I was a wellspring of hurt and consternation; it fountained from my heart and poured into every corner of my soul. My gaze went to the Emperor’s hand, her fingers tight around the branch as she awaited my answer. “We were good,” I choked out. She lifted the stick. “And also bad,” I finished quickly.

Her hand lowered. “Yes. And no one must ever know.”

I came back to myself in my cabin, my knuckles aching with the ghost of remembered pain. Thrana had lain her head in my lap, and her eyes tilted upward as I tried to shake off the memory. “Not a good one?”

“No,” I said. “They never are. But I needed to know. The swords were made to kill Alanga. I don’t know how they work yet, but that was their purpose. And there is more than one. I’m not sure what happened to the others: if they’re still hidden in the palace or if they made their way somewhere else. But I need to find them or they could be used against us.”

Us. Already I thought of myself as an Alanga, as belonging to that group.

Above, someone called out that they’d sighted land. I’d brought a big oilskin cloak this time, and I swept it over my shoulders before leaving my cabin. I found Jovis and Ragan in the hall both dressed in cloaks, Ragan with a finger raised, Jovis scowling fit to murder someone. Ragan’s companion Lozhi was small and gray, his horns still only buds, and he crouched at Ragan’s feet, watching his face. Mephi watched the other creature curiously.

“There’s not enough room to pass you here.” I knocked on the door to my maidservants’ quarters. They must have been waiting for me, because they opened the door, the chest of shards already carried between them. “You’ll both have to move.”

“Of course, Eminence,” Ragan said with a smile. “We were going above-deck anyway.”

Jovis smoothed his scowl, though it looked like it took some effort. Every interaction between him and the monk seemed to end with Ragan smiling and Jovis scowling.

“Guards, to me!” Jovis called, and the hallway became even more crowded. We all shuffled above-deck.

The rain was just as hard as it had sounded below. Mephi and Thrana darted across the deck, splashing in gathered puddles and shaking water from their fur. Lozhi ventured more hesitantly from the folds of Ragan’s cloak.

The mountains of Hualin Or rose from the Endless Sea like the crooked teeth of a sea serpent. I had to squint to make them out in this downpour. My heart jumped a little in my chest. This would be where I met my ostensible family. I had to enter this with confidence, to show no hesitation. They had to think me Nisong’s daughter.

Jovis sidled up to me at the rail. “We’re not bringing him, are we?”