the light dies and his human form is visible. Smoke rises from him. He falls to the ground, motionless, a blackened husk of scorched flesh. I can hardly bear to look at him, but I force myself to, wanting to bear witness. He stood up to Lyall, finally, and this is the consequence. I can barely make out the rise and fall of his chest. Somehow, he’s still alive, but the burns are horrific—I don’t think he’ll live for long.
Tears flow freely down my cheeks and Von is shocked into loosening his grip. His focus is on the drama unfolding between the king and prince, so even the arm around my waist has loosened. I contemplate trying to break free, but it would be pointless, surrounded as we are.
Lyall is back in his human form, breathing heavily as if he’s just run a race. His gaze travels around the square at all of the people gathered here. He raises an arm and points at me. “Ice them all down and bring the soulcatchers. This rebellion ends tonight.”
The distraction is apparently all that Ryin needed. I feel a burst of air at my side and then Von is on the ground, beneath an enraged Ryin, who grapples with him to keep him down. Xipporah is there as well, facing off against the two other Fai. A growl rumbles from her throat and I wonder what her animal is.
“Think long and hard about what you do next,” Xipporah says, her voice dripping in menace. “That is Ryin Arinson, and you would do well to remember.” The man and woman share a glance, then step back, shame and regret obvious in their expressions.
I don’t know what just happened, but I’m glad not to be in Von’s crushing grip anymore. Noomi comes to my side and holds my hand. On the ground, Von is out cold and Ryin rises just as heavy footfalls announce the arrival of something large.
I turn to find the sea of Nimali has shifted to allow two large, white furry creatures to pass through. Walking on all fours, they’re several heads above the tallest humans. Then they rise. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking at, some kind of cross between a polar bear and a silverback gorilla. On two legs they’re at least two stories high. Long fangs protrude from their mouths.
One opens its mouth, and I expect a roar, but it just sucks in a deep breath. When it breathes out, the air around us turns frigid. White, cloudy breath flows from its mouth and expands, settling over the Fai. Ice them down.
I begin shivering uncontrollably as a layer of frost covers my skin. My hand detaches from Noomi’s and I cross my arms. The Fai surrounding me, those with their daimons shining in their eyes, slacken, the blue glow fading. Even a few Nimali standing too close to the Fai are thrown out of their shifted form by the sudden cold. The voice of the librarian repeats in my head: Daimons cannot emerge in temperatures below freezing.
Ryin is in front of me, reaching for me. Only a few steps separate us, but it hurts to move. My limbs are sluggish. Before I can even take a full step, rough hands pull me back. Nimali soldiers in human form stand on either side of me, each gripping one of my arms and firmly but gently towing me away.
Their hands bring warmth, but my gaze returns to Ryin, who’s trying to follow. Only this time, Noomi and Xipporah halt him with a gentle touch and whispered words.
“I’m all right,” I call out before I’m pulled away. The soldiers turn me around before I can catch more of his expression.
My breathing is jagged. As soon as I leave the circle of Fai, the temperature warms and the frost covering me starts to melt. I’m enveloped in a sea of black clad soldiers who all produce pairs of handcuffs from their belts.
As I’m frog marched over to Lyall, Nimali start shackling the frozen Fai, who are unable to fight back without their daimons. Their shouts and wails fill my ears and tears form, spilling onto my cold cheeks.
Images assault me: Shad’s burnt form lying on the grass. The madness in the king’s gaze. His calm expression as he ordered the re-enslavement of the Fai.
I don’t see him at first, but I spot the patch of burnt grass where Shad fell. He’s gone now, taken away. I don’t know what the Nimali do with their dead.
And then a group of them part, revealing their leader. My guards slow to a halt and the king approaches, gaze intent on me.
“Are you hurt?” His voice is clipped, nothing of the warmth I’ve come to expect. More like my real father.
“No.”
“Were you forced to remove the Fai souls from the vault? Did someone compel you?”
A sob racks my chest. Even now he wants to believe in me, that I would only betray him because of duress. I swallow, unable to look away. His eyes are penetrating, drilling deep inside me, but not seeing enough. I don’t answer. He already knows.
My guards take a step back and Lyall moves forward, no rage evident, but I stiffen anyway. I’ve seen him turn on a dime before.
“My darling girl,” he whispers, reaching out a hand to stroke my cheek, some of the old warmth returning. “What have you done?”
I gasp and choke, weeping now uncontrollably. There is so much disappointment in his voice, and it tears at me. But what right does he have to be disappointed in me? The only father who has ever loved me is a murdering tyrant. And still it hurts to face his dissatisfaction.
“Your Majesty,” a voice calls out from behind me. One I recognize. Dominga steps up to my side and bows at the king. “I think I can shed some light on this woman’s actions.”
My heart seizes. She doesn’t even look at me.
“This is not Princess Celena. And I can prove it.”