Four Ruined Realms

Aeri and Sora go back to the inn, and Aeri tips the carriage driver enough to forget them. They go to her room, where Sora notices a small owl on the windowsill. Aeri says that she found the owl in her room when they checked in. She’s been feeding it, made a nest for it, and named it Dia. Aeri gives the owl some food that she took from the banquet.

Sora explains that Daysum was sold to a brothel. Aeri remembers how she was supposed to be sold to a brothel after she left home at 12 and how she nearly froze in the cold while escaping. Sora is determined to make Seok suffer, and Aeri swears that she will help. Dia warns them that someone is coming.

Mikail wakes Euyn to tell him about the zaybears, a mother and her three children, who are now chasing their sled. Euyn takes out his crossbow. Royo suggests that they ride the califers to escape, which will be faster than riding in the sled. Euyn suggests cutting one califer free to distract the zaybears so that they can escape. Mikail tries to cut one of the califer’s harnesses but is thrown from the sled when they hit a bump.

Euyn jumps out of the sled to save Mikail. He kills one of the zaybears with a single arrow, and his second shot wounds another. The mother zaybear rushes at Euyn and Mikail. Euyn shoots and hits her shoulder. He decides to sacrifice himself to save Mikail because he loves him. Mikail grabs Euyn, and Royo jumps out of the sled and hits the mother zaybear with a throwing axe. This gives Euyn time to reload and shoot the animal. One of her children mourns her, shocking Euyn before he kills it as well.

When the men look around, the sled and the califers are gone. Mikail is surprised that Euyn was about to sacrifice himself, and Euyn thinks about his love for Mikail. Euyn wonders if Mikail would still love him if all his secrets were revealed.

Aeri describes her escape plan, but Sora is unable to pay attention. Instead, she thinks about how she should have killed Tiyung to hurt Seok. She wonders if life is worth living now that Daysum is an indentured servant.

Aeri drags Sora down the servant’s staircase. In the basement, Sora knocks over some barrels and boxes, and Aeri gives her a nasty look. Sora pays more attention to where she is going.

When they get outside, Sora tells Aeri to leave her behind. Aeri refuses, saying that Sora and the others are her chosen family. When Aeri mentions that Seok is with the guards chasing them, Sora snaps out of her reverie. She internally vows to torture and kill Seok and then runs with Aeri to the stables. As Aeri steals two winter horses, Sora notices that Dia is following them. When Aeri and Sora mount their horses, they see that the inn is on fire and ride away.

The three men catch up to their sled when the califers stop to graze. They board the sled and resume their journey. When they arrive at the frozen lake, under which the Temple of Knowledge is located, the men arm themselves. Euyn suggests that they follow a priest into the temple.

Royo wonders how Aeri and Sora are doing, but Mikail isn’t concerned. Royo notices that Euyn and Mikail are less tense around one another, but he doesn’t believe that he can move on from betrayal like they can. As they approach the lake, Royo sees someone following them. Euyn aims his crossbow at the person, but then Royo recognizes Aeri.

Royo tackles Euyn to keep him from accidentally shooting Aeri, and his arrow falls near Sora’s feet. The men are surprised to see the women, who rode all night without stopping, still in their fancy gowns. Aeri explains that they ran into Seok at the banquet. Mikail notices the dress boots that the women are wearing and insists that they all go to the warming hut.

Inside the hut, they build a fire. Mikail takes off Sora’s boots, and Royo takes off Aeri’s boots and massages her frozen feet. When Aeri sleepily touches Royo, he pulls away, which upsets her. Mikail shows Aeri the key from Zeolin’s office and explains that it probably opens the temple door. Sora says that Zeolin mentioned ice fishing and warming huts, which could be connected to him having the key. Euyn thinks it’s a trap.

Mikail notices someone out on the lake. Euyn looks and confirms that it’s a priest. The group follows him until he suddenly disappears from their sight.

Mikail and the others approach the spot where the priest disappeared, but they don’t see a door or a hole in the ice. Aeri notices that the key is made of veritite and explains to the others that veritite reveals other stones made of the same material. She uses the key to reveal a door in the frozen lake’s surface but can’t turn the key in the lock. Mikail can’t, either. Royo tries the key, and the door opens to a flight of stairs leading downward.

Mikail momentarily worries that Aeri is setting them up but decides that she is not. They go down the stairs, and at the bottom, they find the entrance to the Temple of Knowledge. Fish swim around the glass dome that surrounds the temple, and the water is held back by magic.

As Mikail opens the door to the temple, he thinks about how he regrets not telling Sora that he knew Seok was in Khitan.

Sora thinks about how she would have become a priest if she were a man and how Daysum would have loved the temple. She and Royo kneel once inside, and Aeri follows their lead. Mikail and Euyn don’t kneel. As they go further into the temple, they discover that the priests inside have been murdered.

Tiyung realizes that the food Zahara gave him wasn’t poisoned; it was merely too rich. For several days, he waits for her to return. When she finally does, she gives him more food and tells him that she knows he isn’t lying to her. He asks about Sora, and Zahara says that Sora is alive and that Seok is in Khitan. Tiyung has no idea what his father is planning.

Zahara offers to bring food, paper, ink, and a light if Tiyung shares what he knows. She heard that Joon ordered Tiyung’s death, but it is supposed to look like an accident. When Tiyung murmurs Sora’s name, Zahara realizes that he’s in love with Sora. He tells Zahara how Sora’s father refused to sell her into indentured servitude, even after Seok threatened him and his family.

The group goes to the temple library, where Royo asks how they are going to find information about the exceptions to the Rule of Distance among the many texts. Aeri suggests that they ask the priest they saw enter the temple, who must be the only one left alive. They find the priest, whose name is Luhk, and Mikail asks him for help. Luhk says that he will help them find the right books if they help him release the nine dead priests’ souls by burning their corpses.

The men take the corpses upstairs and outside while the women look through the books that Luhk selects, both about the exceptions and about the relics that King Joon is trying to collect. Sora and Aeri start reading, but some of the texts are in languages they don’t understand.

After the men bring all nine corpses to the lakeshore, Mikail suggests cutting up the warming hut and using its wood to create a fire. Euyn notices that Mikail is being distant again and wonders why, but he vows to protect him. Euyn sees Aeri’s owl in the sky, but no enemies.

Luhk prays over the corpses and then sets them on fire. When the ritual is complete, the men go back into the temple. Aeri explains that she and Sora can’t understand the books, and Mikail offers to translate for them. Aeri discovered that using multiple relics together causes the user to become powerful and merge with god. Joon already has two relics.

Mikail translates that one exception to the Rule of Distance is bringing an egg stolen from an amarth, a huge creature that is a cross between a human and a bird, to Queen Quilimar. The other exception is bringing the head of Staraheli, a dead Marnan king, to Quilimar. Aeri understands wanting the head of an enemy, but not a bird’s egg. Eyun explains that eating the egg helps counteract how the relics “pull life out of the wearer” (166).

Mikail says that the closest amarth nest is in the Light Mountains and that Aeri and Royo should be the ones to collect it. The others will go to the Marnan ice caves to find Staraheli’s head. Afterward, they will meet at an inn called The Revelry in Vashney, a city in Khitan. Makail explains that they should do it this way because their different skills, which will aid them in these tasks, are the reason why Joon selected them to obtain the Golden Ring. Luhk reveals a scroll that says that Quilimar can’t wield the ring.

Royo dislikes that they are splitting up; he doesn’t want to be alone with Aeri. He fears that he won’t be able to resist his attraction to her but is still angry at her for hiding her royal background. He overhears Euyn and Mikail arguing about killing Luhk. Euyn believes that Luhk should be killed because he knows their plans, but Mikail refuses. Mikail wins the argument.

Luhk walks them out, telling them that the temple is his home and that he will die protecting it if more killers arrive. He won’t abandon what he loves just for survival. This makes the group think about how they have abandoned people they love. Luhk also explains that only people with “keeper blood” can use the key. This means that someone in Royo’s family was a Keeper (a guardian of a sacred relic or location), as he was the only one who could open the door.

Aeri and Royo check into the first inn they see, but the innkeeper doesn’t speak Yusanian, and they don’t speak Khitanese. She gives them one room instead of two, which upsets Royo. The room is small, which amuses Aeri, and she tries to bring up a happy memory of them, but Royo doesn’t respond. He does, however, give her some clothes to wear and leaves the room while she changes out of her gown.

When he comes back, he laughs at how oversized his clothes are on Aeri. When she climbs into bed, Royo remains standing and explains that he’s angry because Aeri lied to him. Aeri replies that he wasn’t honest about killing his girlfriend (in the previous novel), and his expression causes her to believe that he didn’t. Aeri asks why Joon and Bay Chin would claim that Royo killed his girlfriend, and Royo doesn’t know. Aeri apologizes.

Royo gets into bed, and Aeri apologizes again for lying to him. Royo makes her promise that she won’t lie again. Aeri falls asleep quickly, savoring being next to him.

Mikail, Euyn, and Sora decide to travel to Loptra to get Sora new clothes and supplies. During the journey, Sora lays down in the sled, which Mikail repaired. Mikail thinks about how Euyn has changed over their journey; however, he still doesn’t think that Euyn would be a good ruler. He decides that Tiyung might be a good king if he survives prison, but to make Tiyung king, Joon must be killed. Seeing Euyn looking at him, Mikail wonders if Euyn will still love him if he installs someone else as king.

As they are making their way through the mountains, Mikail hears an avalanche above them.

Royo wakes up while cuddling Aeri. He believes that her apology was sincere and enjoys looking at her in his shirt. The owl Dia arrives at the window, and Royo thinks it’s odd that Aeri has an owl friend. Aeri wakes up and changes back into her gown. She tells him that she wants to sell one of her diamonds to buy new clothes.

At a gem house, Aeri haggles with the shopkeeper and gets 3,000 marks for the stone. Royo asks to hold some of the money, and Aeri gives almost all of it to him. He is shocked that she trusts him and thinks about how he might kill her if she lies to him again. They look for a tavern where they can get some breakfast.