Metal Slinger

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, sexual content, and cursing.

Jovie is awed by the capitol, though her long weeks of travel make her homesick for her small room in Alaha. Soldiers meet their group and escort them along a parade route, a gesture that Jovie considers to be excessive. People are thrilled to see Acker but suspicious of Jovie. Someone shouts that Jovie is cursed, and the people’s unrest intensifies. Acker races for the palace as people begin to throw rotten vegetables. Meanwhile, Jovie struggles to control her magic.

They reach the palace, and Acker hurries her inside. They join Acker’s father, Edmond, who greets his son warmly before a crowd of parishioners. They are ordered to kneel, and Jovie notes that she has never before seen Acker’s “predilection for power” (364). She suspects that the assembled subjects are laughing at her and suddenly realizes that this is because she is glowing again. A servant guides Jovie to her chambers, which are the grandest rooms that Jovie has ever seen. She finds the opulence excessive and feels nervous about the future.