“I say the assassin mistook the old man for you,” argued Hasege, “and now he is blundering his way back to Yuji’s camps as we dither here, wasting time instead of chasing after him.”
“This was no botched attempt on my life,” Takkan said, picking up Oriyu’s scarf. “We are assuming the assassinisan assassin. There are easier ways to kill a man than with Four Breaths. Other poisons are just as lethal, just as quick. No, Four Breaths is unique because it can make its victims sleep like a numb moon, rendering them vulnerable to capture.”
“Someone like the emperor?” Pao said.
“Or the royal children.”
As a chill came over me, Hasege’s mouth twisted into a cynical smile. “Really now, Takkan, you aren’t tying Oriyu’s death to that letter you found, are you?”
“It cannot be a coincidence.”
“Let’s say the assassin is indeed in the fortress,” said Hasege. “Who would he seek to harm if not you?”
“We will not know until we find him,” Takkan replied grimly. He raised Oriyu’s scarf. “Oriyu did not burn incense regularly. We start there, find out where it came from. Question everyone in the fortress.”
Takkan turned his back to Hasege to face the other sentinels. “Whatever the assassin’s affiliations, we must find him…before he takes another life. Understood?”
One by one the sentinels bowed, murmuring their agreement. I glanced at Hasege; he was thin-lipped, his black eyes smoldering. He did not bow.
The sentinels filed out, three of them carrying Oriyu away, and the others going with Takkan back into the castle. Hasege alone headed for the gates to order that they be closed until further notice.
I watched his heavy steps sinking into the snow. Something in the air had changed. A veil of uneasiness and distrust had settled over the castle.
There was a traitor among us.
That night, I was so angry I barely felt the cold. I opened my satchel, taking out the nettles and spreading them before me like tresses of fire. After all these weeks, my body had developed an unexpected tolerance to the thorns, and though my hands burned and blistered under their scorching heat, at least the pain had become manageable.
Which only meant that my mind could focus on other things—like the traitor in the castle. Like my stepmother.
Do you think your stepmother had something to do with Lord Yuji’s uprising?asked Kiki.
She has to be involved,I thought back, nicking a thorn off the starstroke.Why else would she send my brothers and me far away? To overthrow my father’s rule. Maybe Yuji is her lover, and all this time she’s been plotting to put him on the throne.
But as soon as I thought it, a chord of uncertainty twanged in my gut. Plenty of men had coveted Raikama over the years, but she was fiercely loyal to Father. She always had been.
Or did I think that because she had ensorcelled me?
Of course she had,I thought to myself with a scoff. She had probably enchanted all of us into becoming her puppets, into loving her.
An ache arose in my chest. It was like a ghost inside me, the shell of a feeling that surfaced through the cracks of my memory to remind me that I’d genuinely loved Raikama once—even if I couldn’t remember why.
Because it was part of her spell,I rebuked myself, irritated that I had let my anger at Raikama dissipate, even if for only an instant. I clenched my fists.
She’s a snake,I told Kiki fiercely.She told me that herself once. I didn’t understand back then, but now I do. She’s poison, and she’s trying to destroy Kiata.
My paper bird looked up askance.Then why bother with you and your brothers? Why not just kill you and overthrow your father all at once? She certainly has the power to dothat.
It was a question that had troubled me for months. It’d been a barb in my hand, one that I kept pushing in deeper the harder I tried to take it out.
She’s poison,I repeated, refusing to discuss it further.
But inwardly, I began to wonder. Ever so briefly, I’d let go of my hate for Raikama—for the first time since I’d been cursed. I could have sworn that during that moment, whatever enchantment was clouding my memories had felt weaker.
No, it had to be my imagination. Why would Raikama use her magic on my memories? What answers could my past possibly hold?
It made no sense, yet I couldn’t stop wondering. I couldn’t stop digging at the gaps in my memory. And that night, in my dreams, I began to remember.
“Andahai said someone tried to poison Father last week,” I said, catching Raikama alone in her chamber. She was combing her hair and humming to herself—until she saw me. “He said you made an antidote that saved him. How did you make it? Did you use your snakes?”
