Page 98 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“That is a big if,” I cut in, unwilling to let in even a sliver of hope.

“Ifit can be done,” Grae continued, squeezing my hand, “it might be enough to win a war.”

Ora chuckled, light and lilting. “How my ancestors would roll in their graves to see us now,” they said. “The Songkeepers working with Wolves.”

Mina snorted. “To help the Wolves save humans, no less.”

“It might be enough,” I murmured. “It has to be enough.”

Soon, I’d need to address the people of Olmdere. I’d need to tell my people what had happened in Taigos and give speeches rallying soldiers in a land that had barely known a season’s peace since the death of Sawyn. It was beyond cruel, pulling them from tyranny and thrusting them into another war. Soon, I’d need to be the strong Queen who held my head high and spoke with a reassuring confidence I didn’t feel inside.

Soon.

But now, alone with my most trusted friends and mate, I could be uncertain, defeated, afraid. They’d hold me together for this one night and then I’d need to lead again.

“Maybe we’ll have more luck on our side than we think,” Grae said, tipping his chin to the sky.

My eyes trailed over the constellations, down, down, down to the point that just skimmed over the horizon: Damrienn. There the stars twinkled with a brilliant emerald light, reflecting the eerie green magic that I’d once seen Sawyn wield. Sorcerer’s magic.Maez’smagic.

My pulse thrummed in my ears as I stared up at the emerald stars filling the distant sky. “Sweet Moon, I hope she’s going to rescue Briar. Please, by all the Gods, be going to protect her.” My windpipe squeezed as I added, “But she could be just as likely going there to kill my sister and everyone else in that palace. Death magic only sees enemies. She might not care who dies for her purposes any more than Sawyn did.”

“Perhaps the magic of their mating bond still lives on even with all of that violent magic inside her,” Ora said. “It won’t beeasy, but maybe she can fight that darkness, maybe she can find a way back to herself through that connection... or harness it at least to help her mate. Maybe their love is stronger than the darkness.”

The world took on a glassy sheen as my eyes welled, my cheeks heating as I remembered that sleigh disappearing down the mountain. Still, I was plagued by the ghosts of my screams. I subconsciously rubbed my hand down my thigh where I still bore the scar from the attack. The pain and fear echoed in me, resurfacing again and again. I prayed to any god that would listen, prayed that Ora was right, that Maez could fight with her sorceress magicforus instead of against us.

“Come on, Maez,” I whispered to those twinkling distant stars. “Bring Briar back.”

“My cousin is stubborn. I have faith.” Grae kissed my temple. “You’re stubborn, too, little fox.” His calloused palm trailed over the bolt of golden lighting across my collarbone. “You’ve battled a sorceress before and won. I have faith in us, inyou. You will fight and you will win and you will bring peace to this land just as you wished with your dying breath.”

My hand reached up and covered his. I closed my eyes, mapping the trail of my scars in my mind. It gave me a little strength knowing I had that golden magic still singing through my veins. My family was stolen from me through fear of this power, for the allegiances I had to every person in my court. Grae was right. There were so many people in the shadows that stretched out over the horizon, people like me who wanted to claim their life, their destinies with two hands, just as Vellia had once told me to do. I couldn’t shrink myself down like I had in Taigos anymore. I needed to live bigger, louder, until my people believed they could, too. I knew being merem might never get easier, but I would get stronger until every single person in my court never felt the shame of trying to contort themselves into a box that never fit. I would make this court better than the one I inherited even if I had to die all over again trying.

“We’re going to the council chamber.” I stood with a newfound resoluteness. I’d indulged my doubts; now I needed to rule. “We will mourn while we plan. Nero has started a war on humans.” I looked back up to the distant emerald sky. “And we will make sure he lives to regret that choice before we end him.”

Sadie

I stared out at the wobbling rope bridge waiting for us to cross the Stoneater River. I dipped a toe into the burning sand and quickly pulled it out again. I was ready for a change in weather.

Navin plucked at the strings of his lastar, the dragon arcing through the sky—up and down—flying rhythmically to the music. To our right, heat waves warped the horizon, the brightness of the sun leaching the world of color as I squinted. To our left, a shoreline of river grasses morphed into a rolling pine forest. Damrienn. My homeland.

The week had been a slow process of weaving my soul back together. There were edges that would always be frayed, questions that kept me on tenterhooks, but at least through practice and sheer determination I could keep going. Navin had helped spool me back in, the comfort of his body calling me home like a lover’s song. His love sustained me in the wreckage of a world come undone.

As the dragon moved, I scribbled onto a piece of parchment our findings. The monster didn’t turn my stomach like it used to, having gazed upon it enough times to morph from dread to curiosity to an almost begrudging respect. It would make a fearsomeally if Navin could harness its strength. There was still so much more we needed to test, though.

How long could he control this creature? Did the vase’s song only work on this dragon? When Navin needed to sleep and his songs were interrupted, the dragon would return to the sky and hunt for creatures in the distant dunes. When the dragon had returned one morning still chewing a crishenem leg in its mouth, I knew we had a formidable weapon in this war.

I began to wonder how long after Navin’s songs played was the dragon still within his control. It seemed to know to return to Galen den’ Mora after a night’s hunt. Would it stay close without any songs at all?

I lifted the hem of my tunic and dabbed the sweat on my brow. Squinting at the horizon, I asked, “No sign of anyone?”

Navin paused, dropping his lastar and sitting in the shade of the steps. He was slick with sweat, clearly exhausted from his hours of singing. We needed more people desperately if we were going to make this work. One Songkeeper couldn’t conduct a beast through an hours-long battle.

“They’ve been contacted,” Navin panted, whipping his tunic over his head to wipe his face. My eyes trailed down his lean torso, a familiar hunger building in me again. The fact we got any work done at all was a miracle. “But I don’t know how many heard, nor how many will come. The Songkeepers have truly fractured now—Rasil’s gone rogue and others will join him. Who knows if any will stand with Galen den’ Mora anymore.”

I held a hand over my brow and stared off in the direction of the Stormcrest Ranges so far in the distance I’d lose them on the horizon if I stared too long. I wanted to return to Olmdere, wanted to hold Calla as she grieved, wanted to rally with the others to her cause, but this... this could win us the war. I wouldn’t let my stubbornness win out. We’d find a way to control these beasts and bring them into her army.

“That was good,” I said, finishing jotting down my notes and tucking the booklet back in my pocket.

Navin braced his hands on his knees and sucked in deep frenzied breaths. “Just good?”

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