Page 130 of Realm of Thieves

Brynla looks relieved.

“Of course, the egg must now be destroyed,” her mother adds.

“The egg is with Steiner,” I tell her. “With my brother, back on the ship. It’s going to be hard to get it back from them at this point.”

“No,” Brynla says, a sheepish look on her face. “It’s not.” She reaches into one of the side pouches at her hips and pulls out the egg of immortality. The squashed, broken egg of immortality, yolk dripping from it.

I stare at it, stunned.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I couldn’t let Steiner hold on to it. I stole it when he wasn’t looking. I don’t think anyone in your family is impartial enough for this.”

“You were planning to get rid of it?” I ask, feeling a twinge of betrayal.

She shakes her head. “No. I just wanted to keep it safe. I felt like it was my responsibility; I couldn’t even explain it…” She trails off and looks at her mother. “I guess now I can explain it, though.” She glances back at me. “I was going to tell you,” she says. “But things started happening right away. “I didn’t trust it on that ship. Your brother…”

I swallow hard, not wanting to hear what she’s saying, and yet I believe it too. I’ve been watching Vidar closely this whole trip because of something my father had said. How if I wasn’t going to get rid of Brynla, he’d find someone else to do it. But I keep that thought tomyself. It’s bad enough that I suspect Vidar was going to steal the egg from us at some point.

“Plus we don’t know the people we rescued from the Daughters of Silence,” she says quickly. “It was too much of a risk and deep down I don’t even think Steiner can be that impartial. His brain gets too excited.” She pauses, licking her lips and looking downtrodden. “Do you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you,” I tell her. “You acted on your instincts, which are a lot more complicated than you could have known. Plus, you know, once a thief, always a thief.”

I reach out and cup her face.

“It’s a blessing,” Voldansa says, her voice loud. “That this egg was crushed. Now we don’t have to worry about it getting into the wrong hands, at least not for now.”

“But I heard that there might be more eggs out there,” I say. “Surely someone else is going to come across this power. The Harbringer herself couldn’t die even when Lemi ate her face. I would assume the government of Esland has also taken the same.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” her mother says. “All you can control is what you have control of. If something else happens, then it will be dealt with, but believe me, you don’t want to be the ones responsible for this kind of magic. Not all magic is good, and immortality belongs to the goddesses, not to humans. Or else the world would be a very different place indeed.”

I exhale heavily. Feels like everything is a bust. I’ll be heading back home with no precious egg, no fertilized egg, and a cargo full of Eslanders.

“You won’t be going back empty-handed,” Brynla says. “We’ll gather eggs on the way back to the ship.” She shoots a wary glance at her mother. “I hope you’re okay with that.”

“As long as you are,” her mother says, walking back over to thepool, her footprints turning into steam. “Ever since the wards have gone up, all the dragons have longed for is to be free. If you can grant them their freedom by breeding them on the other side, I don’t see anything wrong with that.” She waits a beat. “So long as you know what the risks are. Brynla might be able to tame them with time, perhaps as well as she has dear Lemi. But that is not a guarantee. And dragons know deep in their blood, passed down through generations, what the humans have done to them. They remember the collective trauma. If you breed these creatures…you best sleep with one eye open.”

Brynla gets to her feet and reaches down, pulling me up. At first I want to brush her off, because I don’t need the help, but suddenly I feel heavy. Terribly heavy, like my legs don’t work anymore and my muscles have atrophied.

“What the fuck?” I swear for the millionth time today, leaning into Brynla.

“You just died, take it easy,” she says, pressing her hand against my chest.

“He’s noticing the effects,” her mother says, looking me over. “It will take some getting used to, not being limitless.”

I frown. “What are you talking about?”

And it’s then that I notice I don’t have great night vision like I did before.

“Some of it will linger,” she says. “You’ll still be stronger than the average man, faster too, perhaps smarter. But it will be nothing like it was before. That was the risk Brynla was willing to take.”

I stare at Brynla for an explanation.

She gives me a wan smile. “In order to bring you back to life, she had to drain your healing suen from your body. I guess the other suen went with it, mostly anyway.” She pauses. “Suen won’t work on you going forward. You’re as normal as I am.”

I blink at her, slowly shaking my head. “You have dragon blood. You’re not normal.” Then the realization hits me in the heart. “I’m not going to be able to heal you.”

“We’ll find another solution,” she says. “It was either this or leave you for dead. And I’m sorry, but I can put up with my pains, especially with help from Steiner’s medicine, as long as I have you in my life.”

“I am sure you will find a healer in good time,” her mother says. “And speaking of time, you should return to your ship. I have a feeling that they’ll come looking for you soon.”

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