The atmosphere changed as soon as the pair left the tent. Ketai was still smiling, but it had taken on a barbed edge. Wren instinctively moved closer to Lei, muscles tensed.
“Don’t worry,” Ketai said. Lantern light flickered in his granite-flecked eyes. “I’m not going to rebuke you for defying my orders. It would be a waste of our energies, and conflict is not what we need right now. Anyhow, everything turned out for the best in the end.”
Wren didn’t like the sound of that. She’d come to understand what was the best for her father was not necessarily welcome in her world.
Not anymore.
“What did you want to discuss?” Wren asked, twining her fingers through Lei’s.
Ketai’s smile disappeared, something strange twisting in its place. He looked almost feverish, touched with a desperate kind of expression Wren was more accustomed to seeing on the face of the King.
“I have been trying,” he began, “to understand something for a while now, and I think the two of you hold the key to its answer.”
Lei swapped a wary look with Wren. “Us?”
“If I am correct,” Ketai said, “it’s vital we figure this out tonight, as it may be the very thing that sways the battle tomorrow. Wren—you stayed at the Southern Sanctuary on your way to Marazi. Tell me, did the shamans there discuss the Xia with you? Did they share anything that might reveal more about your magic?”
It was as if a stone had been dropped into Wren’s stomach.
“You knew,” she said. “It was part of your plan for us to camp close to the sanctuary. You wanted them to find us.”
“I’ll admit, I wasn’t certain they’d reveal themselves to you, but yes, I very much hoped they would. To provide you safety and comfort, of course—”
“But more to understand the workings of my magic,” Wren finished.
Ketai came closer. Though Wren was the same height as him, she felt small in his presence. She forced herself to straighten, to project confidence—as he himself had taught her. He noticed, and pride shone on his face.
“What did you learn at the sanctuary? Please, daughter. It could give us the advantage tomorrow. After everything the two of you have been through, and our friends—Mistress Azami, Zelle, all our fallen allies who died to protect us—anything you may have heard or seen at the Southern Sanctuary could save others from the same fate. Isn’t that what we’re here for? To stop the King and his court from destroying more than they already have?”
Wren almost flinched. What did her father think? That all she’d given up, everything she’d risked—including the most important thing of all, Lei’s love—meant nothing to her?
“Please, Wren.” He braced her shoulders. “Even the smallest detail could be meaningful. Help us win tomorrow, so we can finally be free.”
Free.
The word unlocked something in her.
It all came pouring out. Wren recounted the days she’d spent with Ahma Goh and the mountain shamans, Ketai interjecting now and then with questions, but for the most part letting her speak, just as Lei had earlier, listening intently.
When she finished, Lei was smiling up at Wren. “I still can’t believe you found your Xia family’s home. I’m so happy for you, Wren,” she said, and Wren’s whole chest glowed.
It was only the two of them in the tent then.
“I’d like to take you there,” she told Lei.
“Then take me there. Please.”
Almost the exact words that had followed her question one velvet night in Wren’s room in Paper House so many months ago.
Can you imagine a world where we’re free to be with each other?
Actually, I can.
Then take me there, Wren. Please.
Lei’s smile was soft and knowing, and Wren knew she, too, was recalling the conversation. Wren felt the promise of that future held within their clasped hands. It seemed closer than ever before.
Then her father spoke. His face was alight with vivid focus. “So it is as I thought.” He moved away, pacing the rug-covered floor. “The key to true Xia power. It’s easier than I even dared to hope.” He swung around. “We have everything we need to defeat the King, right here in this tent!”
Wren shifted closer to Lei. “We have more insight into the Xia now,” she said carefully, “but we understood all this already, the dark sacrifice that powers their magic. That was why—”
She stopped. She hadn’t yet confronted him about her suspicions as to his plans for the Hanno shamans. It had been awful enough with Hiro, but this… this would be a mass execution.
“That is unnecessary, now,” Ketai replied, and relief charged through Wren.
Until his next words.
“We have something even more powerful. Or, I should say, someone.”
Ketai’s zealous eyes were fixed on Lei.
Wren’s heart roared in her ears so loudly she almost didn’t hear his words. But she did. She heard, and she wished she hadn’t. She wished she’d never entered the tent at all, never gave her father the confirmation he’d needed to come to this conclusion, worse than anything she could have imagined.
Worse than anything she could have imagined of him.
“Lei, my dear Lei,” he explained fervently. “Don’t you see? You are the key. The Xia didn’t just sacrifice anyone for their magic, like the King has been doing with his Shadow Sect—siphoning our land of its qi in the process. That was the issue all along. We thought the Xia’s power came from death, which it does, but only death given willingly. True sacrifice. For what is a more powerful sacrifice than to die for someone you love? Everyone thought the Xia traveled in pairs at a minimum because it was safe, but it was for this. If they needed to, one could sacrifice themselves for the other. Ultimate power, always at their fingertips.” He was aglow with awe. “Such an elegant, intelligent, simple system. I should have guessed sooner.” He gave a rough laugh, teeth flashing as he smiled. “But now we know—and just in time.”
Lei stood frozen at Wren’s side. She whispered, “You… you want me to sacrifice myself tomorrow. To kill myself, for Wren.”
“Yes,” Ketai confirmed eagerly.
At the exact time Wren said, “No.”
And then she flew for her father. She slammed him down and pinned him to the floor, magic and wrath blazing from her like never before as she crushed his throat beneath her fist.
THIRTY
LEI
KETAI AND WREN’S THRASHING BRINGS GUARDS rushing into the tent. In seconds, Paper and demon hands grasp Wren, attempting to drag her off her father. Glacial waves of magic billow from her. She’s so strong it takes more than ten of them to get her off of him—only for her to dive straight at him again. They just manage to hold her back. Nitta and Lova are among the pack. I hear Lova shout, “At least kill him quietly!” and a crazed laugh bubbles out of me before it chokes off in a gasp.
Wren’s chest heaves. Her eyes are as white as fresh snow, as white as death. Her power shakes the tent walls.
“How dare you,” she snarls at her father, before collapsing to her hands and knees.
The air stills as she drops from her Xia state.