Of course, it was still possible for her to keep silent and accept coronation as Lady of Toryn herself. Ashlyn felt a pang of guilt at the thought- but she knew that if it came to that, Aik would stand by her. Aaron, on the other hand, would be furious that she’d made him fly all the way to Cosmea and back for nothing. She’d have to come up with a good story to pacify the old pilot.
She looked down at the letter, and wondered what to say to Vargo. She missed him terribly, but there wasn’t much to say to him that would make their situation any better.
She crossed out Vargo and wrote Drake instead, then rolled her eyes at her silliness and crumpled the paper into a ball. She wouldn’t know where to send a letter for Drake even if she did write one, and if she did know where to send it, she was pretty sure the vampire wouldn’t appreciate seeing Vargo’s name crossed out before his.
Ashlyn busied herself with getting ready for the coronation ceremony. She meticulously combed her hair, brushed her teeth, and scrubbed her face with cold water, trying to put some color into her pale cheeks. She was so nervous she couldn’t bear the thought of trying to eat breakfast, so she chewed on a sprig of mint from her father’s tiny indoor herb garden instead.
Ashlyn knelt beside the tiny pots, touching one bright green bay leaf. They were out of season, but indoors it didn’t matter much. Restlyn had obviously been doting on the little plants. That was one thing Ashlyn would never have been able to handle- she had a black thumb, or whatever the opposite was of a green thumb, and no plant stayed alive for longer than a few weeks under her care.
Restlyn stepped into the room, sliding the door shut behind her. She wore a pale blue, knee-length dress with short sleeves, in defiance of the cold weather outside. “Are you ready?” she asked. She had the ceremonial kimono and its obi draped over one arm.
Ashlyn stared dubiously at the brightly-colored kimono. “Restlyn, I…” She trailed off. Could she do it? Give up ladyship of Toryn to Restlyn? Surrender her birthright- on her birthday, no less?
Why should I have to? she thought suddenly, a burst of anger unfurling in her gut. She had trained for leadership, she had suffered her father’s mood swings while Restlyn had left, run off to join Skye in fighting Lord Angelo. Restlyn had a tavern to go back to, a business she’d started herself and was proud of. What did Ashlyn have?
I have my birthright. That’s it. If I give that up, I’ll have nothing.
“I’m ready,” she said finally, and her heart did a somersault, lodging somewhere in her throat.
She left her clothes on as Restlyn slipped the kimono over her shoulders. Ashlyn stared at herself in the mirror. She was completely swallowed in the huge kimono, the sleeves reaching well past her fingertips, the hem pooling at her feet. Restlyn bunched up the kimono under the obi as she tied the elaborate sash so that at least Ashlyn could walk, but without a tailor there was nothing they could do about the sleeves.
“Is Aaron back yet?” Ashlyn asked quietly as Restlyn tied her sneakers for her.
“Not yet. That’s a long trip, Ash. I don’t think he’s gonna make it in time.”
It was fate then, wasn’t it? If Aik didn’t get here with the proof, there was no way the Toryn people would accept Restlyn as the new Elder Heir. Ashlyn closed her eyes briefly, every fiber of her being telling her to go through with coronation, to claim the birthright she’d fought so hard to keep.
Her gaze was blurred with tears when she stepped outside, the sun bright on her face, giving her an excuse to lower her chin and avoid meeting the gaze of the people lining the path to the pagoda.
Restlyn followed, keeping at Ashlyn’s left and just a few steps behind, carrying the book of naming. It was required for the ceremony and its presence was nothing out of the ordinary, but Ashlyn was suddenly terrified that Restlyn would open it and see what Lord Li’s name had been before his coronation.
She lifted her eyes briefly as they approached the pagoda, seeing an unknown Toryn man standing there beneath the gazebo in the courtyard. There were no lesser lords available for coronation, and Lord Li had already passed on, so presumably Restlyn had found a descendant of a lesser lord to complete the ceremony. Ashlyn had no idea. She had done none of the planning, taken on none of the responsibilities of leadership over the last several weeks.
He took her hand as she approached, and bowed low, addressing her in Amato-style Toryn as he helped her up onto the small platform. Normally Ashlyn had no problems translating the slight differences in dialect between the various clans, but today she struggled to focus. As he began speaking to the people, his words ran together until it was a ceaseless droning in her ears, rattling around in her brain and making her want to scream.
A month ago, when FLD had told her that Lord Li had selected Devlyn as his successor, she’d felt…relief? Definitely not disappointment. Over the years she’d convinced herself that becoming Lady of Toryn wasn’t something she was interested in. But the last month had made her realize just how badly she’d wanted to be that girl, the girl who was capable of leading her people, who put others before herself.
Ashlyn looked around, seeing Restlyn, Skye, the people of Toryn- all watching her. Expecting her to be a capable leader, to bring Toryn back after Kou had run it into the ground.
The words being recited now were the words that she’d always known she would hear sooner or later. As much as she’d dreaded these words and even gone to great lengths to avoid them, there had been a place in her heart where she’d kept them, memorized them, looked forward to hearing them- when she was ready to become Lady of Toryn.
But it was a lie. She would be living a lie.
I would hate to see your spirit broken by the burden of deception.
“Wait,” she said softly, then repeated it again, louder this time. “Wait.”
The word escaped her lips almost of its own accord. Almost immediately, there was a steady rumble of engines in the distance. Ashlyn’s throat tightened. Aaron had made it back in time after all.
The man who was speaking, the man she’d never seen before in her life, stopped talking and gave her a confused look. “Lady Li, is something wrong?”
She blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears from falling. “Yes, something is wrong.”
The engines grew louder, and she glanced over as the dust just inside the gate began to stir. The airship was landing. Slowly it descended, turning slightly as it touched down, the hatch facing her. The engines cut off.
Ashlyn’s gaze met Restlyn’s. The older girl’s eyes were the color of polished copper, a combination of bronze and ebony. Cosmean and Toryn. Right now those eyes were wide with confusion.
“I’m not your Elder Heir,” Ashlyn said, cold fingers clenching around her heart as she spoke. She turned to look out at her people, all gathered to watch her coronation. “I’m not even a Li.”
“Ashlyn,” Skye said urgently, standing up and moving closer. He extended a hand. “Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else.”
She ignored him. “My father is Lord Li, that much is true. He accepted me as his daughter and raised me accordingly. But his marriage to my mother, Susyn, was a deception. It was not legally binding. It was a lie.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she paused, looking out at her people. Their expressions were a combination of frustration and wariness. The last thing she wanted to do was let them down, but this was the right thing to do- the only thing to do.
Aik was descending the ramp from the airship, the black case dangling from his mouth. Ashlyn cleared her throat, and continued, her voice clear and unwavering. “It was a lie because my father was already married. He’d been married for several years to the Chief of Cosmea, Abinitio Redhorse.”
Restlyn was standing now, her skin pale, her hands twisting the front of her dress nervously.
“What do you mean?” the Toryn man beside Ashlyn asked. “There is no Elder Heir?”
Ashlyn shook her head. “No, there is an Elder Heir. Restlyn Li, my adopted sister, is the daug
hter of that union. Her mother was Abinitio Redhorse, and her father was Lord Li. She is the Elder Heir, and the rightful Lady of Toryn.”
The Toryn people exploded into a frenzy of shouting and wailing.
“She’s an abomination!” someone yelled out. “Only half-Toryn!”
“There is no proof!” someone else screamed.
Aik leaped up onto the platform and set the case down beside Ashlyn. “I have it,” he said breathlessly. “I have everything. It was in the basement, just like you said it would be.”
The rumbling of the people’s protests had reached a fever pitch now, and Ashlyn hurriedly knelt, pushing her sleeves up so she could open the case. “I have proof!” she exclaimed, reaching in and pulling out the sheaf of parchment. “I have proof to show you that she is the Elder Heir!”
The commotion quieted somewhat, and Ashlyn looked at the first document. It was a marriage certificate.
“In the book of naming,” she said loudly, trying to keep her voice calm and level, “my father’s birth name is shown.” She stepped over the case, nearly tripping over the folds of her kimono, and took the book of naming from the Toryn man who was standing on the platform with her. She tilted it open awkwardly, flipping through the pages.
“Here it is!” She held up the book. “Lord Li’s name, right above mine. Restyn Asheron Hiroyuki Li, known only as Lord Li upon his ascension. And here-“ she held up the stack of papers- “is the marriage certificate for Restyn Li and Abinitio Redhorse, dated twenty-five years ago. They were married in Cosmea.” She handed the book back to the confused Toryn beside her, and shuffled through the papers, pulling out Restlyn’s birth certificate- her original birth certificate, the one with Lord Li’s name on it. “This is the record of Restlyn’s birth! You will see that Lord Li’s name is clearly indicated as her father.”
An eerie silence settled over the crowd, and Ashlyn took a deep breath, wondering if she’d convinced them. Perhaps they were simply as reluctant to believe it as she had been.
Restlyn had gone completely white, and was standing silently beside Skye, who was (as usual) oblivious to her emotional turmoil, focusing only on Ashlyn.
The silence stretched on. Ashlyn swallowed hard. “This means,” she said, and her voice wasn’t so confident anymore, “that Restlyn is the one who should ascend the pagoda today. Not me. I’m…” She met Restlyn’s eyes, and looked away, unable to bear the pity that she saw there. “I’m not a Li.”
Still, there was silence.
“Those documents could have been forged,” the Toryn man beside her said finally. “It would take some time to review them.”
“For who to review them?” Ashlyn responded incredulously. “I am the Elder Heir- or…I was, until I realized that position was Restlyn’s. Regardless, there is no one who is in authority over the Elder Heir, and it’s either Restlyn or me, no matter how you look at it. She has been serving as interim Lady of Toryn for weeks now, and no one had any complaints about that! What else could I possibly show you to prove…” She stopped, realizing something, and began to yank at the obi around her waist. “Wait a minute. I know how to prove it, once and for all.”
The elaborate sash stubbornly refused to give, however, and Ashlyn’s breath hissed out between her teeth.
“Hang on,” Skye said beside her, and he produced a dagger, slicing deftly through the sash so that it fell in heavy ribbons around her feet. Ashlyn didn’t stop to consider that he’d just ruined a garment that had been in her family for generations- she was scrambling to reach into the pocket of her shorts.
She produced the green shift stane. “This!” she crowed victoriously, holding it aloft. “This is the last shift stane in existence. Now you all know very well that only someone whose veins flow with the blood of the Li clan is able to wield shift.” She motioned to Restlyn, holding out her hand to help the older girl onto the platform. “Turn around, Restlyn.”
“You’ve all seen the marks, the scarred veins that come as a side effect of injecting with Li blood and using the magic,” she shouted, grabbing Restlyn’s right arm and holding it up. “Look at her arms! They’re clean!”
“Ash,” Restlyn whispered, a warning in her soft tone as she turned to face the other girl. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Ashlyn pressed shift into Restlyn’s hand. “I know exactly what I’m doing,” she said, looking into her sister’s eyes. “Use it, Restlyn. You’re always telling me everything happens for a reason. Maybe shift is here to prove that you’re the Lady of Toryn.”
Restlyn looked down at the green gem. “I don’t know…”
“Do it,” Ashlyn said firmly, and stepped back, nearly tripping over the too-long kimono in her haste.
Restlyn took a deep breath. She looked at Ashlyn, then over at Skye before closing her eyes. The stane began to glow in her hand.
In a split-second, faster than Ashlyn had ever seen anyone shift before, Restlyn was changing into a wolf, her blue dress ripping to expose coarse, silvery fur, her beautiful face morphing into a long muzzle with razor sharp teeth.
There was a collective gasp from the people of Toryn, and some of them drew back in fear.
Wolf-Restlyn looked up at Ashlyn, and there was unmistakable sorrow in her yellow eyes. She knew what this admission had cost Ashlyn.
“You’ve seen it now,” Ashlyn said loudly, and her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “She is Li. I have shown the documents proving that she is Elder Heir, and she has now quieted all lingering doubts that she may not share Li blood.” Ashlyn shrugged out of the kimono and walked to the wolf, laying it gently over Restlyn’s furry shoulders, and straightened up to face the people. “Restlyn Li will be Lady of Toryn.”
Restlyn changed back in the blink of an eye, her hair hanging in her eyes as she crouched on the ground. After a long moment, she pushed her arms through the sleeves of the kimono, concealing her nakedness as she climbed to her feet.
Ashlyn turned to the Toryn man who had been officiating. He stood there slack-jawed, completely dumbfounded by what he’d seen. “You will proceed with the coronation, then?”
He glanced at Ashlyn, and his expression changed slightly. There was a leering gleam in his eyes. “I will,” he said, speaking low enough so that only she could hear. “Drago forgive me if I’d allowed an illegitimate to ascend.”
Skye put a hand on Ashlyn’s shoulder, turning her towards him as he fixed the shorter man with a stare. “Would you care to repeat that, sir?”
The Toryn man said nothing as he glared at the swordsman. Restlyn cut in between them, one hand clutching her kimono shut, and held out the shift stane. “I want it destroyed,” she said. “It’s the last one. I want it gone- I want this magic erased forever.”
Skye took it from her, and stepped off the platform. He motioned to the Toryn people to step back.
Ashlyn picked up several pieces of the sliced obi from the ground and approached Restlyn. “Here,” she said, knotting two pieces together. “It won’t look great, but at least I can help you keep your kimono shut.”
She kept her head down, silently swallowing her sobs and remaining firmly focused on the sash as Skye struck the stane with the hilt of his sword, crushing the gem with the force of his blow.
Chapter Nine
Return to Me
The early evening air was fresh and crisp, the chill turning Ashlyn’s cheeks pink as she trudged up the hill towards Cosmea. Suki followed placidly behind her, pausing occasionally to lip up a rare bit of sparse yellowed grass from the otherwise barren landscape.
The sun was just beginning to sink behind the horizon, changing the sky into a stunning flurry of color, pinks and golds and deep reds that perfectly matched the surrounding mountains. Sunset in Cosmea was unmatched anywhere else in Kresmir. Ashlyn paused to admire the view, absently taking off her thick winter gloves and stuffing them into her pockets. She was cold, and her feet were tired, but it felt good to be traveling, unhurried and with no particular destina
tion in mind.
It had been just over a month since that fateful night when she’d left Endro and headed for Storim. Physically, she was unchanged- well, except for a fresh batch of scars.
Inside though, she felt years older, more confident and yet a little uncertain of where she should be going next. The misguided and lonely girl who had walked out of Endro a month ago was nowhere to be found, but in her place was a young woman who had given up her birthright, her dignity.
She wasn’t exiled from Toryn, but the way that her people had treated her after learning the circumstances of her birth had been…less than cordial. Restlyn, or rather Lady Li, had no qualms about putting anyone in their place over ill treatment of the former Elder Heir, but after a few days Ashlyn had started to feel burdensome. Restlyn had more important things to do as Lady of Toryn than defend her kid sister from bullies.
So Ashlyn had hopped a ride to Industry with Aaron, but of course even there, things were different. She was still highly recognizable as a member of FLD, the rebel group who had saved the sun, and it was also well-known now that Ashlyn’s heritage was questionable. People whispered behind their hands about how, after damning evidence surfaced, the young Toryn been forced to step aside and allow the true Elder Heir to ascend the pagoda.
Cosmea could, perhaps, be a haven from the rumors and gossip. Cosmeans were far too focused on the Landslide Festival right now to pay much attention to a disgraced ex-princess.
A light breeze picked up, sending a chill up Ashlyn’s spine, and she shivered, tucking her scarf more closely around her neck. With the wind came the unexpected scent of cherry blossoms, and she stilled in surprise, inhaling deeply.
She looked around- there were no trees for miles, and cherry blossoms didn’t grow on this continent anyway. How odd.
Suki nickered and bobbed her head enthusiastically, and Ashlyn smiled, rubbing the mare’s velvety nose.
The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy) Page 49