Chapter Twelve

Neema limps back to the Raven palace amid public scorn after her humiliation at Colours. She removes her finery, faces the loss of position and community, and instructs Benna to sell her now-tainted dress to Grace Eliat for whatever can be salvaged. Resolved to beg Gaida for mercy to keep her Raven name, she fears any misstep will further doom her.

As she waits for her scalding bath to cool, Neema retrieves her secret solace: an enchanted volume, Tales of the Raven, which she once found while trapped overnight in the imperial tombs. She recalls how the book seemed sentient and protective, resisting surrender and appearing unbidden, a clandestine companion despite the dangers of Dragon magic.

The book opens to a vision and tale: Empress Yasthala discovers her murdered husband, Eyart Just, beneath an oak. Confronting the Raven Guardian, she demands Eyart’s return, then nearly chooses death herself until the Raven’s vision shows catastrophe if she leaves—civil war, her sons’ deaths, and a forced Guardian Return. Choosing duty, Yasthala instead names and curses the humble murder weapon, Hurun-tooth: the next life it takes will summon the Eight in blood and fire. Though warned, she compels the Raven to seal the curse and later reframes the blade as a “Blade of Peace,” a burden for the Tigers to guard.

Startled as the book seems to address her directly, Neema bathes, briefly soothed, then prepares to beg Gaida once the afterparty ebbs. But the book reappears on her pillow and insists on one final page, showing the Awakening Dragon of the Last Return—matching the throne room ceiling. Overwhelmed by sensory intensity and a rising, irresistible compulsion, Neema fixates on the painting.

In a trance-like urgency, all agitation narrows to a single command: go to the throne room now. Neema descends from her platform, crosses her rooms and garden, and sets off, driven by the book’s alarming insistence.