of our realm. I trust you will do your best to please her.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I intoned with the rest of the tailors.
“You come from all parts of A’landi, and some of you have journeyed far. I look forward to welcoming one of you into the palace.”
My heart was fluttering so fast I almost didn’t see Edan’s wink as he followed the emperor out.
I shook myself from my trance. There was something strange about Emperor Khanujin. Strange and wonderful, I thought.
Or strange and terrible.
* * *
• • •
It was late when I finally left the hall. My fingers were stiff from hours of knitting lace and folding silk ribbon flowers for Lady Sarnai’s jacket, and my mind was swimming from lack of sleep. As I opened the door to my room, all I could think about was collapsing onto my bed and—
I reared back in surprise. My cot was aglow, and the walls seemed to be humming softly.
My magic scissors.
I yanked them out of the bundle under my mattress. Seeing them again, I felt my fingers almost instinctively slipping into the bows. It was so tempting. Lady Sarnai loathed magic, but Longhai had said it wasn’t cheating, and Edan had encouraged me to use them.
I shook my head vigorously. You’re listening to Edan now, Maia? What’s gotten into you?
I needed to get rid of the scissors.
Before I could change my mind, I rewrapped them, took the bundle, and crept out into the gardens. I couldn’t throw them into a well, no matter how much I wished to be rid of them. The scissors had belonged to my grandmother, and Baba had given them to me. Maybe I would bury them—if only for a little while.
I had just passed the magnolia courtyard when I heard a lady weeping. The sound was soft, almost lost amid crickets chirping.
The sniffling stopped, replaced by a voice I knew all too well. “Who’s there?”
Lady Sarnai. Her commanding tone made me freeze. I swallowed, aware I was somewhere I shouldn’t be, and yet something in her voice betrayed a trace of—fear?
But Lady Sarnai was her father’s daughter. She didn’t let up. “Show yourself.”
I stepped out from behind the bush. “M-my apologies, Y-Your Highness. I…I got lost on my way back to the hall and—”
Lady Sarnai was the same height as me, but her voice—raw and thick with anger—made me feel small. “Did the emperor send you to spy on me?”
My eyes widened. “N-no, Your Highness. I thought you were one of the maids.”
Lady Sarnai scoffed, but she clenched her handkerchief and said nothing, looking so miserable my heart softened toward her.
“You’re homesick?” I said gently. “I am too.”
“You couldn’t possibly understand how I’m feeling.” Lady Sarnai dabbed her eyes, then said harshly, “Don’t tell me you fought in the war, that you were away from your home for years. I don’t care.”
I wondered now if her coldness—that flat, emotionless face she wore whenever she came to the Hall of Supreme Diligence—was a mask.
Lady Sarnai missed home. I could see it in the dark pools of her wet eyes.
She was angry and sad that her father had sacrificed her to make peace with Emperor Khanujin. And if Longhai was right about her relationship with Lord Xina, she had even more reason to be miserable.
“Lady Sarnai,” I began hesitantly, “I know it’s difficult for you here. But His Majesty is doing his best to make you happy. He’s a kind man, and—”
“A kind man?” She laughed bitterly. “That enchanter has you all fooled.”
I frowned. “He would make you happy,” I repeated. “If you only let him.”
“What do you know about happiness?” she snapped. “You’re a man. Now that the war is over, you can do what you want. You’ve proven yourself to A’landi. The world is open to you.”
“I’m…I’m a simple tailor.”
“A tailor who’s been invited to sew for the emperor. A girl couldn’t do that. A girl isn’t fit to be anything more than a prize. My father promised he’d never force me to marry. He taught me to hunt and to fight like a man. I was just as good as all my brothers. And now?” Lady Sarnai wrung her hands. “He broke his promise to me. At first I thought it was because the war and magic had blackened his heart, but that is just the way of men. For what is a promise if it’s made to a woman?”
Her words rang so true to me, I almost staggered back.
“I made a promise