The Rebels of Gold (Loom Saga #3)(116)
She had been preparing for this inevitability since her final confrontation with Yveun in the Red Room.
She pressed the gold panel, summoning both Topann and Ulia. By the time the two women reported, Coletta had their tools assembled. One look at them told her all she needed to know. They had heard the news of their new “Dono.”
“Lord Xin now rules.” She did not mince words in life, nor would she in her death. “The great end comes for Rok as we know it.”
Both women kept their eyes downcast. Ulia gave a soft sniffle.
“But we will not go quietly. We will not let all we love be consumed by those we hate.” Coletta smiled at what had been assembled on the table before her. “We will take that from them. We will make sure that for generations to come, the name Rok is whispered, for fear that we will spring up from underneath our falsely appointed rulers and seek our vengeance.”
“What must we do?” Topann’s bravery assured Coletta that she was ready for this mission. So, the harder task would go to her.
“You will take this.” Coletta motioned to the portion of the table covered with poisoned daggers and vials, enough to take down an entire estate. “And kill all those here.”
“My . . . lady?”
Coletta had expected the order to kill her own to be particularly difficult for Topann to stomach. She’d been the most loyal of them all. But it was for that reason that Coletta had chosen her.
“Topann, you will be the only one among us to survive.” Coletta took her flower’s hands in hers, in a reverse of their usual interactions. “You will plant the seeds of Rok’s return. Kill those here, and be the only one to tell the tale. Speak of Loom’s savagery and Xin’s disregard for our ways. Kill them all in the estate and force Rok to rebuild from the ground up in vengeance, in hate.”
There was a brief moment when Coletta thought Topann would refuse, thought she might have to kill the woman and do this most important work herself. But Topann was a warrior, and loyal to her above all else. “I will, my queen. I will unleash every savagery I expect of Loom and Xin on our estate. I will go to the southern cities and tell them of your sacrifices, of the betrayals our house has endured.”
“Good.” Coletta turned, scooping up a separate dagger from the table. “Ulia, sweet Ulia,” she cooed, summoning the girl’s attention. Ulia steeled her watering eyes and pressed her mouth into a line. There was anger there, and anger made for sloppy actions. “You will take this, and give the Tam’Oji our regards.”
Ulia took the dagger, inspecting what little she could see of the blade at the top of the sheath, by the hilt. “Gold?”
“Because he so loves it. Because his loyalty only extended as far as the gold we provided him.”
Ulia’s brow furrowed briefly. Yes, child, Coletta told her silently, I have been planning for this for some time. Granted, in Coletta’s plan, Finnyr would have been the Xin’Oji, and once Xin was stabilized under him then they would turn their efforts onto House Tam, replacing that Oji with someone far more loyal. But plans adapted and changed. The dagger would gain new purpose.
“I will do this.” Ulia took one deep breath that shuddered into stability, and then nodded. She accepted the dagger like it was a boon from a god.
“I bid you both farewell. Topann, any yet living flowers may grow to you.” Coletta dismissed them for one final time.
Topann left promptly with a handful of supplies, as though she could not spare one final look for her soon-to-be-dead queen’s face. But Ulia lingered. She searched Coletta’s posture for answers the Dragon Queen would not allow herself to reveal.
“What will you do?” she whispered.
It was the one time Coletta allowed herself to be questioned, allowed her designs to be known. “If it is chaos the world seeks, then I will see it done.” She took up one final dagger and a handful of vials for herself.
Ulia’s eyes spoke volumes, but only two words fell from her lips. “Thank you.”
Coletta nodded and watched the girl leave. She had done all she could, but it had not been enough. Coletta slung a large pouch over her shoulder and took the last of her supplies.
Perhaps it was not all she could’ve done. Coletta began to wonder as she started from her garden for the last time. Perhaps she should have been the bold and strong Ryu the house had wanted. If she had been, they would have seen her as the Oji now. She could’ve continued to lead the charge with Perfect Dragons. But without Yveun at her side, no one would heed her long enough to see the salvation she could offer them.
As she had been in life, in death, she’d be relegated to the shadows.
Coletta walked through the Rok Estate and down to the Gray Room for the final time. She set free the Perfect Dragons. They would live to be fearsome creatures. Rumors of their feats would bubble to the surface of Nova’s consciousness until they could no longer be ignored.
Then, amid the growing chaos of the Rok Estate, Coletta’Oji took to the skies one final time, charting her course for Ruana.
Cvareh
He could have eaten three more of Yveun’s hearts, and it still wouldn’t have been enough. Cvareh chewed and tore his way through every last bite. He didn’t care much for the taste of Rok blood—even though victory was its own spice—but the magic it brought back to him was essential to merely breathing. His lungs felt in no better state than they had following the Alchemist’s removal of them for Arianna. If anything, they could be worse.