I breathe out a sigh of relief, but that reprieve is short-lived before worry sets in again. Because if it’s not Sora, then who? Why does she look this way?
“I see you’ve met.” She gestures to Ailor and me.
“It took me a while to find him, but eventually we did,” I say.
The side of her mouth turns up. “Do you know who he is?”
“Ailor,” I say.
I glance over at him and see that he’s studying Hana. He doesn’t know her. The way she asked the question means that he’s someone important to me or her. My face flushes and I feel immensely foolish because I don’t actually know that much about him. He’s been in here with me for probably a week, giving me all the time in the world, and I didn’t ask the right questions.
“Who are you, miss?” He stands very straight, attentive to her. Ailor, like most men, is apparently swayed by beauty.
“I am Zahara—the royal spymaster.”
He smiles, running a hand over his hair. “That’s impossible.”
She tilts her head, but it’s clear she was expecting that reaction. “And why is that?”
“Because my son is the royal spymaster.”
Oh gods, that’s why he reminded me of Mikail—Ailor is his father. He’s young to have a twenty-four-year-old son, but things happen. Mikail’s mother must have died when he was only a young child, since Ailor said he lost his wife twenty years ago.
“You’re Mikail’s father?” I ask, turning toward him.
He raises his chin, evaluating me. Then he nods. “I am. You know him?”
“I… I do.”
He frowns. “Then I doubt either of us will make it out of this alive.”
“King Joon ordered Tiyung’s accidental death the same as he ordered you to be placed in custody,” Hana says to Ailor. “I thought that together, you could help me save the people we love.”
“And how do I know you’re not just trying to trap my son?” he asks.
She shrugs. “You don’t. You’d be foolish to trust me at all. The king saved me from Tiyung’s family and gave me a life of prestige. Because of Mikail’s betrayal and fall from grace, I’ve now, temporarily, taken the position of royal spymaster. It’s something most commoners can’t ever hope to achieve. Therefore, you can believe that I love someone and something more than this exalted position…or not. It’s your choice.”
Ailor is silent, stroking the short, brown beard that’s grown in his time here.
“Where have you been?” I ask.
She draws a breath as if the words will be painful. “I was spreading Daysum’s ashes.”
Daysum’s…ashes. No. Oh gods, please no.
I shake my head, denying it, but I know in my core that it’s true. My cheeks tingle as blood drains from my face. That was the look Hana had when she came in. She knows what Daysum means to Sora. Daysum was her reason for living, and now, without her…
I pray she doesn’t know, but someone like Hana will tell her. She loves Sora too much to hide the truth.
“They said Daysum died of a laoli overdose in one of your uncle’s pleasure houses,” Hana says quietly. “I had to arrange for an investigation while her body was preserved and rushed here. I burned her myself and said the prayers.”
My uncle’s…? Kingdom of Hells, my father sold her. He sold Sora’s sister as a pleasure indenture.
Daysum had told Sora that she thought she was dying, so she might have simply passed—a kindness from the gods. But it’s equally likely that my uncle killed her. They give out drugs in his pleasure houses, so an overdose is possible. Lord Sterling loses many indentures to drugs and violence. His houses advertise new indentures weekly, the girls and boys replaced like fresh horses.
But gods… Daysum. The cell feels like it’s spinning. I try to get my bearings, but I can’t.
“Your uncle is also ashes,” Hana says.
