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will give you what you want. I will make you a knight.”
    “That’s what Dyna wants.”
    She took a step forward, her eyes searching mine, her ruby lips full. “But you stayed.”
    I had.
    Something flickered in the depths of her dark gaze. “You wanted to be here. With me.”
    “Maybe then.” Bile rose in my throat at the truth in that statement. “But not now.”
    “How could that have changed in the span of a few weeks?”
    I shrugged and moved to step around her. I wish I knew.
    Her nails dug into my arm.
    I immediately reached for the power of my Mark, buried deep inside, nestled in a streambed of anger. The black rivers along my arms and neck sizzled. The smell of burning silk filled the air.
    Her mouth opened, her chin raised as she let go and took a step back.
    “I’m not your sky-felled toy, Nix,” I said through clenched teeth. “I will not be played with. You will not break me.”
    “But I will not stop until I have you.” Her eyes shot pure fury. “You may leave me. My sister can even protect you for a mere moment, but I will destroy every—”
    “Enough of this!” I advanced, shoving my face in hers. “When will you learn, spoiled princess, that you don’t always get your way. I will never be yours!”
    Her body quivered as she stared at me. “You were,” she whispered.
    “I was,” I whispered back. “But not now.”
    She held my gaze in a vise-like grip. “I want you back.”
    “I don’t.”
    She grimaced. “What do I have to do?”
    I took a step back. “Give up this idea of war. Forget your need to dominate through vengeance that isn’t even yours to take.” I shook my head, my lips tight. How could I make her understand? “I don’t know why you want me. It’s not because you know who I am.”
    Her mouth opened, paused, then closed.
    “I’m nothing but a thing to you.” My eyes searched the skies as my heart cried to be up there, listening to the creaking rigging, the snap of the sails, the groaning sides of the hull. Sky City was not my home. It was too still, the air too heavy, smelling of metal.
    She invaded the space between us and put her hand on my chest. “I know the man you want to be.”
    I took her wrist and removed it from my body. “No. You don’t. You think I want to be powerful, but you have no idea what you’ve already done to me, how your actions have shaped me. I don’t need power to rise above you.” I took a step back, throwing her hand away from me. “I already am.”
    “You will never be free of me, Synn Primus!”
    “I was never a Primus, Nix,” I shouted over my shoulder as I turned and walked away. “I have been and always will be El’Asim.”
    This time, she didn’t follow.
    I had no idea how Dyna was going to react to me leaving, but she’d told me if I didn’t feel I could do it, I was free to go. I closed my eyes, never slowing down, and opened them again. It felt really good knowing that Sky City would soon be a distant memory, one that I would never have to see again.
    That brought several other questions to the surface. How was I going to get home? I had no way to communicate with the Families, no way of finding them. They were adept at hiding.
    Another thought struck me. What if this was exactly what Dyna had hoped for? That I would want to leave, and then lead the Hands straight to the Great Families.
    I’d just have to find another way.
    Carilyn met me on the pale stone steps to the House of Swords, her arms folded over her chest as she leaned against the wall, a smirk on her face. As my eyes met hers, her shoulders with silent laughter shook and she pushed off the wall.
    The heavy doors opened before us, light streaming into the massive great room. A throne had been brought in, set up on the far end. Did they have multiple uses for this room? I hadn’t remembered seeing it previously.
    Queen Dyna sat on it, her uniform replaced by a state dress of silver and blue layers.
    My hands went numb as I approached.
    Aiyanna