Page 108 of The Sunlit Man

“Can you bring it back?” Elegy asked, approaching him on a deck slick with blood.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Not soon, I suspect. I’m…not sure how the relationship stands between me and my armor. But it felt good to bear it again.” He looked around at the destruction he’d wrought. “Poor souls. Taken and forced into this.”

“They enjoyed it,” she promised. “You gave them a fight like they’ve never known. Besides, some escaped.” She pointed to the ones she’d freed, who had made their way down side alleys, looking for fights with common civilians.

Maybe…she should not be happy about that. Yes, she could see from his frown that perhaps…that was a bad thing.

“We need to find the Cinder King,” he said.

“I know where they’ll take Rebeke,” she said. “He wants to make her into a Charred. I was born in that very place.”

Zellion nodded, following her lead as they moved through the city, which had grown quiet as the people hid. Near the center of Union was their Reliquary, where the Chorus was kept. Beside it was the Hall of Burning, where the Cinder King made his Charred.

Together, she and Zellion burst out into the open ground surrounding these two buildings. And there was the Cinder King. Standing off to the right, partway down a wide street, hands on hips. Waiting.

“I’ll handle him,” Zellion said, hefting his machete. “You go rescue your sister.”

“I want to fight,” she snapped.

“I know. But is that what youneed?”

“They’re different?”

“Yes,” he said, nodding to the Cinder King, who waved him forward. “He’s planning something. A trap. Can you outthink him?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I can push through the trap, whatever it is! I can kill him.”

“Can you, Elegy?” Zellion met her eyes. “Should you?” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Right now, you need to give up that fight to save your sister instead. That’s what your people need. That’s the pathyouneed to be on.”

She didn’t feel his words. But she…she believed them anyway. She nodded.

“Go,” he said. “When you rescue Rebeke, tell her something for me. There is a way to recharge sunhearts. Put some heat in an empty one and leave it out in the sun, and when you come backaround, it will be renewed. The days of sacrifices are done. The Beaconites know, but I want as many to hear as possible. They deserve this truth.”

“I will.”

“Oh, and Elegy? Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For giving me someone worthy to fight alongside,” he said, turning toward the Cinder King. “I think that helped me remember which pathIneed to be on.”

With that, they parted toward their separate destinies.

“What do youthink, Aux?” Zellion said, walking calmly toward the Cinder King. “Do you spot snipers?”

No response. Damnation. It hurt anew when he remembered.

He stopped within shouting distance of the Cinder King, feeling strangely exposed without his armor. A short time back in it, and already he felt reliant?

“I’m here to give you that fight you offered!” Zellion called to the man. “Do you still want it?”

“Indeed!” the Cinder King shouted back. “Hand to hand. You and me. No interference by others! Isn’t that a tradition among your people? A trial of honor, one on one?”

It was more of an Alethi thing actually, not an Azish one. His people preferred to settle differences with extended court battles and flowery legal speeches. But that distinction was irrelevant,because he doubted the Cinder King intended to play fair—no matter what he said.

So Zellion was ready for the snipers even without Auxiliary to spot them. He dodged toward the wall of a building as the shots hit behind him. Not Invested shots, though. They’d switched to regular slug throwers? Why?

He neared the wall he intended to use as cover, but a dozen officers in white coats broke through nearby windows and doors, then opened fire at him with pellets that hurt, but didn’t pierce. They battered him, weakened him, as Charred surrounded him and came in swinging with clubs. Zellion struggled, pushed, fought back—until one of them wrapped something around his wrist.

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