3

There is no training adequate to prepare one for fighting daeva, and I speak as one who has faced them all. Of these beasts, the aeshma is easily the most intimidating. Its body is an armorer’s dream, with spikes and talons of everlasting sharpness. It was two dozen feet high but still fast on its feet, scampering from view long before the soldiers’ arrows could find their mark.

I had protested the presence of the king’s army, of Prince Kance coming to watch me. A daeva raising is not a cherry blossom viewing. It is not a kingdom festival that requires royal approval. A daeva is a creature that makes no distinction between noble and common flesh, and even all the armies of the world in attendance—and they were—will not improve anyone’s chances of survival.

“Hold your fire!” I barked at the royal soldiers. “Make no sudden moves, and leave the fighting to Fox!” Brave as they were to stand their ground, the soldiers’ swords and bows were as useless to the fight as silk ribbons and dresses.

The aeshma bellowed, but Fox dodged its attack, his own sword meant to distract rather than deliver a killing blow. Over the course of a year, Fox had had as much experience baiting daeva as I had had in putting them down.

The monster charged, and my brother vaulted over its massive head, the aeshma’s spikes missing him by inches. He landed, then swatted tauntingly at its nose. Even Fox was not above theatrics when there was an audience.

Pain blistered, an ache ripening behind my ears, but I fought through the hurt. I braided the wind around me, and a binding rune shone. The aeshma froze in its tracks as tendrils of my magic covered its form.

“Die,” I growled, and the creature fell, paralyzed. But it was not vanquished yet; it took strength to kill, and my headache was proving a hindrance.

A collective sigh of relief rose from the army. Prince Kance, his eyes unnaturally bright and his movements strangely stilted, stepped closer.

In my head, the shadows shifted. I had another vision of water and wings folded back behind me as I sped quickly through the depths of the sea…

I forced the image out of my head, but in that short, broken moment of concentration, the creature had gathered itself for one last desperate lunge. Kalen was already moving, grabbing Prince Kance by his robes and dragging him back as Fox jumped to shield him. One of the aeshma’s spikes caught my brother squarely in the chest, sliding out through his back.

“Die!” I shouted again, and the spell tore into the aeshma, straight to its heart. The hideous monster fell backward, dragging Fox along on top of it. Its stubby, furred legs kicked out involuntary before it shuddered and went still.

“Fox!” I’d seen him with far worse injuries, but an impaled brother was a vision no sister could grow accustomed to.

From atop the unmoving beast, Fox rose to his feet, still skewered. With a faint grimace, he set his boot against the creature’s ridged hide and ripped himself free with a wet tearing sound.

Around us, people retched. Prince Kance shook, averting his gaze, and Kalen was grim, his glare accusatory.

“I’m fine,” Fox said. “A little heartache never killed anyone.”

“You’re a moron,” I said, breathing easier now that I could see he was OK, and drove my knife deep into the fallen aeshma, ignoring the stench of entrails and blood as I probed deeper until I heard the telltale click of my blade against something stronger than bone.

I plunged my hand in and pulled out the violet-hued bezoar. The aeshma’s corpse immediately crumbled to dust. All that was left of it was the gem that gleamed brightly in my hand. It is odd, I thought, how something so beautiful can come out of something so grotesque.

• • •

Back in the palace, Prince Kance trembled. He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know what came over me, Lady Tea. I was foolish enough to think it was safe. I didn’t know how close I was until you shouted.”

“A daeva killing is not something you see every day, Your Highness,” Fox pointed out. “In all the excitement, it’s easy to act impulsively.”

The prince smiled weakly. “I wouldn’t have called getting stabbed by a two-foot spike ‘excitement,’ Fox.”

“If the Dark asha had put the aeshma down completely the first time,” came the frosty rejoinder from the palace window, where Kalen had taken up residence, “then additional ‘excitement’ might have been avoided.”

“Perhaps if the prince’s bodyguard had been more vigilant,” I snapped back, “I might not have been so distracted.”

Kalen opened his mouth again, but Prince Kance beat him to it. “It’s nobody’s fault but my own, Kalen. I was careless, and if it wasn’t for your presence of mind, I might have met a disastrous end. In my haste to learn more about how asha do their work, I was careless.”

“I could have told you that in the safety of the castle, Your Highness,” I said, and Kalen made a small sputtering noise, and in my mind, Fox snickered. “Wh-what I meant was there was no need for you to view the daeva yourself!”

“For far too long, I have been sheltered from the realities of my own kingdom, Tea. I cannot rely on books and advisors to tell me how to rule. How can I govern wisely if I have none of my own experiences to fall back on?”

“The common people don’t exactly experience Daeva on a daily basis, Your Highness.”

“But you do as a Dark asha, don’t you? Lady Mykaela is still convalescing, so that responsibility falls to you. I wanted to see you in action, to help me understand how I might lighten your burden. Instead, it seems I have only added to it.”

I could feel my ears turning red and prayed that my cheeks did not follow suit. “Any burden you give will be light enough to carry. Your Highness’s safety is most important.”

“I cannot be protected from all dangers, Tea. But I shall strive to be more careful next time.”

“Next time?” I echoed as Kalen exploded with, “There’ll be no next time, Kance!”

“You cannot tell me what to do anymore, Kalen,” the prince said. “I must know what lies beyond my borders and within them. In fact, I had hoped that I could accompany you when you return to Kion.”

“Really?” My mood brightened almost immediately. Kalen’s glower spoke volumes.

“I believe we can make it in time for the upcoming darashi oyun. I hear that Zoya and Shadi are dancing the lead roles again this year. Are you leaving for Ankyo after Lady Mykaela’s Heartsrune ceremony?”

“A week or so after, Your Highness.”

“Khalad shall be attending too. I offered him a room at the palace, but Father thought it best for him to take up lodgings at the Kingshead instead.”

A shadow crossed Prince Kance’s face, and I knew why. Khalad had long since embraced his apprenticeship to the old Heartforger, but Prince Kance had never gotten over the guilt of inheriting the throne in his place.

“The old forger probably insisted,” Fox remarked. “He’s not a fan of the king or most nobles in Odalia.”

“I think it’s more than that. Khalad and Father had never been on the best of terms.”

“No, we haven’t,” King Telemaine agreed, entering the room. As always, I had to tilt my head to look at him; he was tall, but he would have been a towering presence even without his extraordinary height. “For the longest time, he blamed the asha and me for your mother’s death, though time with the forger has tempered his anger. But son or not, to welcome a Heartforger under our roof foments more distrust and suspicion. That Mykaela already resides here has not set well with many.”

“He’s my brother, and it is a ridiculous superstition.”

“I had not wished a silver heartsglass on Khalad, Kance, but even kings must follow custom. Even if I would have wanted otherwise. Lady Tea, Sir Fox, you have my thanks once again.”

My hands disappeared, engulfed within the king’s. Gratitude shone through his heartsglass, and I was embarrassed. “It’s nothing, Your Majesty.”

“‘It’s nothing,’ she says. Saving my son and putting down the terrible beast plaguing my kingdom is everything to me, Lady Tea, and I vow to do everything in my power to repay you for your service.” He paused, unusually hesitant. “Is—is Khalad doing well?”

“He is. He does a lot of good work, Your Majesty, and he takes pride in it.”

“Good, good. If only…” The king sighed, his eyes distant.

Bezoars found within kingdoms were customarily entrusted to their rulers, but I couldn’t move my hands to gift the gem. Fox solved my dilemma by fishing it out of my pocket and handing it over.

King Telemaine shook his head in wonder, staring down at the purple stone. “So many wars won and fought over such a small stone. Lady Tea, Sir Fox, please excuse us. There are certain matters Kance and I need to finalize before his birthday celebration.”

“I told you that we have no need for such lavishness, Father.”

“You are my son and my heir. How is that not reason for lavishness?” The king’s laugh boomed. “Kalen, I shall need your advice as well.”

Prince Kance bowed to us and followed his father out of the room, Kalen half a step behind.

“Are you all right, Tea?” Fox asked.

“I think my fingers are dead.”

Fox’s tone shifted to one of concern. “Are you in pain? Did the aeshma hurt you?”

Familiar or not, I wished Fox couldn’t decipher my moods so easily. “It’s nothing, just another headache.”

“You’ve been having a lot of those recently.”

“I’m tired. I didn’t get to sleep much last night.” That was true enough. “I’ll rest once we visit Khalad. I want to ask him about his progress on Mykaela’s new heartsglass.”

“If he’d made further headway, he would have contacted us.”

“Well”—I cleared my throat—“I was also thinking about getting Prince Kance something for his birthday, and I have an idea I wanted to run by Khalad.”

For someone who no longer needed breath, my brother’s sigh was loud and exasperated. “Tea.”

“It’s only a gift! I can go without you if you’ve got other things to do.”

“Oh, I’ll come with. But mark my words, little sister. Getting your hopes up will bring you nothing but misery.”

Looking back, I suppose I should have wondered why he seemed so bitter, like personal experiences had inspired the remark more than sound advice.

• • •

“It won’t need much,” Khalad said. “A few happy thoughts and nostalgia. This is the easiest glass I’ve been asked to make in years. Did you kill the aeshma?” He paused. “Did you give the bezoar to Fa…the king?”

The Heartforger apprentice’s room at the Kingshead was filled to overflowing with books, papers, strangely shaped glass containers, and bottles upon bottles of flickering lights and hues. I wondered how much the innkeeper had been charging Khalad to keep them all stored here. “I did.”

“Did he say what he planned to do with it?”

“He didn’t say. He asked about you though.”

A frown marred Khalad’s face. “I don’t care. Fox, I’m going to extract a happy memory from Tea, so you might feel some tugging on your end.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“Khalad, how long has it been since you’ve talked to your father?” I asked.

“Not long enough.” Khalad slid a finger across my forehead, a gesture he had done many times before. There was a familiar tingling as Khalad turned the pages of my memories, searching.

“Ever thought about visiting?” I ventured.

“Tea.”

“Sorry.”

“There’s a good reason we don’t talk anymore. Let’s leave it at that.” He withdrew his hand, and a few stray wisps of blue and yellow clung to his fingers. In those colored strings, I could see memories of me running across a field with my brothers and sisters and of a younger Fox giving me a piggyback ride through a shallow stream. Asha retain their memories even when a Heartforger takes them, but their removal never stops feeling odd. “How is Lady Mykaela?”

“In bed, resting. Polaire is taking care of her.”

“If ‘taking care of her’ means bullying Mykaela into submitting, then I agree,” Fox said.

“Says the guy who bullies me as frequently.”

“Lady Mykaela is nice enough to listen when she has to. You don’t.”

“Children,” Khalad said mildly, his skilled hands forming a small lump of clay in front of him. Sparks flew from his fingers, and the small mound twisted and turned, trapped by magic not even I could see. He kneaded the strings of memories into the clay until the thick mixture absorbed them and hardened. The mound made a tinkling noise and split open, revealing a spherical glass crystal where blue, red, and yellow lobbied for dominance, shifting from one color to the other.

“I don’t know what to call it,” Khalad admitted, handing it to me. “It’s the first of its kind. It’ll boost his mood, keep him calm whenever he tires. I can only imagine what he has to deal with every day. That’s one thing I don’t miss. As a ruler, you never have time to yourself.”

“Do you miss any of it?” Fox wanted to know.

Khalad gestured at the bottles lining his shelves. “I got a rare memory today. The old man who had it escaped death by hanging in Drycht. In one of these boxes, I have a heartsglass for a woman who forgets everything she’s done the day before. Ironic that I take a memory from a man who does not wish to remember for a woman who would give her all not to forget. I’ve helped more people in the last two weeks than I ever helped people in the last three years as the crown prince.

“The only thing I regret is turning over those duties to Kance with little warning. I used to blame my father—and Dark asha, if I must be honest—for killing my mother. But now that the anger has gone, my dislike for my father remains. He holds many views I do not agree with, and I have always rebelled against him with my temper. He always saw me as an heir more than a son. He favored Kance long before my heartsglass turned silver.”

He paused and frowned. “Have you been feeling unwell lately, Tea?”

“She’s been having headaches,” Fox reported.

“When I was looking through your memories, I felt something unusual.”

“Unusual?” Khalad was as good at reading heartsglass as I was, so I tried to keep my calm.

“I don’t know how else to define it. It felt like there was something that wasn’t a part of you but somehow still is. Is Aenah still in Kneave?”

“She’s warded as closely as the asha can. She has no control over me, Khalad—quite the opposite actually.”

Khalad didn’t look convinced.

“I just put down an aeshma, Khalad. Controlling daeva, even for a short time, doesn’t leave one feeling clean.”

“Take the rest of the day off.”

“I see you don’t take your own advice.”

He smiled. “Heartforgers don’t have to deal with daeva. Although Master likes to say they’d probably be better company than the people we deal with.”

“How is the old man?”

“Traveling.” Never idle, Khalad was building a pyramid of pebbles on the table. “He visited Istera last month, and he’s now in Daanoris. He’s on the hunt for rare memories, and there are a few strange illnesses he wanted a closer look at. There have been some cases of a sleeping disease that turns its victims’ heartsglass gray. He’s been working on an antidote. Said it was promising.” He looked at me and then glanced back at the small glass case he had made. “We haven’t been able to find the rest of the ingredients for Lady Mykaela yet. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Dark asha cannot regenerate heartsglass, though new ones can be forged. But finding the memories needed for Mykaela’s had been difficult: a memory of love and sacrifice, a memory of a heinous act committed, and a memory of surviving dire odds. Khalad had already extracted that last one from my battle against Aenah and the azi.

“Master told me something about King Vanor,” Khalad began, hesitant. “He had met with the king shortly before he was assassinated. Master wasn’t fond of Odalian nobles, but he was fond of my uncle. Master says he isn’t as bad as you think he is—”

I covered my heart with both my hands, glaring. “You saw me raise Vanor!” I accused.

Khalad blushed. “I don’t get to choose what I see in heartsglass. You know that.” His hand jerked, and the pyramid he was building tumbled. “Sorry.”

“Well, you’re wrong on one count. He’s a horrible bastard, and I can understand why he was killed.”

“Tea!” Fox warned.

“You know I’m right. Why would Vador hide Mykaela heartsglass if he loved her?”

Khalad exhaled noisily. “I don’t know. But Master was adamant about Vanor’s innocence. He was sure of it.”

“You don’t have to feel guilty because you were related to Vanor, you know. It’s not like you were responsible. You feel things too much.”

“My master has said that on many occasions. He’s not wrong, but it helps me forge better.” Khalad was suddenly eager to change the subject. I made no complaints. “We still need those two memories for Lady Mykaela’s new heartsglass. I’ve looked through several possibilities, but none are of the potency I need.”

“How about a heinous act committed by a Faceless?”

“That would probably work. They’re not known for doing things half…” He trailed off, shocked. “Tea, you don’t mean that!”

“Why not? We have her imprisoned and then she’s in no position to refuse us.”

“I have to side with Khalad on this one,” Fox said. “Aenah’s crafty enough even when she’s powerless. Don’t drag Khalad into a battle he hasn’t volunteered for.”

Khalad’s eyes lit up from behind his spectacles. He tugged at his hair, which was white, like most Heartforgers’. “You misunderstand me, Sir Fox. I’m not turning it down. I can’t extract any memory from a Faceless if she’s not willing, but I’m curious about the other notions I might find in her head.”

Fox groaned. “I’m surrounded by idiots.”

“It’s worth a shot, I think.” Khalad paused and added after a sidelong glance at my heartsglass, “But don’t tire yourself for Kance. He wouldn’t want that. He can be a little…oblivious sometimes. Even more so nowadays.”

Was my crush really that obvious to everyone but the prince himself?

Yes, Fox said in my head. Yes, it is.