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But it looked like soup. Thick soup, bubbling slightly with the color and density of black sesame paste.
“The blood of stars is the source of the greatest magic in Lor’yan,” Bandur was saying. “The greatest that mortals can attain, anyway.” He cracked a wide, feral smile. “Within its well is the power of the gods, where oaths are made and bonds are broken. But we won’t be needing its power today.”
I went cold all over again. “What are you talking about?”
“The pearl, Shiori. Your promise was fulfilled the moment the Wraith laid eyes on it. Your bond to the pearl is broken—it no longer protects you.”
Dread curdled in my throat. I couldn’t speak.
“Don’t believe me?” He swept his hand across the sky, as if indicating the pearl’s absence. “Where is it now, when you need it most?”
Nowhere. The pearl was nowhere.
“That can’t be,” I whispered. “Khramelan hasn’t taken it.”
“As I told you before, the guardian of Lapzur has long succumbed to weakness and obsolescence. Even his own pearl doesn’t recognize him. It doesn’t want him. It is free to choose a new keeper.”
“You’re deluded if you think that’ll be you.”
“While you and the Wraith live, I do have some competition,” Bandur admitted. “But once again, the solution is an exquisite gift of fate.” He licked his lips. “Your soul is strong and bountiful, Shiori’anma. One of the finest I’ve ever smelled. It will sustain my army and give us the strength we need to slay a dragon.” His voice rose as my heart sank. “And once you and Khramelan are dead, the pearl will be mine, along with the demons of Lapzur. We will be free.”
Revelation punched me in the gut. “You wanted to come to Lapzur! You…you planned this?”
“Guilty,” Bandur purred. “I even left you my amulet at the front of the breach so you’d be sure to find it. You really ought to thank me.” He sneered. “My only regret is leaving your Kiatan demons to languish in the mountains. They were such hospitable hosts. It pained me to lie to them. But they were so desperate, so willing to believe anything I told them. Like you.”
A shot of anger seized my muscles, and I struggled against my chains, trying to strike the demon.
“One little vision in the waters, and you were almost ready to give the pearl in exchange for the sentinel’s life. I never understood what you saw in him, Shiori. But since you seem to value his life so highly…”
He jerked his chin at the demons standing guard behind him. “Find the sentinel and kill him. The cranes too.”
“No!” I cried. “You made an oath, you—”
Bandur leaned close. “A word of advice,” he said darkly. “Next time you make a bargain with a demon, be sure to seal it with your soul.”
Hatred boiled out of me, and I convulsed, twisting with all my might. But I couldn’t even touch Bandur. So I spat.
Bandur didn’t flinch as my spittle dribbled down his cheek. “No need to rile yourself, Shiori. I kept my promise to you—you will still bleed.” He seized my hand while I struggled and slowly, reverently, turned it palm up. “After all,” he said as his nail skated deep across the veins in my arm, “nothing agitates the soul like pain.”
Blood pooled bright against my skin. It ran in a thin river at first, staining the yellow trim of my sleeves, before branching off into little streams that trickled down my arm. My knees buckled as it rushed out of me, and the world swayed. Focus. I crushed my jaws together. Focus, Shiori.
“Always so good at keeping silent,” said Bandur. “Don’t be afraid to cry. There is no shame in agony.”
I wouldn’t give him the pleasure. My body hurt like demonfire, but I was used to holding in my voice. Used to holding in the pain too. Khramelan! I shouted in my mind. Where are you?
Bandur dragged his nails against the stone wistfully. “It’s rather poetic, don’t you think? I came here once to consume the blood of stars. My passage here marked the end of one life and the beginning of another. So it shall be for you.”
My blood started to spill faster. It fell in swirls of crimson, spinning off like raindrops to the bottom of the well. Then Bandur hooked a claw into my heart—as Lady Solzaya had done once—and plucked out a strand of my soul. As it stole out of me, like a thread unspooling, my body began to shimmer silver and gold. One strand multiplied into dozens, spiraling down and down until I could see the darkness beneath begin to churn.
Bandur beckoned the demons closer, waving the strands of silvery gold in their direction. “Drink. Take her strength, and wield it against your former guardian. Once he is dead, I will free you all, and we shall take the world for our own. Let this be your last hour on this accursed island!”
Their growls went silent, and that was the most chilling sound of all. My eyes rolled back, and I held on to whatever reserves of strength I had left. I wouldn’t give up without a fight.
“Her soul is too tough,” the demons complained. “It won’t cut.”
“Then bite harder!”
The chain of Bandur’s amulet rattled over the well, but I was too weak to even reach out for it. All I could do was whisper, “Khramelan. Khramelan.”
