The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War, #2)

That night, Rin goes to the ship’s physician for opium. When he says Vaisra forbade him from giving her any, she goes to Vaisra. He says the noise in her head that she wants to drown isn’t the Phoenix but her own guilt and fear. Vaisra hits her and compares her to other Speerly who were “smoking themselves to death” (100). He thinks with discipline, she can block the Phoenix without opium.

Rin goes through withdrawals. During the day, Nezha distracts her with stories and court gossip. The ship heads upstream on the Murui river. Along the banks, Rin sees thousands of refugees and is upset because she thought she brought peace to Nikan. That night, Rin’s withdrawals are so intense that she tries to die by suicide. Suni, the quietest Cike member, stops her from jumping overboard. He calms her and reassures Rin of her inner strength.

Five days later, the ship sails through hundreds of floating corpses that were killed by the broken dam. Nezha thinks Daji broke the dam, but Rin knows it was Chaghan and Qara who did it. Rin finds the twins and gloats because she is happy that she isn’t the only one who killed masses of people.

Two days later, Rin is over the worst of her withdrawals. She meets with Vaisra, who seems proud of her. He gives her a present: Altan’s trident, which his men found at Chuluu Korikh.

Later, she has lunch with Nezha. He asks about her withdrawals and the presence of the Phoenix. She asks about Nezha’s scars, which he acquired during his abduction; she has an impulse to caress them.

Rin trains with Captain Eriden to effectively fight Daji. Eriden says Daji manipulates desire, which makes her the strongest of the Trifecta, surpassing the Dragon Emperor and Rin’s old tutor, Jiang. Rin has trouble fighting with Altan’s trident and is out of shape, but she uses a combination of distance fighting and controlled fire to best Eriden in a duel. Vaisra’s pride in her gives her more satisfaction than her previous reliance on opium.

Vaisra hopes to initiate a bloodless coup. He plans to bind Rin and take her as a prisoner to the Autumn Palace, sedating her with opium to convince Daji that he is not there to betray her. However, because of Rin’s increased tolerance to opium, the dose will wear off sooner than expected, and she will be able to use fire to assassinate Daji.

Kitay insists that his father must be with Daji in Lusan. He sees a defense minister onshore and asks him about his father; the man tells Kitay his father did not survive the war. Kitay then gets an audience with Vaisra and asks to be his chief strategist. Vaisra knew earlier that Kitay’s father was dead, but he did not want to tell him.

Vaisra holds secret audiences with other warlords, trying to shore up alliances. He takes Rin with him to meet the Snake Warlord, Ang Tsolin. Tsolin expresses pity toward Rin. He refuses to help Vaisra but says he won’t turn him over to Daji. Vaisra later tells Rin that Tsolin will join them if Vaisra forces his hand by bringing the war to his province. None of the warlords have picked a side. Vaisra calls Rin his “greatest weapon” and believes she’ll win the war for him.

The next day, Rin is drugged on opium and accompanies Vaisra, posing as a prisoner. The Cike place themselves in underground waterways, ready to rescue Rin and Vaisra and bomb the palace if necessary. Rin initially fascinates the warlords, but they eventually leave her standing alone for hours while they squabble over the economy, politics, and agriculture. Some warlords were killed in the war, and there are new faces among them, like Cheng En who leads Horse Province—he is a bandit who has risen to power. Rin notices a power imbalance between the talkative northern warlords, who lost relatively little during the war, and the quiet southerners, who lost much more.

After several hours, Daji declares a recess and walks with Rin. Daji shows Rin ruins left by the Hesperians at the beginning of the First Poppy War. She tells Rin that Vaisra is using her and that she is fighting the wrong enemy. Her real enemy should be the Hesperians. Daji knows about Vaisra’s plans but doesn’t think the Nikara people will be able to handle democracy.

Daji says what Shiro told Rin about Daji’s betrayal was false. Rin isn’t convinced, believing Daji is too weak to unite the country and the warlords. Daji promises that she can help Rin control her god’s power. Rin attacks Daji, but Daji easily gets the best of her; she sends them into the spirit plane, giving Rin hallucinations. Chaghan finds his way into the illusion and saves Rin. He creates a diversion and they run, but Rin goes back for Vaisra. Suni carries an injured Vaisra to the ship.

Onboard, Chaghan is disturbed that Daji, a shaman, seems so “stable.” Vaisra wakes and asks to see Rin. He asks her why she saved him and remained in his army. Rin thinks about how Vaisra’s pride in her and his approval of her give her reasons to live. However, she doesn’t say this. Instead, she tells him that she’s always been a soldier and knows nothing else. Vaisra emphasizes that no one with her power can remain neutral in war, and she must use her power to help.