He slowly pulled off the necklace and held it between them. “I was your mother’s keeper. Now, you are hers.”
He clasped the necklace around her neck. Elena looked down to see her mother’s bird, made of jade found only during a summer eclipse, the same as the earring her father wore, and felt both loss and foreboding. She met her father’s eyes. They were the same steel grey, but they were softer now, more vulnerable.
“You were never her keeper,” she said gently. “She was yours.”
Elena cupped the bird to her chest. It felt warm underneath her touch. She thought of Aahnah and Jasmine, laughing together in the tea shop, sharing secrets. She thought of the women before her mother, the tireless generations of queens. She thought of Ferma, unflinching, a true warrior.
Leo looked down at her. A mixture of pain and pride passed over his face, and he opened his mouth to say something and then seemed to think better of it.
“Take care of it” was all he managed to say.
CHAPTER 32
LEO
And thus the Phoenix rose with eyes afire and a cry of vengeance upon Her lips.
—fromThe Prophecy of the Phoenix, transcribed into written word by the first priests of the Fire Order
They docked on the stone ledge beneath the temple. A column of smoke writhed above the cliff like a long grey serpent. The smell of ash and incense hung heavily across the mountainside. There were no storm clouds, but the air felt charged.
Leo had already ordered a large swath of guards to sweep through the mountains around the temple, but after the attack in the capital, he made them repeat their sweeps. As he ascended the temple steps, he spotted their white uniforms dotting the mountainside, their pulse guns glinting.
Majnu and Arish greeted them at the top of the staircase with a low bow.
“Your Majesty,” Arish said and then smiled at Elena. “Your Highness. May the sun and the moons shine upon you.”
“We’ve swept the surrounding range at least three times,” Majnu informed. “We’ve found nothing. I have revolving patrols searching the mountain. If any Arohassin are hiding, we’ll root them out.”
“What about the tunnels?” Leo asked.
“Clear,” Arish returned and looked at Majnu. “No Arohassin agents are hiding beneath the mountain,” he said, and then, after a pause, “or Prophets.”
“And the public?”
“No one has been admitted, and we stopped the hoverpods. So far, we haven’t met much resistance. I think the attack made people realize the gravity of the threat,” Majnu responded.
Leo nodded, glancing at Elena. Disappointment flickered in her eyes. In an ideal world, she would have been anointed before the public. In an ideal world, she wouldn’t have had to worry about Arohassin terrorists or vengeful Prophets. He squeezed her hand, and she passed him a smile. Soft, forgiving.
It was enough.
“And Samson’s men?” he inquired.
“So far, they’re all clean,” Majnu said and looked up as the other palace transports descended.
Leo watched the hoverpods dock, Samson and Yassen arriving with more guards. Samson walked ahead, his head high, his shoulders squared, while Yassen trailed behind with his head bowed. There was a heaviness in his step, and Leo noticed how his right arm hung by his side.
“What’s wrong with him?” Leo asked, nodding at Yassen.
“He burned his arm.” He turned at the sound of Elena’s voice and saw that she, too, was observing the men. “The medics treated him after the attack, but it still pains him from time to time.”
Leo looked from her to Yassen, noticed the way she gazed upon the assassin; it reminded him of the way Aahnah had once watched him. A dark worry bloomed in his stomach, but he reined it back. He would not admonish her now, not when the peace between them was still so new, so fragile.
“How bad is it?”
“It’s treatable,” Elena said. “The doctor gave him pills and ointment to apply.”
Leo nodded, but as he gazed at Yassen, worry tickled the back of his throat.
