Eona - Alison Goodman [156]
I gripped a carved scroll on the side partition, steadying myself. “His general? I thought you were a simple fisherman, Master Tozay.”
He gave a gruff laugh. “And I thought you were a lame boy with no chance of becoming a Dragoneye. We are all more—and less—than what we seem, Lady Eona.”
I stared into the water swelling and surging around the junk as we cut through its night-dark depths. A pressure was building within me, a need to release the burden of all the secrets and lies. I could tell Tozay everything. I could tell him that the dragon power was ending and that the only way to save it seemed to be the Imperial Pearl. I could tell him that the black folio was on its way to us, and that maybe—hopefully—there was another way within it to save the dragon power that would not lead to Kygo’s death. I could even tell him that the folio could bind Dragoneye power to the will of a king.
“Has His Majesty told you about the portent?” I asked, feeling my way. The slap of the water against the hull was like the beat of a drum.
Tozay nodded. “Do you think your portent is bound in any way to this war?”
“I don’t know.”
He lifted a dismissive shoulder. “Like Xsu-Ree, I do not put much stock in omens or portents. They create confusion and fear where there should be will and control. The ways of gods are for priests to unravel. I believe in strategy and the means to effect that strategy.”
“And I am a means to your strategy,” I said flatly.
He inclined his head. “As I am. As Lord Ido is, as we all are. History does not care about the suffering of the individual. Only the outcome of their struggles.”
“And you will use all the means you have to defeat Sethon?”
Tozay’s gaze did not waver. “To their utmost limits. And, if needs be, beyond.”
I felt a chill at the innocuous word. Beyond. Who decided when beyond stopped? Part of me longed to tell Tozay everything—let him take on the burden of this knowledge and sort through its terrible intricacies and consequences. But another part drew back. Tozay would use everything he had to win, and the black folio had something within its pages that could force me into a beyond that I did not want to imagine.
“What is your answer, Lady Eona? Will you place all your power under his command—under my command?”
I felt the taste of ash rise into my mouth. Yet Kygo and the hope he brought were worth the fight. And maybe even the cost.
“I will, General Tozay,” I said.
He bowed.
May the gods forgive me, I added silently. May they forgive me for agreeing to break the Covenant again, and for not trusting even Tozay with the secret of the black folio.
After my encounter with Tozay, I knew sleep was even more of a vain hope, but I stepped over the lip of the hatch onto the steep stairs that led to my cabin. Below me, in the gloom, a man sat hunched on the bottom step, bald head in hands. Ido’s guard watched him, arms crossed. I trod heavily as I descended, the slap of my sandals twisting the seated man around. He looked up. Not bald—bandaged—and not a man. It was Dela. She stood as I reached the deck, her smile strained.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
I glanced at the guard’s renewed interest and drew Dela back toward the steps that led down to the crew’s quarters. In the soft light of the stair lamp, I saw the reddened edges of her eyes. “Is something wrong? Have you found something bad in the folio?”
“No.” She licked her lips. “I have a favor to ask.”
At the corner of my sight, I saw a shift of shadow on the steps below.
“Of course. What is it?”
“I want you to heal me.” She touched the bandage along her cheek.
“Is it getting worse? Is your jaw locking?”
“No. I am all right.”
“Why do you want me to heal you, then?” I pulled back. “You know if I do, I’ll have your will. Vida says your injury will right itself.”
“I know.” Her voice cracked. “But I still want you to do it.”
“Not if I don’t have to, Dela.”
“Can’t you just do it because I ask? Please.”
“Are you afraid of being disfigured?”
“No, it is not that. “ She angled