Girls of Storm and Shadow (Girls of Paper and Fire, #2)(11)
“A new era of peace and unity!”
Though I cheer along with the rest of the group, the words feel clumsy on my lips, and I can’t help but be reminded of another ruler who once spoke some very similar words, not too long before I drove a knife into his throat.
FOUR
THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE TEMPLE THIS evening is completely transformed. The usual hush has been replaced with rowdy chatter and laughter. Dark stone walls dance with the light of the crackling flames. Human and demon eyes shine with liquor and the promise of glory, of honor, of shared purpose, the group buoyed by Ketai’s infectious confidence, keen to drown out the parts of us still whispering doubts like poison into the corners of our hearts—or at least, in mine.
Wren and Hiro go outside to recast the magical incantations that keep our camp hidden from spies or accidental passers-by, as they have done every morning and night since we arrived, while Nitta and Merrin prepare the two mountain goats we caught earlier, skinning them before roasting them over the fire. The smell of cooking meat fills the lakeside room. Even plain, it would have been enough to satisfy us; the last time we ate meat was more than a week ago. But the goats are stuffed with fresh herbs Ketai produced from his bags like the best kind of magic, and the aromatic flesh is so delicious it brings tears to my eyes.
“What else have you got in that magical sack of yours, Lord K?” Bo asks between bites. He groans with pleasure, sinking his feline teeth back into the piece of leg he’s eating. Juices drip down his furred wrist. “Who knew the Heavenly Kingdom could be accessed through roasted goat thigh?”
Across the fire, Merrin gives him a cool, haughty look. “Ah, na?ve young one. You will come to discover there are far more pleasurable ways to access the Heavenly Kingdom.”
Bo’s mouth curves. “Watch it, Feathers. At your age, you should be careful with any… strenuous activity. Might pop a hip.”
Merrin’s face turns thunderous the same instant Nitta guffaws.
I can’t help but laugh, too—until I catch Ketai watching me with a strange, knowing look, unnervingly similar to the ones Wren used to give me back at the palace when she was thinking about me. But while I soon came to know exactly what these thoughts of hers contained, I can’t quite work out what it is her father wants of me. My smile dropping, I toss the bone I’ve been licking clean into the fire and take a sip of one of the bottles of plum wine we’ve been passing around. Another one of Ketai’s treats. The sweet alcohol scours my throat, but I force it down, and as I stare into the dancing flames my vision swims with them. Moving images appear in the flickers. A horned silhouette looming over me. The kind amber eyes of a wolf demon who once carried my broken body in his muscled arms with the carefulness of a newborn. The spray of blood as I wrench the knife from the King’s ruined eye socket.
I turn away from the flames, a quiver rippling down my arms. Almost every night, the same memories haunt me, so real it’s as though I’m living them over and over again.
I’m about to take another swig of wine when Ketai sits next to me. “I brought you something,” he says, drawing two bundles from his pockets as I hurriedly set the bottle down. “Actually, two things. Nothing I could ever give you could reflect the thanks you deserve for what you have done for us, Lei.” He hands them to me. “But please consider them a small token of my gratitude.”
One of the items is heavy, wrapped in a swathe of luxurious velvet fabric. The other is soft and light, bound in lotus leaf. I open the lotus leaf package first. My stomach does a strange loop as I see the four small diamond shapes of emerald-green kuih nestled within.
“Wren told me they’re your favorite,” Ketai says.
I lift the delicate rice cakes to my nose, inhaling their syrupy coconut scent. Tears prick my eyes as I remember the last time a Hanno brought me these as a present; what they meant to me then.
To us.
“I had them imported from Malayi,” Ketai tells me. “My council assures me these are the best in the kingdom.”
“Thank you, Lord Hanno.” I fold them back up. I have never been to my own province’s capital, but I can’t believe anyone anywhere could make these better than Tien does—even in the Heavenly Kingdom. When I was young, I once ate so many of her kuih that I made myself sick.
It was absolutely worth it.
Ketai blinks. For a moment, he seems disappointed. Then his smile reasserts itself. “The other gift comes from my palace. I had it made especially for you. Our Moonchosen.”
I unwrap the cloth to find an expensive-looking dagger as long as my forearm, its end tapered. A dark leather scabbard embossed with delicate winding patterns covers the blade. Because I know it’s what Ketai wants, I grasp the ivory hilt and draw the blade free. The instant I do, a hot rush of magic shoots up my arm, leaving my skin prickling. Copper light bursts across the room as the metal catches the glow of the fire. I turn the dagger, examining it. The blade is bronze, almost the same hue as my eyes, and the magic-imbued metal glows with an unearthly light that reflects my face back at me.
I wince at what I see.
It’s the first time I’ve seen myself since we escaped the palace. That night, preparing for the Ball, my maid, Lill, lifted a mirror to my face to show me the marvel she and the other maids had created: pale skin smooth and glowing; hair twined with beads and delicate flowers; eyes adorned with kohl and shimmer to bring out the gold of my irises.