Chapter 18:

His heart sinking, Sukren listened to Mayah prattle on and on about one of the princesses in her dorm. “And then, after that, Qat – who grew up in the same nursery as Rihani – told me how Rihani had been really close to her mother, but then she was disappeared, and Rihani never got over it. Which makes sense. She certainly acts like she never got over it.”

Sukren’s mouth was very dry. “It sounds like you talked to Qat for a long time.”

“Yep! We walked all over the library. You know it’s ten levels high? But each level has the same pattern.”

“Pattern?”

“Yeah, the library’s a labyrinth. Each level is the same, they’re all twisty in the same way, but on one floor, a labyrinth wall might be a shelf, while on another floor, it’ll be a bunch of statues.”

“Statues?”

Mayah gave him a you’re weird look. “Are you even listening to me?”

Sukren swallowed. “I thought you were going to stop trying?”

“Oh yeah.” Mayah looked down at her feet. She seemed uneasy. Strange. It was almost as if she’d been wearing a mask, only it was slipping now, her bubbly cheer giving way to disquiet. No, it couldn’t be. Mayah wouldn’t hide her feelings from him. Sukren was sensing his own anxiety, that was all. They were inside the butterfly balcony again, and the heavy humidity was weighing down on him. Too bad the moisture in the air didn’t make it any easier to swallow. “Yeah,” Mayah said again. “I tried. I tried to stop trying. But then Qat and I went to the library and we started talking and I ended up telling her everything –”

Sukren could feel his heart start to race again. “Everything? You told her about growing up in a serf village?”

“Oh, well, everything but that.”

“Thank Sarana,” he breathed.

“So I shouldn’t tell her?” Mayah asked. “Because Qat told me a lot of stuff, a lot of secret stuff, so I thought maybe I should share too.”

“No! Don’t tell her! Think a little!”

Mayah glared at him. “I shouldn’t have told you about Qat. I forgot I wasn’t going to tell you things anymore.”

“What?”

“Oops. I mean… I wasn’t going to tell you that either…”

“You – you’re hiding things from me?” Sukren’s head was spinning. He would have never guessed – would have never thought – hadn’t he just told himself she would never do something like that? “How could you even think to? What, are you going to share everything with Qat now, instead?”

“Well, Qat is my friend.”

“No, she’s not!” Sukren leaned forward. By Sarana, he wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. “She’s probably a spy, she’s probably working for some other patron –”

“Shut up!” Mayah screamed.

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Sukren almost put his hand on hers. “Calm down, Mayah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean –”

“Take it back!” Tears were spilling down her face. “Take it back! She’s not a spy! She’s my friend! She’s real!”

“Okay, okay, it’s okay –”

Mayah leapt to her feet. She was sobbing now, but there was nothing Sukren could do. Damnable purity laws! “Mayah, please don’t go, let’s talk about this –”

“No!” she wept. “No, no! That’s all you ever say! No! No! No!”

“Mayah, please!”

She was already gone. Sukren sat back down onto the bench, feeling stunned and sick. The butterflies that had flown away in response to their fight were cautiously returning to the starfruit strewn along the base of the nearby trees. He watched their red and gold wings open and close. How could this be happening? How could Mayah choose the Rajas over him? What had he done wrong?

I can’t let this happen. I have to win her back. I have to. Or else…

Or else what?

Something bad, Sukren knew. He could feel it deep inside him, fear like rot within his bones. He had to get Mayah back onto the safe path. He had to. No matter what it took. No matter what it cost him.

***

By sunrise, Sukren had formulated a plan. Phase 1: get back into Mayah’s good graces. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted at you, can you forgive me? It’s okay if you have Rajas friends. I was feeling jealous, that’s all. It’s been you and me and nobody else for such a long time. Well, sure, you had friends in the village, but you were closest to me.”

It worked. “You’re still my closest, Sukren! But that doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with other people too, you know!”

“Of course, of course.”

“So… you’re not mad at me?”

“Not mad at all.”

“Good. I’m not mad at you either.”

“I’m glad! Now, you should probably get to class, you’re starting a new storytelling unit, right? Yes? Okay, go, don’t be late!”

He watched Mayah skip off. Now for Phase 2: get a message to Lady Nari. That would be harder. If only Lady Nari had assigned him a contact-point agent! Without one, well, Sukren could still try to track down one of the agents he knew already, but he didn’t want to accidentally lead Ganithe and Ul to anybody new. The less Lord Tyr’s spies knew about Lady Nari’s network, the better. Sukren toyed for a second with the idea of trying to get Lady Nari’s telegraph handle, but no, that would be even more traceable.

Sukren opened the door of his dorm, entered, and turned to Ganithe. “You said there’s a clinic looking for extra workers, right? Where was it again?”

Ganithe blinked before answering him. Sukren didn’t blame her. He’d been ignoring both Ganithe and Ul as much as possible, refusing to answer their questions and speaking to them only when he absolutely had to. “Yes,” Ganithe replied. “In Zone 9.”

“Thanks,” Sukren said. He climbed into his bed-shelf. “I’ll be going there tomorrow morning.”

He could sense their confusion. Good, that was the point. Make them think Sukren had nothing to hide. They’d still follow him, of course, or at least one of them would, but maybe they’d back off once they realized it wasn’t a trick. All Sukren was going to do was volunteer at the clinic tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next.

Twelve diurnals went by. Twelve sunsets. Twelve rotations of Chudami on its axis. Slowly, agonizingly, he watched Mayah get closer and closer to the other princesses. It took all he had to stay the course. Don’t worry, you’ll get her back on track, you just have to be patient...

Then it happened – a bed was wheeled into the clinic and shoved against the hallway wall. Sukren was two steps away. He watched an apprentice flip through the cards hanging from the bed rail. “I’ll take care of him,” he called out.

“He’s not high priority,” the apprentice replied.

“I understand,” Sukren said, shouldering the apprentice aside. The girl looked annoyed. Then she shrugged and walked off, leaving Sukren alone by the clinic bed.

“You look like you got into trouble,” Sukren said.

“It’s you,” Vek whispered. A faint smile touched his lips.

Sukren grabbed the bed rail above Vek’s head. His hands were trembling; Ul and Ganithe were nowhere in sight. Nobody was in sight. Thank Sarana, his plan was in motion!

“Let’s get you into a room,” he managed. “I have a message I need you to deliver.”