Somewhere in eastern Kin’jal…

  Droplets pelted a worn thatched roof, hammering it with a steady background din that drowned out all other sounds of the forest, worming their way through. The sound of rain was broken only by the occasional rumble of thunder that shook the ramshackle hut’s walls.

  The drops fell onto a disheveled head of oily gold—once bright, now browned and tangled through months of dirt and neglect.

  The blonde girl ignored the rain and barely noticed the cold droplets as they slid down her neck, soaking her ragged shirt, her blue eyes instead fixated on the bracelet she turned absently in her fingers, before letting it drop onto the rickety table that had hosted many meager meals these past weeks.

  The thunder grew louder. The door shot open, revealing two soaked figures who rushed inside—a great, broad man and a slender woman. They threw the blonde girl a worried glance before removing their overcoats, hoisting them on nearby chairs to dry.

  “Is it true?” Princess Tiyana Matali asked, her voice hoarse and broken through lips cracked and bloodied from months of aimless roving.

  “We saw them ourselves,” Vason said gravely. “I believe there can be no doubt. Princess Ira has killed her father and seized control of Kinjal. And the one who supports her…”

  “It’s him,” Tiyana muttered, more a declaration than a question.

  “It would appear so,” Haymi replied. “He has, er, changed since we saw him last.”

  “Significantly,” Vason added.

  “Yes, significantly. Yet there can be no mistaking it. The Demon God is Vir. The Akh Nara, as they call him. They say he has returned from the dead.”

  Tiyana clenched the bracelet and ground her teeth. “Then I must go,” she said.

  “Please, I beg you. Please reconsider,” Haymi cried, falling to her knees. “Look at you!” She pulled out a mirror and held it up. “You’re a hollow shell of the person you once were.”

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  Tiyana almost didn’t recognize the gaunt face staring back. Heavy bags hung under her eyes, her cheeks sagged, and patches of her hair had been torn out. She doubted even her own brother would recognize her as she was.

  “The realm is about to change, Tia,” Vason said, placing a hand on her frail shoulder that had once been strong and broad. “No longer will Kinjal torment Matali. Your brother needs you. Now, more than ever.”

  “He needs me?” Tiyana laughed bitterly. “He needs me? An alcoholic? A slave to opium? Look at me!” She turned to Vason. “What could I possibly do for my country now? I’m nothing. I never was, and I never will be. Not unless I do this.”

  “That’s the alcohol talking,” Vason said, snatching the bottle of mead from the table.

  “And don’t you forget the drugs!” Tia added. “Why don’t we list all my sins, shall we? Abandoning duty. Drowning in drink and smoke. Gambling. Assaulting innocents to steal their coin.”

  Vason and Haymi both winced.

  “Ah, yes. And dragging my best friends into this conspiracy,” Tiyana went on. “Pulling you both down into the ash with me. Admit it. You should have abandoned me long ago. I know I would.”

  “We are sworn to our duty,” Vason said firmly.

  Tiyana lifted her eyes to his. “Unlike me, yes? You can say it. I know what you’re thinking. Unlike me, who abandoned hers to go gallivanting across the world. Who tried to kill one of the only friends she had. Who threw away everything that mattered.”

  A flash of memory pierced her—a black-haired boy, laughing with her around a campfire. Her chest tightened.

  “I’m worthless, and we all know it,” she whispered. “As I am now, I will be of no use to anyone.”

  “So you would walk to your death?” Vason asked.

  “I will not die there,” Tiyana said, her voice trembling. “Vir proved it, didn’t he? There is a way.”

  “Vir is a demon, Tia,” Vason said. “And even he needed this to survive.”

  Tiyana stared at the bracelet, as though attempting to divine its secrets. “As a child, yes. He must have. That’s how he came to this realm in the first place. We know that now.”

  “Yes,” Vason said, “but we don’t know if it will work for humans.”

  Tiyana gazed into his eyes. “There is but one way to find out.”

  Vason exchanged a pained glance with Haymi.

  “If you do this—” Haymi began.

  “I am doing it,” Tiyana said.

  “Then you leave us no choice,” Haymi replied, pulling out a bracelet of her own. Vason did the same.

  Tiyana’s eyes widened. “No! Where did you get those? You can’t—”

  “There were a number of demons who entered this realm when Vir did,” Vason said. “His protectors, I assume. Their Artifacts floated through the black market. No one knew what they did—not until we pieced it together. Still cost us a pretty penny, though.”

  “Everything we had,” Haymi added.

  “Everything…” Tiyana’s heart clenched. Guilt threatened to strangle her. “You would go to such lengths… risk your lives so… for me?”

  Vason sighed. “If you understand you’re condemning us to death, then by all means, feel free not to. But yes. We will follow you. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

  Tiyana smiled faintly, sadness in her eyes. “I suppose I wouldn’t know the first thing about being a good friend. But I will not relent. I beg you to reconsider.”

  “Not happening.”

  “Then we will all go. Into that dark realm—that we may emerge stronger. Born anew.”

  “Or die trying,” Haymi muttered.

  “Yes. Or die trying.”