Page 49

AERI

ROSE PALACE, GAYA

W e get Sora to the portico after she fainted in the garden.

I say we , but really Royo picks her up as I fuss over her.

Royo lays her down on a sculptural couch under the enormous colonnaded portico that encircles the palace.

Servants who must’ve been watching the entire scene bring out a pitcher of water, glasses, and a washcloth for her head. Mikail thanks them.

Tiyung and the girl Mikail called Zahara follow us. It’s immediately cool and comfortable in the shade of the palace. They both look terribly concerned for Sora, though.

I walk over to Ty and wrap him in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re free and…alive. We thought you didn’t make it. I’m glad it was just a lie.” Then I turn my attention to the girl. “Hi. I don’t know you. I’m Aeri.”

The woman is stunningly beautiful. Not like Sora or Sun-ye, but she’s around the same age and something entirely her own.

Her thick brown hair is the same color as her eyes, and she has full, rose-pink lips and perfect sandy-brown skin.

She’s around my height, but she looks taller because she’s all curves in the right places, where I am a fancy twig.

“Hello,” she says hesitantly. “I’m Hana.”

“What?” My voice comes out as a squawk. It can’t be what I’m thinking. The girl Sora loved in poison school was named Hana. This woman is pretty enough to be a poisoner, but Hana died two years ago. This can’t be the same person. Then again, how many gorgeous women named Hana does Sora know?

Mikail stops staring at the doors to the palace and turns his head. “Hana?”

“You know me as Zahara, but my real name is Hana,” she says. “I changed it when I fled from Gain.”

So, she is the same Hana. My eyes widen so much they hurt. Shocked is an understatement.

Well, that explains why Sora fainted.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” Royo asks.

He’s been dabbing Sora’s forehead with the cloth.

It makes my heart overflow to see him be so gentle, so caring.

The way he’s taking care of Sora is the same way he handled that little ceramic bird when I first met him.

I want to jump all over him, but I hold myself back.

Sora moans, coming to. I pour a glass of water for her and another for Mikail.

Sora’s lashes flutter, and then she opens her eyes. I hold out the glass of water.

“Oh, thank you, Aeri,” she says. “I’m sorry. I just got very dizzy.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask.

Sora nods and starts to sit up. But then she looks past me to Tiyung and Hana. She lies back down.

“No, never mind. I’m still seeing things.” She puts her arm over her eyes. “It’s concerning.”

“No,” I say. “They’re both really here—Tiyung and Hana.”

She shakes her head, and then tears slide down her cheeks as she sniffles. “They can’t be, Aeri. They can’t. They’re both dead!”

“Let’s bring her inside,” Mikail says. He looks past us to the garden where they’re building a funeral pyre over the top of the large firepit. It’s going to smell like charred flesh soon, and that won’t help anyone feel better.

I put my shoulder down to help Sora stand.

“Don’t bother,” Royo says. He hands me his axe and lifts Sora like she’s a feather pillow. Again, my heart flutters, and I’m having truly inappropriate thoughts. I shake them off and follow along, holding the axe sideways.

I keep a look out for soldiers, but they must be near the laoli fields and not here.

Mikail leads us into the palace. The space is massive and full of windows. It has a greenhouse feel with two floors and an entryway that reaches all the way up to the very high ceiling.

The household staff of around forty people races to meet us as soon as we walk in.

They all take a knee to Mikail. He speaks in Yusanian as he pardons them for serving the enemy and accepts them as his servants.

I’m sure when this was a palace, they had a far larger staff, but it’s been the home of just one man for almost twenty years.

This palace is built around a large courtyard with trees, flowers, and a fountain trickling into a central pool.

The floors are black wood, as are the doors, and the rest is white rock.

Because we came in through the garden, we must be in the private wing, and there’s a large sunken living room in front of us.

The six of us sit on the white couches and chairs.

Well, Sora is half lying down, half sitting where Royo placed her.

I take the loveseat next to her, and Royo sits so close to me that our legs touch.

I look at him and smile, but we are all silent for a moment.

“I think I’m going to need explanations of how you’re both alive,” Mikail says, drinking a second glass of water. He points to Hana and Ty, and his arm shakes.

“We could use the same, honestly,” Tiyung says. He speaks to Mikail, but his eyes dart over to Sora constantly. She still has her arm over her eyes.

Mikail nods. “Of course, but you first.”

Tiyung nods and sits forward. “All right. I’ll start right from when I left you. As you know, I was sentenced to Idle Prison. I thought I knew what that would be like, but I had no idea about the horrors waiting for me…”