Page 153 of Bloodguard

“She’s not,” Tut insists. “That’s only what she was purported to be. Untruths that your grandmother and Vitor spread and exploited for their own gain.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Tut, that makes absolutely no sense. You’veseenher. She’s a monster!”

“Ya. It does. Aurora balances nature. She keeps the winter in mountains where it belongs and drought in the desert where it should remain.” He blows out more steam, but it’s pathetic at best, mimicking his defeated state. “Your grandmother stole her from the skies to use as a weapon and to keep Arrow in power.”

I set the lamp on the nightstand, still within reach, and sit again. “My grandmother didn’t just take her from the sky. She killed her because Aurora was killing our people. There was no weapon to be had.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know I’m wrong. Tut, though, spells it out for me.

“Avianna killed her so she could rebirth the phoenix into something that she could control. She wanted Arrow to be great, and thus stole Aurora’s greatness to make it so.”

“You act as if Arrow is only what it is because of Aurora.” I spread my arms wide as I motion with my hands. “Look around at all we’ve rebuilt that was once squalor. We did that, Tut. My grandmother and Papa did that. This has nothing to do with the phoenix.”

Tut stands. I do, too, both of us squaring off. “You built those homes with wood from trees that grow tall and strong in the areas surrounding Arrow. You fed those workersandyourself with the bountiful harvests Arrow produces. You feasted on game that’s hearty and plentiful from thriving off a land rich with nutrients while those around Arrow, those without the phoenix, starve and suffer and die.”

I lower my hands. Okay. He has my attention now.

“You eat the best, you have the best, and you are the best. You know this to be true, Princess.” Tut starts to pace. For someone tasked with subterfuge, he makes a lot of noise.

Slap, scratch.

Slap, scratch.

Slap, scratch.

Ogres’ feet are so tough they don’t need shoes. But this one damn well needs his toenails clipped.

“You hear the stories the immigrants share, Princess—about floods that ruin their crops, about freak ice storms in summer that freeze mothers holding their babies as they rush to shelter. Princess, you’ve cared for those who arrived sick with unheard-of infections that plague the young and strong.”

Tut is right. I don’t want him to be, but he is.

“Immigrants rush to this kingdom, wanting what they can’t have in theirs because Aurora doesn’t soar over their land to give it to them.” He blows out more steam, this time in the shape of a circle that might as well be a broken heart. “My realm is dying, Princess. My people are so sick from decades of malnourishment, we haven’t seen an ogren Liburi child born in more than seventy years.”

I approach him slowly, and Tut eyes me warily. He should. But I don’t mean him harm, at least for the moment. “If Aurora is set free, all the realms will benefit just as Arrow has?” He nods. “And if she is kept trapped, the rest of Old Erth will continue to suffer?”

Tut nods again, his lack of a neck causing him to tilt his entire upper half. “The great phoenix only exists to balance nature. It’s the sole reason Nature created her.”

I know the story of the phoenix. I learned it as a child and saw it play out within the stained glass windowpanes in Vitor’s office.

Damn it.Vitor.

Still, there must be more to this. I find it hard to believe this ogre and others risked certain death to infiltrate Arrow royalty so they could release the phoenix on the unproven theory she will heal the world. It’s more likely he wishes to take it for his own kingdom or sell it to the highest bidder. “What do you want from me, Tut?”

“I want you to help me release her.”

I want to believe his theory. I do, but the risk is too great. “No.”

“Princess,” he snaps, affronted. “It’s the right thing to do. Not just for your people but for all the world.”

“What if you’re wrong?” I ask, my voice harsh and louder than intended. So many people have died because of this creature. In the wrong hands…

He flaps his meaty hands downward, trying to silence me. “Hush. We mustn’t be heard.”

I pull my knotted hair forward and attempt to braid, trying to settle and not appear like a woman who’s lost her damn mind. Even if she has. “What’s wrong, Tut? Are you worried you’ll be discovered and, I don’t know, fed to the phoenix?” I drop the strands of my hair.

He grinds his fangs, less than pleased by my reaction. “You don’t understand,” he growls.

I saunter closer. “Don’t I? Aurora needs blood, needspeopleto survive. Say you do free her. If—if—I don’t alert Soro to your plan, what’s to stop her from eating every last person she can get her beak on?”

Tut’s shoulders stiffen. “Aurora only eats dead things,” he says as if I’m the one missing the point.

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