Eona - Alison Goodman [132]
With a quick bow to Kygo, I headed toward Lady Dela. She was leaning against a supply pack slowly eating a dried plum, her fatigue like a heavy cloak across her shoulders. “I have a favor to ask,” I said.
She wiped her mouth delicately with two fingers. “Anything, as long as I don’t have to get up.”
I leaned closer, lowering my voice to a mere breath. “I need you to find out if the folio has the reason why Kinra was executed.”
Dela frowned. “We know why,” she whispered, touching the book bound to her wrist. “For treason.”
I had not told Dela that I believed Kinra had attempted to steal the Imperial Pearl. If it was in the red folio, then she would find it. And if it was not, then she did not have to know. Not yet, anyway. For a moment, I felt an overwhelming urge to tell her the meaning of the Hua of All Men. To share the horror. But she would tell Kygo—that was a certainty—and he would have to protect the pearl.
Unbidden, a terrible thought shivered through me: Emperor Dao had executed Kinra to protect the pearl. Love against power, and power had won.
I needed more time to master Gan Hua. More time to find another way to save the dragons. Then I would tell Kygo everything.
“Yes, we know it was treason,” I said softly. “But I need to know exactly what she did, and why.”
Especially why. I needed proof.
Dela nodded. “I’ll look. There were no specifics in the note at the back, but it might be within the coded sections.” She started to unwind the pearls, then paused. “I did glean another piece of information. At the very beginning of our bargain with the dragons, there were always two ascendant dragons each year, not just one—the male dragon who was in his Ascendant year of the cycle and the Mirror Dragon. She was always ascendant—whether with a male dragon or on her own in the Mirror Dragon year—until she went missing after Kinra’s death.”
Another piece of the puzzle, but where did it fit?
“If she was always ascendant, does it mean that dragon power has been halved since she left?” I mused. “Is that part of the reason why the dragons need to be saved?”
Dela shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said tiredly. “I just decode it.”
“And I appreciate all your hard work.” I clasped her arm in thanks.
As I withdrew, she caught my hand. “You’re upset, and so is Ryko. Has something happened?”
I squeezed her fingers. “Everything is fine.”
I turned to leave, but was stopped by Ryko. “Lady Eona, can I speak to you?”
I was fairly sure it was nothing I wanted to hear, but I allowed him to steer me away from Dela. He led me to the edge of the camp at a careful distance between two perimeter guards.
“What was that?” he demanded. All of his usual stolid composure was gone.
“What?”
He leaned down. “Don’t treat me like an idiot. I know what it feels like to be compelled by you. You have done it to me enough times. And I know you compelled Ido just now, in such a way that”—he pressed his two fists together—“Eona, what have you done?”
Heat rushed to my face. “I did what I had to do,” I said, lowering my voice. “Lord Ido found a way to block my compulsion. I found another way to his will. It is no different.”
“No different?” His long islander eyes held mine. “Do you really believe that? You must know you are playing with fire. You heard what Momo said.”
“Would you prefer that I not have any power over him?”
His chin jutted mulishly. “I would prefer him dead.”
I glared at him.
He conceded with a reluctant tilt