Free Sacrifice by Cindy Pon Page B

ever began studying magic under Abbot Wu.”
    “Then how?”
    He lifted his head. “I think … I think it’s because I love her.”
    She recognized the yearning in his eyes. She’d seen it too many times in the sallow-skinned girl reflected back within the bronzed mirror after visiting Lan for the last time. And just as she couldn’t hold that girl’s gaze in the reflection, she couldn’t acknowledge the pain she saw in his.
    The feelings were too close again. Too raw.
    Zhen Ni simply nodded.
    It would have to be enough.

 
    Skybright
     
     
    Skybright began to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, but Stone crouched in one blurred motion and gave her a damp handkerchief, scented with mint. She snatched it from him without a thank-you. The smell of the mint helped to settle her a little. He offered her a hand but she refused to take it, instead pushing herself unsteadily off the cold cobblestones.
    “I will never do that again,” she choked out. “I don’t care how much you threaten to harm others if I don’t obey. If you take such pleasure in killing mortals, do as you please.”
    “But Opal—”
    “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not my mother?” She put on the soft tunic that he gave her, hating that she couldn’t even choose her own clothing. Stone dressed her as if she were an expensive doll. “Why are you so thickheaded?” she snapped as she pulled on the silk paneled dress. He seemed to be able to alter her attire if she were already clothed but could not simply manifest clothes onto her body if she were naked. For that simple thing, she was grateful. If she chose to, she could remain nude—a ridiculous notion—but it offered a sense of control, no matter how slim.
    “He is not dead.”
    “What?” Skybright whipped toward the inert man at their feet. She had been so sickened and horrified by what she had done, her keen senses hadn’t registered that the man was still breathing.
    Stone nudged her victim with his boot. “So badly frightened that he fainted. Lack of air from the powerful squeeze of your serpent coils helped, but you did not hold on long enough to kill him.”
    The man twitched even as Stone was speaking, and she almost fell onto her knees in the narrow alley again from relief.
    “You know he does not deserve to live, Skybright. What sins did you see weighing on his soul?”
    Murder. Theft. Envy. He coveted. But he also felt despair and regret.
    “Perhaps not,” she whispered. “But it is not for me to decide who lives and dies.”
    “Then your gift is wasted,” Stone said.
    “I did not choose my gift. And people can change. They can redeem themselves.”
    Stone straightened, drawing to his full height. She always felt dwarfed beside him when she was in mortal form. He still smelled of rich earth and ancient forest, and she welcomed it over the dank, stagnant odor that surrounded them. The walls seemed to press in, looming.
    “Redemption isn’t for every mortal,” Stone said. “Some souls become so twisted there is no unraveling it. They are compelled to do wrong, to hurt and kill over and over again without remorse. There is no way to change them. They do not want changing. Their spirits cannot be cleansed.” His dark gaze flicked over to the crumpled man at their feet. “You’ve been attached to the mortal world for too long—mired with their mores and sensibilities. You have to understand the valuelessness of human lives. They are replaceable. Life chews them up, they get spat in the underworld to pay their dues, then they come back again. Not always wiser.”
    “You think the worst of mortals. But for every shadowed soul I saw, there was one that glowed brightly. The human spirit is resilient. It’s strong.” Skybright felt a fervor at her core, a hotness that expanded as she spoke on, careless of what Stone thought. “You say you took me under your wing because of Opal, that you are drawn to me because I am her daughter—but the qualities