The Jasad Heir

The night before the second trial, Omal hosts a street festival with vendors, sparring matches, and reenactments of the Awaleen’s history. Sylvia buys a leather necklace with a fig pendant. During a dance performance, Sylvia, Sefa, and Marek sneak back to the palace to steal Vaida’s seal ring. Marek seduces a guard while Sylvia and Sefa sneak into Vaida’s bedroom. Sylvia and Sefa discuss Sefa and Marek’s relationship; Sefa doesn’t care that Marek has dalliances with others, as Sefa doesn’t experience romantic attraction. She wants Marek to settle down, but Marek worries that a committed romantic relationship would threaten his loyalty to Sefa. Sefa asks Sylvia pointedly about Arin, and Sylvia finally admits aloud that she’s attracted to him.

Sefa and Sylvia struggle to find the ring, and Vaida and Arin interrupt their search. Sylvia drags Sefa into a wardrobe to hide. Vaida drunkenly tries to seduce Arin before he knocks her unconscious. Arin quickly locates the ring in one of Vaida’s drawers and rolls it in a molding material before putting it back. When Arin leaves, Sefa and Sylvia find the ring in the drawer, but it burns Sylvia’s fingers when she touches it. Arin’s ability to drain magic lets him touch the ring without harm, and Sylvia wonders if her cuffs could do the same. Sylvia balances the ring on her cuff and almost manages to smuggle it out of the room before she hears a strange voice. An ancient entity enters Vaida’s body and gives Sylvia’s a vision of a dark cavern full of primordial magic. The entity tells Sylvia that the seal is only for the Sultanas, then vacates Vaida’s body, which collapses. Sylvia kicks the ring under the dresser and returns to Sefa and Marek.

Sylvia, Diya, and Mehti travel by carriage to Dar al Mansi for the second trial. Dar al Mansi is a village in Omal where Jasadis fled after the Blood Summit and lived until solders from Omal and Nizahl came to kill them. The Jasadis pooled their magic to bring Essam Woods into the village to defend themselves and confuse the soldiers, but it was hopeless. The Champions must kill three creatures and collect trophies from their bodies. Mehti enters first, and when he’s gone, Diya tells Sylvia why she killed her own parents: Diya’s parents sold her sister to the Orbanian khawaga, vicious mercenary border patrol soldiers who returned Diya’s sister’s corpse in pieces. Diya stabbed each of her parents once for each piece of her sister she buried. Sylvia tells her that she hopes Diya’s parents felt each stab, and Diya says she hopes Sylvia survives the second trial, hinting at a burgeoning friendship between them. Diya enters Dar al Mansi, followed by Sylvia.

Sylvia takes two daggers, tucking one into her tunic and one into her boot. She debates between a spear and axe for her third weapon before she hears the shriek of the Al Anqa’a, a massive bird with huge talons. She then sees a nisnas, a creature made of rotting human corpses. Sylvia hacks at the nisnas with the axe, but its body knits back together. Sylvia grabs one of its fingers as a trophy and runs away, taking temporary refuge in a house with a tree growing through it. She looks around, seeing a broken crib, and wonders how desperate the Jasadis must have been to destroy their own village with the forest. An unremarkable man appears and says he can smell Sylvia’s magic. He also claims to have feasted upon the Jasad Heir’s magic after the Blood Summit, which is clearly a lie. The man transforms into a horrifying creature with two bovine legs, eight spider legs, and three heads, and Sylvia recognizes it as t creature called the dulhath. She kills it and takes one of its legs as a trophy.

Sylvia escapes the house only to find Mehti’s corpse surrounded by a zulal, a worm-like creature that sucks the moisture from its victims. Sylvia runs toward the border and stumbles into a man. After a moment, she recognizes him as Dawoud. Sylvia asks if he’s with the Mufsids or the Urabi, and Dawoud denies being in either group. Dawoud reveals that Nizahl captured him three months ago outside Orban and tortured him for information. Sylvia realizes that Vaun planted seeds of doubt in Supreme Rawain’s mind, and he’s sent Dawoud into the challenge as a test: If Sylvia doesn’t kill him, she’ll blow her cover.

The Al Anqa’a attacks them, and Sylvia starts to fight it off, telling Dawoud to run. Dawoud uses his magic to help her, but Sylvia tells him to save it for when he escapes Dar al Mansi. Dawoud questions why Sylvia’s eyes don’t change color when she uses magic, and Sylvia explains that her magic passes through her cuffs. Dawoud seems upset, and Sylvia asks him about his burnt quilt. He confirms what Soraya told her. Dawoud wants Sylvia to kill him, but Sylvia refuses. Dawoud stabs himself in the heart, and Sylvia holds him as he dies, telling him about her life since the Blood Summit. Dawoud reveals that Hanim sent Soraya to work in the palace as part of their plan before Hanim betrayed Soraya. Sylvia begs Dawoud to live, but Dawoud says to die knowing she is alive is more than he could’ve wished for, and he regrets that he stopped searching for her. He dies, and Sylvia holds him until he’s cold.

When night falls, Sylvia carries Dawoud’s corpse to the border of Dar al Mansi. She presents the nisna’s finger, the dulhath’s leg, and Dawoud’s corpse as her trophies, calling Dawoud a monster. Jeru and Wes look horrified, and Diya wraps Sylvia in a quilt. Sylvia returns to her room in the palace, and her overwhelming emotions make her magic explode past the cuffs. She begins to destroy her room until Arin arrives and holds her as she cries. He promises a proper Jasadi burial for Dawoud. Arin makes Sylvia look at him and tells her to run, promising that he won’t chase her.

Sylvia has a moment of clarity: Malik Niyar and Malika Palia were magic miners. Sylvia remembers Niphran warning her about her grandparents taking her magic when she was a child. Magic mining is an old, dangerous myth that no one, except Niphran, talks about. Arin tells Sylvia to never speak of magic mining again or he’ll cut out her tongue. Sylvia promises to never mention it again. She notes that the Mufsids and the Urabi haven’t attacked her again, looking around the destroyed room. Arin sets the room alight and plans to blame a wayward lantern for the damage. Arin says he has another plan.

Sylvia and Arin prepare to depart in an unmarked carriage. Sylvia tells Sefa and Marek to look after Rory, but they insist on coming with her to the third trial in Nizahl. Sylvia thinks Arin asked them to come, but he assures her he didn’t. They simply want to help with the plan Arin devised to lure the Mufsids and the Urabi out during the third trial: Nizahl soldiers, along with Sefa and Marek, spread rumors as they travel that Diya’s health is failing, meaning Sylvia would likely win the Alcalah. They also suggest that the security at the third trial is weaker, meaning it would be easier to get to Sylvia. Sylvia doesn’t think either Jasadi group will fall for it, but Arin is sure they won’t risk the chance of the other group getting to Sylvia first. After days of travel, Sylvia and Arin arrive at the Citadel, which looms large in front of them.

Nizahl is a quiet and sterile kingdom, with no festivals, markets, or celebrations. Sylvia has dinner with Diya in her room, and Diya feels unsettled by Nizahl’s raven symbols. Afterwards, Sylvia cannot sleep. Arin comes to her room to take her for a walk around the grounds. Sylvia questions why he’s not barricaded in his room, and Arin says he’s right where he wants to be. As they walk, Arin points out the various wings of the Citadel. Sylvia compliments his nimwa system, in which the lower villages receive extra food and exemptions from military service. Arin questions how she knows about it, and Sylvia recovers by claiming that Wes told her about it. Sylvia compliments Arin for caring about his people and tells him he’ll make a good Supreme.

Sylvia rides to the arena for the third trial with Jeru, Wes, and Arin. The carriages must stop half a mile away, so Arin walks her the rest of the way in the rain. Diya and Sylvia must consume an elixir that makes them hallucinate, and they must then discern what is real before the quicksand of the arena swallows them. If they cross the barrier that separates them, they then must fight to the death. They drink the elixir, and Sylvia realizes it’s tainted by magic; the Mufsids have taken Arin’s bait to attack, and Soraya corrupted the elixirs.

Sylvia has a vision of Niphran’s murder. In the vision, Hanim has been poisoning Niphran to make it appear that Niphran has a mental health condition, allowing Hanim to become Qayida. Niphran stops imbibing the poison and becomes lucid just as Soraya enters her room. Niphran begs Soraya to spare Essiya, but Soraya refuses, arguing that all the royals must die before the new Jasad can begin. Niphran tries to use her magic to stop Soraya, but Soraya stabs her in the chest. A crash shakes the ground, and Sylvia sees the Mufsids gathered with Soraya as the fortress falls and they realize Hanim betrayed them. Soraya turns and addresses Sylvia directly, saying she wouldn’t have sent Sylvia to the Blood Summit if she knew the fortress would fall. Soraya again says she loves Sylvia, but that love cannot outweigh what must be done.

Sylvia’s vision changes to an impoverished village in Jasad. She watches as soldiers bring a burned, mangled corpse to the door with an insincere apology for the “accident.” Sylvia realizes it’s Soraya’s father’s body, and she pieces together the rest of her memories: Malika Palia and Malik Niyar were magic mining from people. The royals took people from the lower villages and mined their magic, either keeping it for themselves or distributing it to the wealthier Jasadis. Sylvia is horrified, and the vision changes again, this time to Soraya’s attempt on Arin’s life. Arin almost bleeds out as Vaun holds pressure on the wound and Rawain enters, colors in his scepter swirling.

Sylvia tackles Soraya, and Soraya sends Sylvia into her recurrent nightmare, in which Niphran criticizes Sylvia for being in love with Arin. Niphran nearly burns up before Sylvia saves her. The dream fades away, leaving Sylvia and Soraya alone in Sylvia’s childhood bedroom. Sylvia apologizes to Soraya for how they’ve both been pawns in Hanim’s game before grabbing Soraya and overwhelming her with magic.

Sylvia gets ready for the Victor’s Ball alone. Diya remains comatose; during the trial, her unconscious form sank almost entirely into the sand, while Sylvia sank only to her waist. Fifty Mufsids were captured, and Arin found Soraya before she escaped, though her magic was drained, and she died soon after. Sylvia is the Victor, and she is free. She cannot handle her emotions, and before she breaks down, she gives the leather necklace with the fig pendant to Arin. He wears it, and when Sylvia sardonically thanks him for accepting her gift, he tells her that he’s just a man. He kisses Sylvia, and they are nearly intimate before a servant interrupts them.

Arin and Sylvia join the ball, and Sorn is bitter at Sylvia for winning while Diya’s life hangs in the balance. Sylvia sees Sefa’s stepfather, the High Counselor. After Marek confided in Sylvia about his traumatic past, so did Sefa; her stepfather was abusive. Sylvia tells Arin the truth about the High Counselor, and Arin is angry about his behavior. Before he can do anything, guards drag Sefa and Marek into the ball. The guards accuse them of raiding the Victor’s carriages, but Sefa and Marek claim it was the Urabi. The High Counselor recognizes Sefa and calls out to Rawain, who decrees that they must await trial in the dungeons. Sylvia offers to take their place, but Rawain refuses. Sylvia then reveals herself as Essiya, and her magic melts off her cuffs. She sends Marek and Sefa away as she struggles to control her magic with her power unleashed. The Urabi attack and shoot Sylvia with poisoned arrows before using magic to take her away.

After Sylvia disappears, Arin feels emotionally overcome. Vaida taunts him, and he grabs her by the neck until her guards remove him. Rawain apologizes for Arin’s outburst, and Jeru shows Arin the arrows that prove the Urabi took Sylvia. Arin commands Wes to bring soldiers to the upper towns to lie that a thief stole treasures from the Orbanian carriages. He then tells Jeru to find Sefa and Marek. Arin commands the royals in the room to keep Sylvia’s identity a secret, as a Jasadi uprising led by the rightful Heir could lead to outright war. Arin tells the council to gather in the war wing of the Citadel, and he begins to plan.