I reluctantly followed her and we slipped out into the hall. All was quiet inside the house but there was commotion in the yard. We strolled to the door and discovered dozens of men, some in uniforms and others from the citizenry, creating a pile of rusted weapons from the battlefield. The mound was taller than I was and three times as wide, and more people were coming through the gates with their arms full.

  The king stood at the top of the stairs and surveyed the busy work. Lujun stood at his side. The short sword he had taken from the field was still tucked in his belt.

  Pangberan half-turned at our arrival and looked us over. “How fares Lord Eastwei?”

  “He’ll be fine after a rest,” Grandmother assured him as she sauntered up to his side. She clasped her hands behind her back and surveyed the scene. “So they’ve been found.”

  He returned his focus to the work at hand and nodded. “So it seems. The men still had all their weapons. We’re leaving behind those the wolves carried. They can dig through those of their own dead.”

  Her eyes fell on the short sword tucked into Lujun’s belt. “Isn’t that the sword your brother bore?”

  The stoic general’s lips tightened and his hand fell on the hilt of the weapon. “It is.”

  She closed her eyes and hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

  Lujun shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize. He made his choice and I settled with his decision long ago.”

  My heart fell as I realized the importance of that weapon to the general. No wonder he’d been so keen to know where I found it. That meant the figure I had fought had been his brother. I bowed my head and clasped my hands together, and a silent prayer passed my lips.

  I hope those people are finally resting in peace.

  “Anna.” The stern voice of the bear king made my eyes shoot open and I whipped my head up. The trio were staring curiously at me and I tried not to shrink from those imposing gazes. “Come with me.” He strode past me and into the house.

  I cast a desperate silent plea to Grandmother. Her answer was to glare at me and jerk her head after the retreating figure of the king. I would receive no help from that quarter.

  I warily followed the king. He led me to the first door on the left, an impressive wooden structure with carvings of bears fighting wolves and birds. The king opened the door and gestured inside. “Step in here.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and obeyed his instructions. The space turned out to be a study, though the decor was less scholarly and more hunting-focused. The walls were covered in weapons as I had seen in Lord Kang’s lodgings but with the addition of furs of every type of animal I could imagine, and many I couldn’t. A hearth interrupted the decor and a fire crackled in its maw.

  He guided me over to a hulking wooden desk with high-backed chairs. The king took up the larger one behind the desk while he used a hand to gesture to one opposite him. “Sit down.”

  I eased myself onto the stiff leather that covered the seat and set my hands in my lap. My fingers ached to fidget with one another but I suppressed the urge by pressing my open palms against my legs.

  Those striking yellow eyes of his examined me with a keen gaze. “I haven’t inquired into your abilities as you are my guest, but I feel after this night that I must know of what you’re capable.”

  I blinked at him. “What I’m capable of?”

  He nodded past me and in the direction of the Tianfeld. “It was a strong magic that stirred those restless souls to action, and it was a strong magic that sent them to their rest. I’ve heard from my son that it wasn’t Prince Yushir or Lord Eastwei who did it. That leaves only you.”

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  Some of the color drained from my face and I furiously shook my head. “I-it couldn’t have been me! I don’t even know how to use my magic except to make sweets and some toys for kids!”

  “Then you think it’s just a coincidence that a voice called to you from the feld? And that what occurred in that wasteland was some fool’s luck?” he countered.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. I just know that I. . .I. . .” I threw up my hands. “I don’t know.”

  “You appear to be old enough to know what magic you have,” he countered as he looked me over. “So why don’t you?”

  I bit my lower lip. Arian hadn’t betrayed my most intimate secret to him. “I. . .I. . .”

  “I would have greater respect for you if you remained silent than if you lied to me,” he warned me.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I. . .I come from somewhere else, another place that didn’t have magic.”

  “Then you’re the new goddess that fell into Lord Eastwei’s garden?”

  A faint blush accented my cheeks and I dared risk a look up at him. “You know about that?”

  “Some of the merchants who attended the Twilight Fair came here and spread their gossip about a goddess from another world who couldn’t control her magic.”

  I slumped lower in my seat. “Yeah. . .”

  “Then you’re sure you weren’t the one to ignite the trouble in the feld?” he mused as he grasped the front of the chair arms and leaned toward me. “You were summoned by voices no one else heard. The feld is now cleansed after fifty thousand years and the souls of my people are finally at peace. Don’t you want to claim that credit?”

  “No.” My voice was low but firm.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?”

  I lifted my chin and met his gaze. “Because I wasn’t there alone and whatever happened, I didn’t control it. If anything, most of it was the heroics of the three men who saved me and my dumb luck.”

  Pangberan studied me for the longest time before a smile slipped onto his lips. He fell back against his seat and chuckled. “I see. You are rather unusual for a goddess but that may perhaps have been why the lost souls called you there.”

  I tilted my head to one side and blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

  He set his elbows on the arms of his chair and twined his fingers together. “You’ve met enough goddesses to know they can be a selfish bunch.”

  “But not your daughter!” I objected.

  His eyes twinkled as he inclined his head to me. “I’m grateful you think so though I can’t claim that victory any more than you want to claim the credit for cleansing the feld. My wife was the one who brought my children up to be as they are.”

  “But that’s not true,” I objected as I used a hand to gesture to him. “Your son is just like you. And Arian is, too. They’re good, um, kids-” That are several tens of thousands of years older than me “-and they couldn’t have gotten that way without the help of everyone around them, and most importantly their dad.”

  Pangberan examined me before he slowly bobbed his head. “I don’t see any deceit in your eyes. You mean every word of what you said. It’s rare to meet someone as honest as you.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, well, I’m naive, too, but don’t rub it in.”

  “I won’t,” he assured me as he stood. “And I owe you a debt of gratitude for freeing the souls of my people from that accursed place. Their well-being has bothered me since the day it happened. You’ve lifted that weight from my shoulders. How can I thank you?”

  A thought popped into my head. I dropped my elbows onto the desk and clasped my hands together. “Please let me take care of Eastwei, or at least stay by his side until he wakes up. He probably won’t want me there after that, but I’d like to look after him until that happens. Cleansing the field might have been a good deed to you, but my recklessness was what caused him to get hurt. Taking care of him is the only way I can think of to make amends for him being in the condition he is.”

  The king nodded. “As you wish. You may watch over him for as long as he’ll allow it.”

  I was thrilled by his permission but doubt nagged me. Dadan would eventually wake up. Then what?