“It was pretty disgusting, but I’m sure there’s proper food at the cafeteria. Why don’t you join me? It’s warmer indoors.”
“What happened to staying out of my way?”
“I’ll start tomorrow. Come on, I’ll buy you dinner. We can get takeout downtown. Don’t you miss riding in my fancy car?”
“We’re not supposed to leave campus whenever we want—” Rui caughthis smirk. He was teasing her. “Fine, cafeteria it is. They make their fries and burgers fresh, and they have this blue orangeade drink that Ada really loves. I’d recommend those and the mint-chocolate ice cream.”
Yiran wrinkled his nose. “Absolutely no on the ice cream. I don’t want to eat toothpaste.”
“Mint-chocolate ice cream does not taste like toothpaste,” Rui protested.
“We can agree to disagree. A flavor of ice cream shouldn’t be a friendship breaker,” he said solemnly, but his eyes were crinkling.
Were they friends? Rui wasn’t sure. He’d revealed something to her, and she didn’t know why she was worthy of this trust. They hardly knew each other. But maybe this was how friendships started, someone placing a fistful of feelings in your hand and saying,Keep it safe.
She felt a sudden tickle, like a whisper grazing her skin. A brief sense of vertigo hit her, like the world was warping. She blinked hard.
And gasped.
Yiran was motionless, eyes glazed, mouth shaped like the last word he’d uttered. The waves in front of them were frozen, just like the figures in the distance next to the buildings. Rain hung like strands of pearls in the air, and a surreal silence permeated her surroundings. All she could hear was her own ragged breathing.
Hadtimestopped? But how?
Suddenly aware of another presence, Rui turned.
A man was walking toward her, his long robes flowing red like blood.
He smiled and her heart turned to ice.
19
Rui
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man said, shaking out his long silk sleeves like a peacock displaying its tail feathers. “I am Ten, King of the Tenth Court of Hell.”
Rui gawked.
The Tenth King looked only a few years older than Ash. His hair was spun gold and tied in a low ponytail with a simple red ribbon that matched his scarlet hanfu—traditional robes from a bygone era. The modern-looking black leather harness wrapped around his waist and the pair of leather gloves covering his fingers and half of his palms stood out in contrast.
Ten raised his chin, looking down his nose at her. “Close your mouth, human. The correct response to my esteemed presence is to grovel at my feet and address me asYour Majesty. I will also acceptMy KingorMy Lord, and if you wish to worship me by adulating the magnificence of my physical attributes, you may go ahead.”
Rui continued to stare. Convinced she was hallucinating, she pinched herself.
The skin on her armhurt.
Ten was starting to sulk. “I was not expecting you to be so rude.”
“I’m sorry,” Rui managed, “it’s just that... you’rereal?”
“As real as you are.”
She blinked. “Am I dead?”
“Alas, you are very much alive,” Ten said bitingly. “Humans.” He sighed, raising an elegant hand to his smooth forehead. “I blame the despicable mortal who had the audacity to try to draw us. And now everyone thinks we look like grumpy old men wearing ugly wing-tipped hats.”
Rui collected her wits. If the Kings of Hell were real, and one had comespecifically to findher, it could only mean she’d screwed up royally, pun intended. She curtsied, painting on a fawning smile.
“You’re nothing like the portraits I’ve seen on hell money, Your Majesty. In fact, I don’t think any mortal could capture the gloriousness of your beauty. There is no painting or photograph that could ever match your magnificence.” When Ten seemed somewhat appeased by her flattery, she asked, “What brings you here, Your Majesty?”
