Page 122 of A Forgery of Fate

I’m almost done. Just one more—

We have to go. Now.

“This Luminous Hour is a special one,” Nazayun was saying, “for we have a visitor.”

I grew very still. Did he mean Elang—or me? I didn’t dare turn to look.

My answer came soon enough.

A cage misted out of the waterfalls. It was sculpted like a bell, bronze and heavy, and if I squinted, I could perceive theoutline of a woman inside. Her hair, long and flat as a sheet, obscured her face. A dull brown tail languished behind her.

Queen Haidi!

Shani covered my mouth with her fin, stifling my gasp.Don’t. Tread backward. Slowly.

The demon had shifted into her stingray form, and I let her drag me through the tall grasses. We couldn’t go far. Patrols had appeared, cordoning off the area.

Shani cursed.We’ll have to go another way. Come on.

As I followed her, Nazayun continued speaking: “Many of you will remember Ai’long’s darkest era, when merfolk and dragons were at war. A deadly period in our history, ignited by festering resentments and broken promises. I have sworn to you, it shall never again be repeated. There will be peace in Ai’long.” His whiskers turned wiry. “And any threat to that peace, I willburn.”

My hackles rose. I knew where this was going.

Nazayun raised a claw. “Today I bring forth Her Majesty, Queen Haidi of Nanhira, beloved ruler of the merfolk. She has always been a loyal subject, a voice I’ve admired and respected. An old friend, or so I thought….” He made a gravid pause. “It’s come to my attention that Queen Haidi has secretly harbored and abetted the renegade Lord of the Westerly Seas against me. This act of perfidy, I cannot forgive.”

The cheers died, replaced by a brittle silence. No one dared move. Even the radiance of Liayin’s tears was muted, the pearls slowly receding from Nazayun to circle Queen Haidi.

Don’t just stand there.Shani bit me in the wrist.Move!

Obediently I glided backward, keeping my gaze on Haidi.

She stood before the crowd with all the pride befitting a queen of her kind, but only a fraction of the strength. What had Nazayun done to her, to reduce her tothis?

Fight him,I mouthed silently, as though she could hear.

Shani,I whispered in my mind.Isn’t there something wecan—

No.The water demon wrapped her tail around my wrists so I wouldn’t swim off and ruin everything.The best way you can help is by not dying. Now, keep moving.

Nazayun was still speaking. I watched the dragons in the crowd relax, their fear easing as they realized they were not the target. Some looked amused by this turn of events. The wiser ones, however, remained stolid. They knew Nazayun’s mood might change at any moment; he’d turn the entire city into stone if it pleased him.

“She must pay the price,” one of the dragons in the front said. “It is the law.”

“Yes! She must pay!”

“You know me to be a merciful god,” Nazayun went on. “A generous king. For centuries I have kept us free from the strife that plagues the mortal world and the discord that corrodes the harmony of the heavens. And so I ask you, what have I done to deserve such treachery?

“Nothing,” Nazayun answered himself with a growl. His whiskers tilted upward, and the outline of a pearl bulged within his chest. Rimmed with gold, it glowed like a moon, and the silhouette of Ai’long could be seen within.

At the sight of it, the crowds grew restless, fervid support for their king mounting.

“Thus, I am left with no choice,” he went on. “As punishment, Her Majesty the Queen of Nanhira has seen her lastlight of Liayin.” With a sweep of his tail, he banished Liayin’s tears into the distance. “From this hour forth, she shall be reborn.”

It was a sound I’d never forget, the quick slash that Nazayun made across the queen’s long hair.

Haidi’s mouth rounded with pain. Tears welled in her eyes, crystallizing into tiny white pearls as the dark strands of her hair fell about her in lifeless whorls. The merfolk stiffened in horror. Their hair was a life force to them, the way blood was to humans. And they knew, as I did, that it was only the beginning.

Her neck was the first to change. It stretched grotesquely, growing until her head was like a kite, her neck its string. Next was her skin, which melted from her body, the flesh beneath it gray as ash. She bucked, writhing in pain as her arms split into two, then four, so there were eight in total.

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