Lova approached her again, more cautiously this time. “I doubt it’s even true,” she said. “The King is trying to get to you. To us. The court knows this will make some Papers reconsider their grievances against them. They’re desperate, they’re trying anything…”
Wren swung onto Eve’s back and pulled her reins, making her neigh and kick up. “I won’t risk it,” she said. “I am done waiting. Lei’s been in the palace, enduring gods know what—and now this. I won’t let her down any longer. She needs me.”
Her father blocked her path. “It won’t make any difference!” he roared. “We attack the Hidden Palace in less than a week. We cannot let anything else disrupt our goal. We must focus on what is most important!”
Wren gave him a humorless smile. “Thank you, Father. You are exactly right. I’m glad I have your blessing.”
“I am talking about the war,” Ketai said through gritted teeth.
“And I am talking about saving the girl I love.”
It came out before she realized what she was saying.
Despite everything, Wren still felt a childlike stab of fear at her admission. Perhaps her father had suspected, at least wondered… but still. Her words were a confirmation she couldn’t take back.
A strange expression crossed Ketai’s face. Behind the fury and indignation, there was something else. Something dark and excited. Something almost hungry.
Then it was gone.
“I, too, have lost those I love, my daughter,” he said, softer now. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize the true nature of your relationship, and I am sorry this is happening to Lei. But to go to the palace now is futile. The wedding may have already happened.”
Wren’s heart beat so fiercely she was amazed it hadn’t punched clean through her chest. “If you had let me go earlier,” she seethed, “I’d have stood a chance. I could have saved her.”
Ketai lifted his chin. “You have responsibilities here, Wren. There will be consequences if you abandon them.”
“There have been worse ones because I abandoned her.”
And, with a kick of Eve’s haunches, Wren charged.
Her father threw himself aside. He shouted after her but his voice was drowned out as Eve’s hoof-beats churned across the ash-strewn lawn before hitting the cobbles of Marazi’s damaged streets. Wren’s magic pulsed around her, stirring up a whirlwind of posters and ash-black air as she rode.
One of the pamphlets was crushed in Wren’s right hand. If only its contents were so easily destroyed.
LOYAL SUBJECTS, FELLOW DEMONS AND HUMANS, THE HEAVENLY MASTER IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE HIS MARRIAGE TO LEI-ZHI, THE MOONCHOSEN. MAY THEIR GODS-BLESSED UNION BE A REFLECTION OF THE UNITY THE HEAVENLY MASTER AND HIS COURT WISH FOR ALL OF IKHARA, AND A REMINDER OF EVERYTHING OUR GREAT KINGDOM CAN ACHIEVE IF PAPERS, STEELS, AND MOONS WORK TOGETHER IN LOYALTY, FAITH, AND DEVOTION.
The last line sounded like something her father would say.
As Wren turned onto the main road that led out of the city, Wren’s dao finally flickered out of life. The pain did not, but Wren didn’t care. It was nothing to how much her heart was searing, how badly she wished there existed enchantments powerful enough to get her to Lei in mere seconds, because every moment she wasn’t with her was another the girl she loved had to spend married to—
Her brain cut off the thought.
Hoof-beats rose behind her.
“Godsdamnit, Father!” she bellowed, going to pull one of her swords.
“I very much hope we’re not related in such a way,” came Lova’s response. “Otherwise, some of the things we’ve done in the past are rather questionable.”
Lova and Nitta had caught up with her. Panda was larger than Eve, and even carrying two demons he could move as fast as her. Lova’s honeyed fur flowed in the wind. She was grinning, while Nitta flashed an anxious smile.
“You won’t change my mind,” Wren shouted over the hooves.
“We know,” Lova replied.
“We’re coming with you,” Nitta said. She stopped her as Wren began to protest. “You can’t change our minds, just as much as we’ve never been able to change yours. We care about Lei, too, Wren.”
And though Wren wanted to argue, she couldn’t help the warm rush at the thought of her two friends by her side.
All her life she’d felt as though she were meant to be alone. Even when she’d had Merrin, Caen, and Kenzo to count on, then when she’d fallen for Lova, then fallen a hundred times harder for Lei, she still felt separate somehow. As though this was her burden, her sacrifice. Ultimately, she knew—surely they all knew—how it would end. The fewer people Wren cared about, and who cared for her, the less it would hurt when she was gone.
But Lei had taught her there was power in being vulnerable. Wren wasn’t alone. She hadn’t been for a long time.
She squeezed Eve’s reins tighter. She turned to thank Lova and Nitta—
Only to find Nitta drawing a bow and Lova’s amber eyes full of fury.
For one horrible moment, Wren thought she’d gotten it all wrong. Then Nitta arched her back, aiming high, and Wren saw Lova’s eyes were on the sky.
“Shoot!” Lova snarled.
The leopard-girl held steady. “I want to hear what he has to say!”
“Feathers has had enough chances. We know where his allegiances lie.”
“We can be loyal to more than one clan or cause!” Nitta fired back. “Or do I have to remind you who taught me that?”
“What are you both talking about?” Wren cried.
Neither one of them answered, and a second later winged silhouettes cast them in shadow as Merrin and Samira scooped overhead. Khuen clung to Merrin’s back, his face a mask of sheer terror.
“Wren!” Merrin called, diving to fly alongside her.
“I’m not going back to my father, Merrin!” she yelled, preparing to draw one of her swords. She’d cut down anyone who got in her way.
She should have done so a long time ago.
Merrin didn’t back off. “We’re not here to ask you to go back.”
“Couldn’t we be?!” Khuen groaned hysterically.
“Wren,” Merrin said, “we want to help.”
“Your version of help is pretty damn warped, Bird!” Lova barked. She swung Panda in closer at Wren’s side. “Let me get rid of him once and for all. I have a new explosive in my pocket I’ve been looking for a good reason to debut.”
“Lova!” Nitta cried. “How many more times does Merrin need to prove his loyalty to us?”
“Martyrdom might convince me.”
Wren held up a hand. Close up, Merrin’s eyes were sincere, his feathered face a picture of regret and hope and sorrow and anger and guilt, all jumbled in a complicated mix—and in it, Wren recognized herself.
“You can come,” she told him.
Khuen practically wilted. But Merrin’s eyes were bright. He gave her a grim nod.
They were both guilty for Lei being back in the palace.
It was fitting they’d free her together.
TWENTY-THREE
LEI