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The castle was in turmoil, turtles combing every nook and cranny for intruders.

I’d gotten used to the muffled rumbles from outside—of the patrols trying to wear down the castle wards.

But now each sound jolted me.

“No need to look so worried,” said Shani.

“The waters will tell you if Elang’anmi dies.”

I scowled.

I’d forgotten about her.

“It’s rude reading people’s thoughts.”

“Then you shouldn’t make them so interesting,” she replied, licking her lips.

“I taste gossip, and it’s sweet.”

“Get out of my head.”

“What happened in Nanhira between you and Elang’anmi? The merman cook won’t tell me. Isn’t like him to withhold anything.”

Sometimes it stunned me, how callous Shani could be.

Then again, she was a demon.

I ignored her the rest of the way, not stopping until I found Mailoh.

As I feared, she was being detained for questioning.

“Let her go,” I ordered the guards.

“But, Lady Saigas, Mailoh is the general’s sister. She could have been an accomplice.”

“Let her go,” I said again.

“I won’t repeat myself.”

Reluctantly the guards released Mailoh.

The turtle was visibly shaken, her bright eyes dulled into a dry and weary green.

Still, as much the backbone of Yonsar Castle as the Spine itself, she gathered her poise and made a deep bow.

“I plead on my brother’s behalf, Lady Saigas,” she said.

“I cannot speak to what made him act against Lord Elang, but I assure you Caisan has been loyal to Yonsar his entire life.”

I wanted to believe her.

“Will you come with me to seehim?”

Mailoh drew a sharp breath, then nodded somberly.

“Follow me.”

The keep was on the lowermost level of the castle, beneath the barracks.

It was a dungeon in all but name.

A single lantern floated across the sunken ceiling, and the metal bars cast shadowed stripes over the general’s supine form.

Caisan was burrowed into the sand, and he made no move to rise when he heard our approach.

“This certainly isn’t the time to hide in your shell,” Mailoh huffed.

“The lady of the castle has come to speak with you.”

“Leave me be,” Caisan grunted.

“I have nothing to say to her.”

“Do not shame me, Caisan. Traitor or not, you owe Lady Saigas respect.”

She knew just how to goad him.

He jutted out his head, sand spilling down the slopes of his face.

“I am not a traitor.”

“Then you are a coward,” said Mailoh.

“Which do you prefer? If you will not face her, she will have to assume one or the other is true.”

Caisan rose.

His enormous feet made indents in the bedrock as he pounded forward to the bars.

“Why have you come?” he grumbled at me.

“For the truth.”

“The truth, you say.” The general scoffed.

“Yet you bring the demon.”

“Caisan,” Mailoh warned.

“I told you before what she was.” He stared mistrustfully at Shani, who floated behind me.

“Think. There’s only one creature in this castle with the ability to possess a mind. Who else would know how to destroy Lord Elang’s sangi? Who else could allow Nazayun’s patrol to enter the castle unseen?”

At the accusation, Shani’s watery countenance darkened.

She raised her tail, and frost crackled across the sand in Caisan’s cell, traveling swiftly up the walls.

The entire keep turned cold.

“Turtle is most delectable when chilled,” she murmured, before her tone took on an edge.

“Question my loyalty again, and you won’t even have bones left for mourning.”

“That’s enough.” I grabbed the demon by the tail.

“And you, General—you should know that Shanizhun is honor bound to Lord Elang.”

The general lowered his head.

“You think demons have honor?”

“I’ll show you honor!” Shani pulled herself up to her full height and breadth—and kept growing—her red eyes dilating as she loomed over the cell.

“Enough,” I warned her.

“That’s a command, Shani.”

With a hiss, she spiraled back into my ring.

Mailoh sent her brother a scathing look, then faced me.

“Hear me, Lady Saigas, please. General Caisan is loyal. He has served Yonsar for—”

“Three centuries!” Caisan boomed.

“Centuries, while that demon has been at Lord Elang’s side only a few years. I tell you, she is Nazayun’s servant still!”

“Will you desist with this malice toward Shanizhun?” Mailoh cried.

“It is your honor that is in question.”

I was silent, withholding judgment.

I used to think I was good at reading faces, but lies were not always easy to unearth.

I could tell Caisan genuinely believed in his own innocence.

That counted for something.

“I will consider your warning, General,” I said at last.

“That will be all.”

The floating lantern followed Mailoh and me back to the barracks.

I touched my opal ring as I ascended the stairs.

Shani, I thought, when will you learn to control that temper?

I sighed when she didn’t respond.

There was a traitor somewhere in Yonsar.

In my gut, I didn’t think it was Caisan, nor did I think it was Shani.

So who was it?

I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.

My fingertips burned with a vision, and I sat at my desk, brush trembling.

I had a feeling I wouldn’t like the future I was about to paint.

I balled my fists, digging my nails into my palms as I tried to hold it in.

Night after night, I’d been dreaming of Baba turning into stone.

Is he alive?

I’d asked Nazayun.

It depends on what you mean by alive.

There came a tap on my door, and I shot up with a jump.

“Kunkoi.”

“Hungry?” he greeted me.

“Even the kitchen’s been cordoned off for the investigation, but I remembered our lovely Lady Saigas would need lunch.”

“Is it that late already?” I set down my brush.

“I’d forgotten.”

Kunkoi set two canisters on my desk.

“My special soup noodles. I’ve been wanting to make this for you, but I had to wait until Lord Elang was away.”

I arched an eyebrow.

“He doesn’t like them?”

“Not anymore.” Kunkoi shrugged.

I started clearing my desk.

In Ai’long, Elang had been gone mere hours.

It’d have been over a day on land.

“Will he be safe?”

“He’ll probably encounter a few assassins, but he hasn’t survived so long for no reason.”

My chest went tight.

“A few assassins?”

“Nothing to worry about.” Kunkoi eyed me.

“I heard you visited General Caisan in the keep. That’ll worry Lord Elang.”

“He insists he’s innocent.”

“I’d be surprised if he weren’t. Caisan’s too dense for treachery. All turtles are.”

“So who do you think the traitor is? It can’t be Shani. She hates Nazayun.”

“I don’t know,” the merman replied.

“What I do know is this isn’t something you solve on an empty stomach.”

He opened the two copper canisters, stacked one atop the other.

“Try this before it gets cold. It’s one of my specialties.”

The tingle in my fingers ebbed as I opened the lid.

The first canister contained a thick, still-simmering broth, with mustard greens and carrots and tiny clams floating inside.

The second, a generous portion of wavy egg noodles, which I combined with the soup.

Praise the Sages, it was delicious.

I licked my lips, my eyes slowly widening as the aftertaste matured on my tongue, releasing a familiar punch of savory deliciousness.

“This soup…it’s…”

“Incredible?” The ends of Kunkoi’s hair curled with pride.

“I know.”

The soup was delicious, but that wasn’t what I’d meant to say.

I dipped my spoon, chasing a morsel of steamed fish under glistening beads of oil.

“What’s in it?” I asked.

“Anyone else, I’d tell them my finest scallops and abalone, a sprinkling of my noblest spices, and five cordyceps petals.” He leaned close.

“But for you, Lady Saigas, I’ll share the true secret: the broth is kelp based. Simple as that. You boil it for a night, then after that, you can put whatever you want inside.”

Kelp based.

Gaari had told me that once, about the soup we’d adored at Luk’s.

I swirled the broth in my mouth, reveling in the salt and fat as my tongue unwove new flavors, from the thickness of the spring onions to the springiness of the noodles.

A familiar taste from a lifetime ago.

Could it be…

My breath grew shallow, my pulse faster with each beat.

I stared at Kunkoi, mentally superimposing Gaari’s face over him.

No, it wasn’t him.

The merman hadn’t left Yonsar in years.

Then?

In my mind, I already knew the answer, but I refused to consider it.

It was impossible.

Impossible.

Still, I had to ask.

“Kunkoi,” I started, each syllable scraping out of my throat like rock against rock.

“Where did you learn to make this soup?”

“A cousin taught it to me,” replied the merman faintly.

He was counting the chilis I’d added to the broth, and he wasn’t very attentive once peppers were involved.

“I forget which one—I have far too many cousins, but he was sent to land years ago. Said he’d start a restaurant there. Farsighted of him. Elang tried to send me to the shop, but I stayed here.”

“The shop. In Gangsun?”

“I don’t know the mortal realm well enough to say, but Lord Elang would know—he used to frequent the place every other week.” Kunkoi noticed the intensity in my voice.

“Is something the matter?”

My head was growing lighter with each passing moment, and I started floating off my chair, forgetting how to keep myself anchored.

The noodles, which I couldn’t stop eating only an instant before, now tasted like sand.

I set aside my bowl, suddenly feeling unwell.

“Lady Saigas, are you all right? You’ve gone pale. Is it thefood?”

My heart was hammering.

“Will you send for Mailoh?”

Kunkoi lurched for the door.

“At once.”

With bated breath, I waited until the door closed fully, then I shot up.

I had to be quick.

With only a twinge of guilt, I twisted off my opal ring and dropped it into a teapot.

“Sorry, Shani,” I muttered, shutting the lid.

Then, feeling like an interloper in my own castle, I sprang out of my room.

I knew exactly where I was going.