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“There will always be someone with a grand plan. I’ve very few principles. This is one.”
My body sagged, and I no longer regretted cursing her. She could have spoken up from the start. The cold of death and recriminations pulled at me.
A bell rang. Lana put down the pen and reached for an impeccable coat. In the doorway, she paused.
“Are you coming?”
“Where?” I could go back to the roof, or bed. Hide. Everything would have been better if I had not opened my eyes again.
“The coronation. Your prince is about to greet Tal as king.”
Dimitri. I could not see him. He killed and saved me. Blamed me.
“I don’t—”
Lana narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t personal. It’s history. This might be the last king of Tal. The final royal before the people. It’s not about you or me or him. The world is changing, and I plan to witness it.”
Whenshe left, I trailed behind, unable to shake her words.The last king of Tal.
An open coach waited by the front door.
The streets were packed, red dresses, paint, and drink everywhere. Bloody stick figures and complaints were everywhere. Progress was slow as the whole city congregated as high on Palace Road as possible.
When there was no way forward no matter how much the coach driver cursed, we stopped. I could have climbed a building for a better view, but Lana was right. This was not about me being close to him. It was about being part of something larger than us.
The King was a symbol separate from the person.
As the first rays of the sun rose behind the palace, they outlined a man on the closest rampart. On his head a star shone. I knew it must be the crown, that this was someone whose touch and lips and laugh I loved, a man with ink-splotched fingers who preferred the sky to finery, but at that moment, as part of the surging crowd, I saw a god.
Above him, griffons flew in awe-inspiring displays. Trumpets sounded and around us, all of Tal’s bells rang. The crowd erupted in ear-shattering cheers—some for the king, others for the Goddess to rise. All for Tal.
Any dream I once held that I could stand next to him—that we could have a future together—shattered. It had started as two unwilling people meeting in the night, both wishing to escape. Now, the sun rose on one dead and one alive, one rising and one falling.
His path was set.Where would mine lead?
Chapter twenty-one
Vanya
Ionly left the attic to sneak into the kitchen when hunger gnawed at my insides. Tal came alive at night, but I kept to the daylight rhythm of the palace and griffons. I did not want to see the Spirits, hear the street musicians or the preparations for the Day of the Dead celebrations.
On the second day, I ran out of moonshine, but the cold deadness inside did not dissipate. I dreamt of the sun hitting Dimitri and the crown while I remained in shadow. I dreamt of him on his knees surrounded by Spirits. Then I opened my eyes and saw Lumi’s dead eyes. Under the numbness, anger churned.
How could he not believe me after I saved him?Having his healers resurrect me was not enough. It had cost him nothing while I had given everything. His notebook remained tucked into my pocket, unable to throw it away, unable to open it again.
I blocked magic and all thoughts of the future. Still, in the twilight between sleep and wakefulness, something tugged on the bond between me and Lumi, and I remembered the millions of restless Spirits around us.
The voices of Lana’s guests often echoed through the otherwise too-silent house. Some, like Kirill’s enforcer, Grigori, Irecognized, others were new. If I had thought about it, I would have expected to find her floundering, not taking over from her father without missing a step.
On the fifth day, Lana pounded on the trap door.
“Von Lemerch is to arrive in two bells. Make yourself scarce. And visit the bath house while you’re at it. At least you only used to smell of soot, not drunken sweat.”
Fear quickly blossomed into something else.
Ealhswip had benefited from each of my choices, even when I thought myself clever. Except one. The crown—she would already have searched the Taliell’s shore.
Could that and Dimitri saving me be the one thing she had not predicted?
