Page 106 of Ashes of Gold
“Get that smirk off your face, we ain’t done,” I say.
The double doors rip open and Shaun stands there, crust in his eyes. One of his guards is on the ground bound with magical rope, and the other looks as if he’s about to pee his pants after seeing what my magic did to his friend. Shaun glances between them and he blinks, still in the fog of being awoken.
I rush at him, knocking him backward. Hitting him is like a bus charging a brick wall. He pulls at me, but his hand slips on my gilded arms. I latch on to his scalp and grip firmly. But before I can tug, he shoves me hard. My back slams to the ground, stabbing pain shooting up my spine.
“Bruh,” Julius says. “We really gotta work on how you treat females.” Julius swings and the blade is a blur of gold. Shaun leans back just in time, the blade grazes his face and tufts from his beard fall to the floor. Pain ripples through me. I bite down and drag myself over to the pile of hair. I grab a handful and exhale… when a giant shoe presses my fingers flat.
“Ah!”
“Get up!” Shaun tugs me up by my collar and I try to hold on to the hair but it slips between my fingers. “I should have never let you get away the first time. Reckless. You give us a bad name.”
“You killed Doile,” I say. “What kind of name does that give you?”
His nostrils flare. “You do not know what you speak of.Tuh. My name is one to be feared.”
“This is not the way.”
He laughs. “She thinks she knows the Ghizoni way. You knownothing. This is not a war you can win. You showed us that already when you came here and the Chancellor all but killed you.”
“And you can? You can win, Shaun?”
More fill in the hallway, summoned by the commotion. Eyes are everywhere. Yakanna, more Beerchi, several others whose expressions I can’t quite read.
Shaun slaps his chest. “This ismyway.” He turns to his guard. “Let her go. Let her stand up straight, accept her place with some dignity.” His men back up. I could kill him. I could shoot a flicker of magic so fast into that spot in his neck just below his ear, he’d be done for. But then what makes me any different from him?
“You may kneel, take the vow, and follow us like the rest of them,” he says. “You fight well, thanks to the Ancestors’ generosity. So I would give you a fitting rank among our best fighters here.” He holds up his chin and he’s so close. So very close I can count the beads of sweat on his brow. “Swear it.”
“Rue…,” Julius starts, but I shoot him a glance and he closes his mouth.
“I only fight for what I believe in,” I spit, and dig my thumbs into his eyes. “Surpizah,” I say, before he can react.
He screams. Sticky magic seeps from my fingers. The glob of white energy pins his eyes shut. I grip his roots and yank. A scream rips from his throat. Julius grabs me by the arm, and we run, booking it like a hundred-meter dash down the hallway.
We bluster past people who stare and whisper. But no one stops us. And that’s how I know Shaun’s leadership will be short lived. When the Ancestors restore everyone’s magic, they’ll have the strength to fight and protect themselves from even him if they choose.
“Faster!” I shout to Julius, and I pound the ground as hard as I can. We round the hallway, skirting each corner, then another. The ladder up to the ground comes into view and Julius throws himself up it, climbing lightning fast.
“Back to the Yiyo?” he asks, panting.
“Yes, to the Ancestors’ grave. At High Moon, we raise the dead.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE SKY IS Astormy ocean sort of blue, stars peeking between the thick jpango leaves of the canopy as we hurry toward Yiyo. Unsure of the state of things over that way, I transported us to the very edge of the forest. But the actual mountain, which sits beside the Ancestors burial ground, is still a decent hike away.
“Aye, wait up.” Julius keeps up behind me.
The time to cast the spell is when the moon is highest in the sky, so there’s still a bit of time to go. I pray it works. My mind is a haze of confusion. Anger still courses through me. It’s like I’m teetering on the edge of a cliff and my next move will either blow me back to solid footing or knock me off completely. I can’t breathe at this altitude. I can’t think.
I stop and pull the empty potion vial out of my pocket. I turn it in my hands, the truth of it searing into me all over again. I close my eyes and see Rahk, smoke billowing from Yiyo, screaming rattles ’round in my head. Jhamal pressing the poison to my lips. The Patrol he’d conspired with. Kai hugged around him.
I blow out a breath and try to shove it all out, but remnants linger. Every moment of silence, my mind fills with flashes of his betrayal.The sour of his love. Sadness pangs through me at what I thought we had. Who I thought he was. My sadness burns into anger. I blink hard.Out, out. Get out of my head.This is why I don’t let people in my space. Once they’re in there, it’s hard to get them out. Jhamal is the last thing I should be thinking about right now. And yet my mind is tethered to him. Love does that. I hate it.
“Rue?” Julius says, a silhouette between the branches. Which is ironically fitting. He’s always been there, a phone call away, just out of earshot. I breathe his name and he’s there. Always.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey.” He tugs on my arm, turning me to him. Then he takes the empty potion vial from my fingers, turning it in his hands. “Fam…” His fingers graze for mine and I hook into them, to hold on tight tosomething I know won’t leave me. My eyes sting and I hold my chin up. I won’t cry. I won’t. I inhale, holding it. Holding myself in one piece.
