She shook her head. “Death gives you a certain perspective. We broke Shinar. It wasn’t the invaders. It was us. We grieved, and we let rage blind us. We destroyed everything our family had built. Look at us now. Look at our legacy. Mother mourns us.”
My father sneered. It was almost as impressive as when my aunt did it. Apparently, it ran in the family. “Our mother has committed plenty of her own sins.”
“This child”—Erra pointed at me—“is our best hope for the future. How could you?”
Roland raised his chin.
“Yes. I know,” she said. “You bound her. Are you really that terrified of death?”
“I did it out of love,” he ground out.
“You did a thing to a babe in the womb that cannot be undone. Do you wage war on the unborn now, Nimrod? Is this how far you have fallen?”
I got up to my feet and touched the ward. The magic clutched at my wrist. For a moment the ward became visible, a translucent dome of red glass. It held for half a breath, fractured, and shattered, melting into empty air, and Curran’s enraged face greeted me.
Here goes nothing. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ve seen Neig’s army. He has thousands of warriors. Enough to overrun the city and murder every single person who lives here. In his lair, a horde of yeddimur is waiting. He takes an offering of newborns and then he poisons them with his venom until they turn into those creatures. He told me that they are primitive and filthy beasts who know only rage and hunger and who eat their own. He says this is the true nature of humanity. He is worse than you are, Father. You seek to rule. He wants to exterminate us.”
You could hear a pin drop.
“I have no allies. I’m alone. It’s just me and the city. No help is coming. But I’m the In-Shinar and I won’t bow to a dragon. I will fight for humanity, even if nobody stands with me. I am Sharratum here. I’m responsible for this city. I won’t dishonor my blood and my family.”
Curran frowned at me. Don’t you dare ruin my speech. I pushed every button my dad had.
“Neimheadh is coming for us in three days. Atlanta will fall. We will die. Then you’ll follow, Father. Make your peace.”
I walked away and didn’t look back.
* * *
? ? ?
I SAT ON the porch steps and held a glass of iced tea. The ice had melted long ago, so what I had was mostly tea-flavored water. My father and my aunt still argued on our lawn. They put the blood ward back up for privacy, I suppose, which didn’t do them a lot of good, because I could still see their faces. All the arm waving and finger pointing was quite entertaining.
Curran sat on my left. Hugh leaned against the porch post on my right. Conlan was inside in the basement, surrounded by werebears and guarded by Adora and Christopher. My father would have to go through me and Curran to get to him, and if it came to that, Christopher would fly him out of there while the werebears held Roland back.
Dali and Doolittle had left once I vanished. It was just us again, family and friends. Well, us and Hugh and Elara.
My father clenched his fists. Light exploded in the dome, hiding him from view. It faded, revealing my aunt, her arms crossed on her chest. She rolled her eyes and said something.
My father spun away, throwing up his arms.
“I stand corrected,” my husband said. “There is another person who can drive your father as crazy as you.”
“This is the most human I’ve ever seen him,” I said.
“You’re not alone,” Hugh said, his voice flat. “That was some speech. I thought you’d lost your mind for a second.”
“We need his army. I primed him for my aunt. If anyone can convince him, she will.”
We watched the drama play out in the bubble. My aunt switched to lecturing. My father pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand, looking down.
“Come on, you selfish asshole,” Hugh growled under his breath.
At the far edge of the lawn, Julie had parked herself, a determined look on her face. Derek waited with her, his face impassive.
“How many troops does Neig have?” Curran asked.
“I stopped counting at thirteen thousand.”
Curran didn’t say anything. A thousand wouldn’t be a problem. Five thousand would be hard. They were armored, so we’d have to wrench them out of their armor to kill them, while they spat fire at us. Ten thousand was impossible.
Ten thousand troops, that’s more soldiers than the National Guard had pre-Shift. And Neig had even more than that.
The bubble of the ward fell. My father turned to us. My aunt walked over to the porch steps.
“Your father has agreed to ally with you to face the dragon.”
“Aha.” Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“He wants to see Conlan,” Erra said.
“No,” Curran said.
“I will hold my grandson,” Roland said, “and he will know I am his grandfather. That’s my price.”
Everything in me rebelled at putting Conlan anywhere within his reach.
We couldn’t survive without my father. It wasn’t just his army; it was him. We needed my father’s power and magic. He’d fought a dragon before and won.
I felt like I was walking down a winding staircase. Every stair was a piece of my life I would fight to the end to keep. My friends. My relationships. Each had a name or some concession I wasn’t willing to make. My pride. My dignity. My privacy. Julie. Derek. Ascanio. Ghastek. Rowena. Jim. Dali. Curran . . .
I fought for every one. I clawed onto them, holding on with the edges of my nails, but in the end, I would surrender and step down in the name of the greater good. This was queenship, and if only I could find someone to take it from me, I’d unload it in a fraction of a second.
The name of this step was “Never let my father touch my child.”
I let my magic out. It flowed out of me like a mantle. I decided not to bother with hiding it anymore.
The power streamed out of me, branching, stretching, reaching. I became the center of Atlanta, the heart of the land I claimed. I sat on the porch steps, but I might as well have sat on a throne.
My father felt it. His eyes narrowed. He blinked and his whole being seemed to have picked up a faint golden sheen. This was no longer a conversation between Roland and me. This was a conversation between New Shinar and Atlanta. Two rival kingdoms negotiating a brief peace.
“What do you offer, Im-Shinar?” I asked.
My father’s eyes narrowed further. “The full power of my army and myself.”
“You will fight Neig until he is dead. You will honor our alliance for the duration of this war.”
“Yes.”
“Kate,” Curran said.
“Don’t do it,” Julie yelled from across the lawn.
This was it. This was the last thing I had to give. I was about to place my son into my father’s hands.
“The word of Sharrum is binding,” I said. “Swear to me, father, that you will put my son back in my arms after you hold him.”
“I swear,” he said.
There were lines even my father wouldn’t cross. I had to believe that.
“Atlanta accepts your alliance. Bring my son to me,” I said. My voice carried, slipping through the walls like they were air. I knew Adora heard me.
Julie swore.
There was a scuffle in the house. A moment later Adora opened the door, put Conlan on my lap, and took one step back, her hand on her sword. Blood slid down her left temple, but she ignored it.
Conlan blinked at the light. My baby. My tiny sweet baby. Curran’s gray eyes and my brown hair.
I pointed to my father. “This is your other grandfather.”
“Gampa?”
“Grandpa. Grandfather. Great king.”
My father crouched by me. In these few seconds he somehow became everything a grandfather should be: wise, kind, warm, and filled with love. If I’d met him as a child, I would’ve trusted him instantly.
Carefully, I passed Conlan to him.
His hands closed around my son.
Everyone on the lawn waited, primed to explode. Curran paused in a half crouch, a hair away from violence. Hugh bared his teeth. Adora focused on my father like nothing else in the world existed. Only my aunt seemed relaxed, standing by Roland’s side.
My father straightened and raised Conlan up. My son blinked.
Roland’s eyes were full of awe. A smile stretched his lips, a warm, real smile that reached all the way to his eyes.
“You are a wonder . . .” he said softly.