guards always make their patrols around this mountain. She has to be nearby.”
“But why is the inspector so determined to find Maid Soyi?”
“She’s a suspect. Witnesses saw her leaving the mansion around the time Lady O ran out.”
That surprised me. I could hardly picture meek Soyi holding a kitchen knife, let alone carving the nose from the face of her mistress.
“I will find that bitch. No doubt I will. I’ve already arrested over fifty scoundrels while serving in the bureau. Almost as many as Inspector Han.”
I bit my lower lip to keep myself from grimacing.
“What is your life’s goal?” he asked, his voice tinged with amusement. “Let me tell you. You’ll get married, have babies, and keep on doing what you’re good at doing: serving. Serving your master, your husband, your children.” He tapped his head. “I know these things.”
“I don’t wish to do any of that, sir.”
“But you will serve. That is fact, that is your fate.”
Fate. A shackle as solid as truth—unchangeable, unmovable. On the day of my departure, my sister had told me how long I was bound by the government to serve in the police bureau, away from home, from family. For one generation, she’d whispered.
My entire life.
That is, I would be free by the age of forty-one, as old as death itself.
A thunder of fluttering wings filled the sky in all directions, the birds overhead taken to flight. A shriek in the distance pierced the air; a terrified horse. Officer Ky?n charged ahead, while it took me a scrambling moment to realize what was happening. I jabbed my heels into Terror’s side and followed him through the thicket, over the protruding roots, branches hitting my face.
Then we reached a glade and my heart stopped. Across the stream stood Inspector Han, his sleeve blood-soaked, his hand inching toward the sword at his side. A matter of paces away prowled a tiger, a deep growl rumbling from its white-and-black-striped chest. Powerful paws with sharp claws. The beast looked as large as Inspector Han himself.
“Do not move,” he said, though not to us. Past the thick cluster of leaves was a horse struggling on the ground, shaking its head as blood continued to ooze from its wounded side. And hunkered down behind the creature was Maid Soyi.
Unable to look away from the scene, I hissed to Ky?n, “Shoot it!”
A muscle worked in Officer Ky?n’s jaw. Clearly he was incensed at an order from a girl, but he drew out an arrow and nocked it to his bow. As he aimed, the iron point trembled. What resolve he had, I watched falter and crumble.
“I’ll do it.” I snatched the weapon from him and rode out into the glade for a better aim. My motion caught the tiger’s attention. Good. My fear had reached its climax, and another sensation flooded in, a powerful longing that churned within me: the desire to matter.
Don’t think too much about your target, my sister’s husband had taught me on our hunts for birds and rabbits. Don’t rattle your mind with possibilities. Focus on what you want and shoot it.
In one smooth motion, I aimed and released.
The arrow whistled and flew into the tiger’s side with an audible thud. It let out a roar, startling me—and startling Terror even more. The shaggy pony nearly knocked me off as she jolted, then raced into the woods. The tiger charged after us, its snarling roar shaking my bones. Despite the wound, it was fast, quickly closing the distance between us. I could almost feel fangs sinking into my shoulder.
I dropped the bow and kicked Terror’s side. Faster. Please go faster.
Suddenly, Terror rose on her front legs, tossing me into the air. Then I was rolling down sloping ground, wrapped in a whirl of green and brown. A sharp edge sliced me. My head struck something hard and pain burst. I fell into darkness.
* * *
Shadows swam in my head.
I was in a boat, floating on black waters under the night sky. My hands scrubbed, my neatly braided hair tied with a yellow cloth strip, I sat across from my brother and sister on a wooden seat.
“When will we be home?” My questions were endless. My brother’s patience with me always impressed people, the calm way a boy so young would answer, weighing the inquiries of his younger four-year-old sister with solemnity.
“When we finish crossing the sea.”
“Why is there so much water?”
“Because ten thousand rivers are flowing through.”
“That’s a lot of rivers.” I looked out onto the vastness