Alina rested her hands on Zoya’s shoulders. “Zoya. Stop.”
“We’re not going to uproot the children,” Mal said. “They’ve already been through enough.”
“Then I’ll send a contingent of First Army soldiers and Summoners to you.”
Mal blew out a breath. “You can’t afford to waste soldiers, and they’d be no good against him anyway. All they’ll do is terrify the children.”
“Better that they’re scared and safe.”
“There is no safe,” Alina said, her voice steady. “There never has been. Not in my lifetime. But I meant what I said. You and Nikolai are the ones who can change that.”
“How did he do it? What happened in there?”
“He drove this through our hands.” Mal uncurled his fingers. In his palm lay a long, bloody thorn.
A piece of the thorn wood. The Darkling must have hidden it somewhere in Yuri’s clothing. He’d kept it with him since the failed obisbaya and their battle on the Fold, waiting for his moment.
“He needed our blood,” said Alina.
The Sun Saint and the tracker—Morozova’s other descendant. The two people who had almost ended his life. Only our own power can destroy us, and even then it’s not a sure thing. He’d been taunting them the whole time, begging them to guess at his plan. I understand we’re blood related.
Panic reared up in Zoya, a clawing, panting thing. “I let him go. I failed all of us.”
“Not yet,” said Mal. “Unless, of course, you’re giving up.”
Alina smiled and gave her a little shake. “I didn’t put you in charge because you run from a fight.”
Zoya broke away and pressed her palms against her eyes. “How can you be so damn calm?”
Alina laughed. “I don’t feel calm at all.”
“Definitely still terrified,” said Mal.
“Did he seem different to you?” Alina asked.
Mal shrugged. “He seemed about the same. Gloomy and insufferable.”
“What was the boy’s name? The monk?”
“Yuri Vedenen,” Zoya said. “I never would have guessed that skinny little runt could cause so much trouble.”
“I bet you said the same thing about me once.”
Zoya scowled. “You’d win that bet.”
“Genya’s letter said you thought Yuri was still inside him. I think you’re right. The Darkling seemed different, off-kilter.”
Mal’s brows rose. “Has he ever been on-kilter?”
“Not exactly,” conceded Alina. “Eternity will do that to a person.”
She rested her bandaged hand on Zoya’s cheek and Zoya stilled, feeling suddenly like she was with her aunt again, in that kitchen in Novokribirsk. I could stay here, Zoya had said. I could stay with you and never go back. Her aunt had only smoothed Zoya’s hair and said, Not my brave girl. There are some hearts that beat stronger than others.
“Zoya,” Alina said, drawing her back to the present, to her fear, to this wretched place. “You are not alone in this. And he can be beaten.”
“He is immortal.”
“Then why did he flinch when you brought down the storm?”
“It did nothing!”
“He sees something in you that frightens him. He always has. Why do you think he worked so hard to make us doubt ourselves? He was afraid of what we might become.”
We are the dragon. We do not lie down to die. Some tiny fraction of the fear in her receded.
“Zoya, you know we’re here if you need us.”
“But your power—”
“I can still pick up a rifle. I was a soldier before I was a Saint.”
I like this one. She’s unafraid. Juris’ whisper, an echo of Zoya’s own grudging thoughts about the orphan girl she’d once resented and despised. The dragon’s laugh rumbled through her. Loss has made her bold. If only I could say the same of you.
Zoya sighed. “That’s all well and good,” she said. “But how am I going to tell the king?”
18
NIKOLAI
THE DINNER WAS LONG but merry, and Nikolai’s chef outdid himself by serving at least seven different foods in jelly. Makhi and her retainers left when the dancing began—and once the treaty was signed. Whether she would keep to the agreement they’d made was in Tamar’s, Ehri’s, and Mayu’s hands now.
“You’re welcome to stay,” Nikolai said as the queen’s horses and carriage were brought around to take them out to the airfield.