use some time alone, I think. Let’s go. There’s dinner in the banquet hall.” Forcefully, she herded Dayo and the rest of my council siblings away, leaving me and Sanjeet in the shadowy Hall of Dreams.
He released me and stalked to the tall arched windows. His tunic was long and sleeveless, black cloth crisp against his copper shoulders, and his profile sharp in the moonlight.
“This is where we first met,” I said presently. “You were chained up.”
His mouth lifted, a grimace and a smile. “Even then, you were bent on saving strangers.”
“When Woo In flew me away … I was afraid you would come after me. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I sent five Imperial Guard cohorts. I told them to scour every corner of the empire for where that Songlander could have taken you. I even saddled a horse, planning to lead the search myself—”
“But you didn’t,” I repeated, coming to stand beside him. “You stayed because Aritsar had just lost its emperor, and Dayo needed you. Aritsar needed you. It’s who you are, Jeet. It’s who I am too.” I reached up, tracing his stubbled jaw. “We weren’t raised to see the world as a small place, where nothing matters but our happiness. That isn’t our story. And … I don’t think it ever will be.”
He leaned down, resting his brow on mine. “Death is a small world too,” he whispered. “Even smaller than happiness. If this is your way of giving up—”
“I’m not giving up. If I don’t go to the Underworld in two years, children will die. You know that. I’ll have help, Jeet. I’ll send for someone who can teach me to survive down there.”
“Woo In?”
“Maybe,” I said. But I was thinking about Ye Eun: how fiercely she had stared me down at that temple in Ebujo, small fists clenched as she faced the mouth of hell. If anyone could teach survival, it was Ye Eun.
I hoped, with a fleeting thought, that she would bring Ae Ri. The baby’s large, intelligent black eyes surfaced often in my thoughts, a mystery that played on my heartstrings.
Sanjeet exhaled, crumbling like a pillar as he folded me in his arms, joining my heart to his. “The Underworld is not accustomed to losing souls,” he said. “It will tempt you to stay. You will want to pay for the sins of your ancestors, even after you’ve fulfilled the treaty. I can’t keep you safe. I won’t bottle up who you are, not even for your own good. But I’m … scared, Tar. I need you to promise you’ll come back. Please. I need you to—”
I laced my fingers around his neck and pulled his face down to mine. He tasted like salt, like grief and fear. When I deepened the kiss, he swept an arm behind my knees, depositing us on one of the pallets. His hands passed over my waist and hips, and I hummed, each curve taut beneath my finely spun wrapper.
“Promise,” he said. His mouth hovered over mine.
“I will.” My voice was a rumble in my throat; my body was a drum, and he had struck its core. “I do.”
Then I reached down and touched my ankle. Without hesitation, he drew the cowrie shell chain from his pocket and fastened it in place. Slowly, his fingers traveled up my calves, strumming until my skin sang a song without words. Minutes passed, and when the music swelled at last, we collapsed in the shape of each other, drifting into feverish sleep. Our bodies remained entangled when our council siblings returned for bed, tiptoeing around us to claim their pallets.
I woke in the dead of night. The Ray had synced my siblings’ breathing as they slept—in, out, a sigh, a shudder. Relief seemed to hit me all at once. My throat welled up, and I buried my face in Sanjeet’s shoulder, stifling happy sobs.
I belonged in this motley family, grafted together with blood pacts and mystery. I belonged in Aritsar, this empire of beauty and great suffering, teeming with stories like the gold-encrusted cells of a beehive. And I was no one’s tool. No one’s imposter.
I was Tarisai Kunleo, and this was my family.
In the distance, guards drummed messages on the palace walls: Gorro-gun-pa, da-dun, da-dun, gun-pa-pa. All clear—eleventh hour—the emperor and council are sleeping.
Thaddace’s trial for Olugbade’s murder was tomorrow. It would take a miracle, but as the new High Lady Judge, I hoped to reduce his punishment from beheading to banishment. Then there would be a coronation—mine and