Nothing happened. I waited an hour, but no one came for me, not even Ranine or Jesun. I guessed Mother must have banned them both from seeing me—to protect one from me, and to protect me from the other.

She must not have told the Council about my foiled plan to murder the emperor. She likely had to explain my sneaking out, which wouldn’t do me any favors, but I could live with that. They’d be at work sweeping it under the rug as a malicious rumor, if the public would have believed it at all.

I’d told the truth and gotten away with it. More or less. Only now, the items I’d used to sneak around town had been confiscated. No disguises. No weapons. I’d be under close watch from now on, and the odds of me finding the things I needed and sneaking them back to my room were, well, essentially zero. My thieving days were over.

My tablet dinged again. “We need to talk,” Yesida said. “Don’t ignore me.”

I desperately wanted to ignore him, but guilt clawed at me, setting loose the tears I’d been holding back. I didn’t deserve to feel sorry for myself, so I quickly shut down the waterworks again. I sat up in bed and combed my hair with my fingers, not bothering to change out of my nightgown or shift into my disguise.

I called Yesida, and he answered almost immediately, his dark handsome face beading with sweat as tools clanged in the background. “One second,” he said before pushing his black locks out of his face and muting himself. He silently, but furiously, shouted something to someone off screen, then walked out of the factory’s hangar to his office. He dropped into his chair and set his tablet up on his desk, then unmuted himself with a scowl. “Eujia.”

I cringed at the use of my real name. “I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.”

“Yeah, well, sounds like things have gone to shit for you, haven’t they?” I didn’t answer, and he sighed sharply. “I have so many questions for you.”

“Ask.”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“Because… Really, you can’t imagine the answer?”

“I want to hear it.”

“Because I needed to not be the damned Chosen for once. I needed someone to see me. I know that wasn’t fair.”

“No, and neither was your little try at the emperor.”

I winced. “I know.”

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“Then why did you do it?”

“I needed something from him.”

“And did you get it before he died?”

“Not exactly.”

He shook his head. “I… don’t think I even want to know.”

My eyes widened. “It wasn’t—”

“I don’t care, Eujia. Obviously, your life as the Chosen is very different from your life out here. I probably don’t have a right to judge.”

“Don’t say that.”

“What? I don’t know you. Not the real you. How can I judge something I know nothing about?”

I couldn’t think of anything to say to that.

He pushed his hair back again. “Look. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. But I’m done. I wish you well, best of luck with whatever it is you’re doing, all of that. But that has nothing to do with me. And… Fuck.” He grimaced and wiped away a tear. “I wasn’t going to say this, but fuck it. I was going to ask you to marry me. So, I hope it was worth it to you.”

My jaw dropped. “Yesida, I—”

He hung up. Then blocked me. All of our calls, all of our messages, gone in an instant.

I let the tablet fall to the blankets and pulled my knees up to my chin. What had I done?

***

After my tears had run dry, I changed into one of my simpler dresses and stepped out to find four guards waiting for me, and I cringed as they bowed.

“Where may we lead you, my lady?” one asked. The narrow blue cape dangling from one armored shoulder gave him away as an imperial guard, though the others wore standard castle guard uniforms.

I scowled. It seemed my days of roaming the castle unattended were over, too. “I was planning to request lunch.”

“I can send a servant to fetch a meal for you—”

“Has the Council restricted me to certain areas of the castle?”

The imperial guard’s eyebrows rose slightly. “No, my lady.”

“Then I will go myself.”

He bowed again and gestured to the other guards, who formed rank around me.

The dining room was empty when I arrived, and one of my guards headed for the kitchen as I took my seat. I stared at the emperor’s chair. Who would occupy it next? Lenan’s fifteen-year term had been complete, but I’d heard rumors that the Council had planned on giving him a second term. Whatever the reason, they’d been stalling announcing the next emperor, but now they would have to choose one quickly. One who would not have any predecessor whispering in their ear for two years.

Perhaps I could be the one whispering.

A servant hurried over to list off a variety of options, but I didn’t want to trouble the kitchen staff too much just for me. I requested only bacon, toast, and strawberries. I didn’t have that much of an appetite anyway. I only wanted to calm my aching stomach.

I was only halfway through my lunch when a messenger arrived for me, bowing as they all did. “The Council wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience,” she said.

Of course I wasn’t going to get out of facing them. “Thank you,” I said. “Please tell them I’ll be there shortly.”

I slowed my bites, stalling for time. They’d have questions about the murder. They’d wonder why I didn’t save Lenan. They’d ask why I allowed the killer to escape.

Because I had allowed him to escape. If I’d used my mind for even a second, I could have pulled him back before he reached the window. Or when he jumped to the wall, I could have caused him to fall to the courtyard instead. I could have done any number of things to stop him.

But he’d taken the fall for me and saved me from my own idiocy. Whatever his motives had been, how could I punish him for doing what I couldn’t?

The Council didn’t need to know that. It was time to play the part of the frail Chosen.