I gave a sharp gasp as he tore off my headdress, my neck jerking up as the pearls and jeweled tassels clinked against the pavilion’s marbled floor. He stared at me. Recognition dawned, and his lips thinned with displeasure. “Tamarin.”
“Your Majesty, I can explain—”
“Consider your words carefully, tailor,” he warned, “lest they be your last. Where is she?”
“In her residence. The dress, Your Majesty…she could not wear it. It…it harmed her.”
A beat of silence. He deliberated my answer. Then—
“And how is she now?”
I wavered on how to answer. How was she? Truthfully, the dress’s magic had marked her beyond recognition. I couldn’t imagine the pain she suffered. Only someone as stubborn and hard-hearted as she would cling to life so tenaciously. Still, I wasn’t sure she would survive the week.
But if I told the emperor Lady Sarnai was on the brink of death, I would endanger the wedding. For the sake of A’landi’s peace, I needed time to figure out what to do.
“She is…recovering,” I replied. “Her maids are caring forher.”
I expected him to lash out at me for deceiving him, but the corners of his mouth lifted. “You did well taking her place. Not even her father knows it is you.”
He leaned forward, his dry lips brushing against my cheek in what everyone else perceived as a kiss. Except he whispered harshly, “Perhaps it is better this way, though I urge you not to be so taken with birds in the sky.”
I swallowed. So that was what had given me away. I hadn’t known Khanujin to be such an observant man. Then again, I knew little of my emperor.
“Edan will not be a hawk when my men find him,” he intoned. “He will be a man, like Xina. And he will be punished accordingly.”
He rested his hand on my shoulder, squeezed the bone so hard I flinched. “I can be merciful, Maia Tamarin. I can be more merciful to him than I will be to Lord Xina. But that all depends on you.”
“I don’t know where he’s gone,” I repeated.Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.
The emperor’s smirk vanished, and he gave my shoulder another cruel press before finally letting go. “Then pray the banquet tonight goes well.”
• • •
A hundred dishes were spread out before Khanujin and me, enough to satiate a thousand. An artist could have blissfully died after capturing such a glorious buffet of food with his brush, every color and texture represented, every plate a thoughtfully curated piece of art for both the eyes as well as the tongue.
The old Maia would have hated being seated at the center of this culinary theater. She would have bitten her lower lip and stared at the ground, fidgeting with the ends of her sleeves to ignore the rumbles in her belly. Yet she would have lusted after the spicy mung bean jelly lightly tossed with peanuts, the wood ear mushrooms marinated in vinegar and garlic, the fried fish fritters with ginger and plum sauce.
Not tonight. Tonight, in my radiant gown of the sun, I sat rigid in my chair, coolly ignoring every stare and glance that darted my way. Every morsel of food that went into my mouth was forced.
“You aren’t eating, daughter,” the shansen remarked.
I picked up a chunk of roasted carp. Swallowed. A fish bone poked the roof of my mouth, and I swallowed it too, almost hoping I’d choke and be sent back to my chambers.
Khanujin chuckled. “She is angry with me for putting her lover in the dungeon.”
“She is fortunate Lord Xina is only in prison,” replied the shansen darkly. “If it had been me, his head would be mounted on a pole in the center of the banquet hall. And I would have forced Sarnai to drink his blood.”
“That would be inauspicious, Lord Makangis.” Khanujin lowered his hand to my shoulder, and squeezed it tightly. “We shall wait until after the wedding for his execution.”
I could feel the shansen studying me, as if waiting for the color to drain from my face. But it was his next words that made me pale.
“I notice your most formidable guest is missing. Where is the enchanter?”
“Away in service to me.”
I nearly choked at the lie, but the shansen frowned. “He pays me no respect with his absence.”
“You paymeno respect by bringing a legion of your soldiers to camp outside my palace.”
