Pari gave him a squeeze. ‘Nor do I.’

‘I’m so tired.’

‘Yes.’

‘Can we sleep now?’

‘Yes. Everything is going to be better.’

He drew back from her so that he could look into her eyes. For a moment he seemed just like his old self, as if the Arkav she’d come to know was a cloak and he’d cast it away. ‘Do you promise, sister? I don’t want to be this way any more.’

‘I promise.’

As soon as the words were uttered, his eyelids fluttered and he settled himself against her. Seconds later, he was asleep. She stroked his hair, just as tired as he was but unable to sleep in her current position, and unable to move without disturbing him.

Thoughts danced in her mind, jumbling one another. Why haven’t the Sapphire sorted themselves out yet? There were plans she was aware of, secret ones, that should have resolved all of those problems by now. Why is Yadavendra still in power? What has Vasin been doing all these years? Why hasn’t he taken control?

She supposed, as with most things, she was going to have to go there and sort it out herself.

CHAPTER FOUR

Lord Vasin Sapphire arced swiftly across the sky. Below him, the Godroad glinted red as the sunslight of Vexation and Wrath’s Tear played across its surface, the gold of the first sun, Fortune’s Eye, dulled and bloodied. As he crossed over it, the energies of the Godroad sparkled against his crystal wings, lifting him, like the hands of a parent, gentle, taking him to new heights.

And he was ready to rise. Ready to act.

It is finally time.

The lands of House Ruby were among the least hospitable he’d visited. A vast forested swamp, punctuated by little islands that, often as not, turned out to be the shells of some Wildborn monstrosity. The Godroad provided the only thread of sanity in the landscape, and House Ruby’s settlements clung alongside, standing proud on long wooden stilts.

Lately, the swamp had begun to rise. Nobody knew the cause but Vasin suspected his own house’s failings were to blame. Attacks from the Wild had become bolder and more frequent. It felt as if an unseen hand were manipulating the demons in some way. Not like a commander with an army, but a shepherd, driving their demonic flock in the same direction.

Away from us. Each of our borders and beyond, but never in our own lands. First they pressed the Tanzanite, then the Spinel, and now the Rubies. It cannot be coincidence.