He scoffed at me, though I could only see his expression, the noise lost in the wind. “How do you suppose this works? I leave and you keep my ossalen? Why would I ever agree to that? I have no guarantee on my end.”

Mephi wrapped a foreleg around Lozhi, his claws digging into the creature’s fur. Ragan flinched.

“What happens to you if Lozhi dies?” I asked. “Do you want to risk that?”

Ragan peered at me, his expression odd. “You don’t know, do you? So much power at your fingertips and you have no idea why or what it costs.”

I opened my mouth to retort, sure something clever would drop out.

But a cold wind stirred at the back of my neck and the fighting around me went silent. Don’t turn your back on an enemy, they always say. What they don’t say is what to do if you’re sure there’s already an enemy behind you.

I turned.

The enormous head of a sea serpent rose from the slopes behind me, its mouth open. A woman sat astride its neck, her fingers tight around its horns. She leaned down to whisper into one of its ears. The luminescent spots on the beast’s sides flashed, its wide yellow eyes catching the lamplight. Wide yellow eyes that focused on me.

I couldn’t be sure if the wetness that fell on my head was rain or the saliva that dripped from the creature’s mouth. When I’d pictured the ways in which I might die, being devoured by a giant sea serpent hadn’t remotely been on the list. I sent a quake in the sea serpent’s direction – a pitiful effort. I doubt the beast even felt it.

Its head darted down.

“Jovis!” Mephi cried out.

49

Phalue

Gaelung Island

The world became only blood, sweat and rain. Phalue gritted her teeth as she swung her sword, fending off war constructs. She’d sparred in the rain in the palace courtyard before. But never in the mud. Never with her arms bloodied and stinging. Never with men and women she knew dying around her. It had seemed a noble thing – the right thing – when she’d told Ranami she needed to help Gaelung fend off the construct army. She kicked a beast in its teeth, shoving her sword through the back of its mouth when it snarled at her.

There was nothing noble about war.

How long had it been? It felt like days she’d been fighting and killing and surviving. But it was still night.

The gates at her back were a solid presence. Hold the gates, the general had said. Take out anyone who breaks the front lines. Phalue wasn’t used to taking orders; she was used to giving them. But she’d die before she’d disobey this one.