Alize and Kell arrived at the palace the next morning significantly later than Kell had intended. As the guards bid them enter, Alize’s uplifted spirits began descending back to earth. The palace thronged with people screaming for attention.

Icar had left debts unpaid and bodies unburied. The populace, oppressed for the winter under his vagaries, seemed intent to make their grievances plain to Greer.

They had nearly reached Greer’s apartments when Alize felt a hand close on her wrist, pulling her backwards.

“Alize-” Qaaru began, but stopped short when she saw Kell. “Oh, Sargon Kelesh. Then you’ve heard.” The older woman stood with several of the parents that Alize had met in the prison.

“Heard what?” Alize asked.

“Tell her,” Melis commanded. Qaaru looked flustered, but Melis flushed with rage. She huffed her breaths from her nose and even Qaaru shied away from her.

“Princess Greer, she has killed Icar. Now her father will take the throne,” Qaaru stammered.

Alize stopped herself from laughing. “I did hear that,” she answered with false gravity.

“No, listen,” Qaaru continued, this time with more urgency in her voice, “she took the palace last night with a companion. With a Hrumi.”

“A Hrumi?” Alize repeated. She avoided looking at Kell lest either betray the other.

“Yes! Princess Greer has made a truce with the Hrumi! Where does that leave the Deku? We fear the princess will release the prisoners and we shall never have answers, we shall never have justice for their crimes! Sargon Kelesh, you cannot, you must not allow this! You promised us justice, you promised us our children!”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Kell intoned beside Alize. She wanted to bury herself in his calm response. “Besides, anything is an improvement to the Deku’s methods. At least this way no one’s dying.”

“The Deku methods are called coercion,” Melis spat, thrusting herself before Kell and Alize, “and you would do well to learn from it.”

“Don’t forget those dead women are people’s daughters too.” Kell responded coolly.

“I accept their sacrifice so that others might live,” Melis snarled. “The Deku were so close to learning the location of the children’s camp, I’m certain of it.”

“Don’t be,” Alize snapped back. It infuriated her that anyone could welcome the Deku’s gruesome treatment of her sisters. She felt Kell’s hand on her shoulder in warning. “The Deku do not work for your benefit.”

“At least they were working,” Melis retorted, glaring at Kell.

“Be careful Melis,” Alize spoke, “lest your hatred imperil your capacity to love anything.”

“Let’s go,” Kell murmured as Melis’s face twisted, “now. Excuse us.”

They had nearly reached the door when Qaaru caught up to them.

“You have an audience with the princess?” Qaaru asked, panting. Her voice sounded so much milder than Melis’s. Even if she felt the same desperation, she managed to temper it. “Alize, you must find her Hrumi companion, find her and make her understand that we are suffering. We need to know what happened to our children.”

Kell began to respond but Qaaru silenced him with an upraised hand, keeping her gaze even on Alize.

“Begging your pardon, Sargon Kelesh, but not you. It has to be Alize. She knows this pain.”

Qaaru’s words sank their teeth in Alize. In truth she knew nothing of Qaaru’s pain. But whatever the Hrumi intentions, she could see now their impacts. And she understood, perhaps for the first time, that releasing her sisters would not solve this problem. “I will tell Princess Greer about you, Qaaru,” she rasped.

“Kell!” Davram called from the doorway. “This was not the morning to drag your feet!”

Davram waved them forward, but as they passed through the threshold, Alize glanced backwards to Qaaru. The older woman watched her and for a moment, Alize feared she saw right through her. After so long despising her Deku side, Alize hated to doubt her Hrumi side too.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“You won’t be around when that resolves,” Kell whispered in her ear. That did little to soothe Alize. She heard his bitterness. It would fall to Kell to announce the empty jail to those heartbroken families. To Alize, that hardly seemed like resolution.

The guards parted before Davram, who nudged Alize and Kell through the gilded doors. When they shut behind them, the noise of teeming hallway subsided. By the time they reached Greer’s chamber, they could not hear it at all.

“How is she doing?” Kell asked Davram. “Is she in much pain?”

“The princess will not be coddled,” Davram said. Alize grinned to hear a slight testiness. She liked this enamored Davram. “She barely slept last night.”

“So,” Kell said hopefully, “everything’s in order by now?”

“Kell,” Davram chided before looking to Alize in disbelief. She stopped chuckling and attempted to appear appropriately chastened.

“Anyway,” Davram continued, “we did receive some news. Apparently last night the Deku in Venin actually performed their contractual service to Icar.”

“You mean - Nadar?” Kell choked.

“He’s dead.” Davram confirmed, finally letting himself smile. “Tamer is already High Prince, unofficially. He’ll arrive at Parousia this afternoon and he has declared a feast in the covered market. The whole city is invited.”

“Then it’s over!” Kell exclaimed.

“Not yet.” Davram did not have time to explain before they arrived besides the princess herself.

Greer raised her head from the documents spread on the gilded table. The wound on her face swelled red and enflamed, but her expression betrayed only calm.

Kell bowed lowly. Alize hesitated then dropped to her knees. She would not perform the ceremonial sign of subordination, but she wanted to show Greer some respect by her own tradition.

“Rise,” Greer commanded. Only half of her face smiled. “I wish we could celebrate, but unfortunately this transition still hides many obstacles. Five Deku remain stationed in the prison, and they insist to see me in person. You understand,” Greer pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, “I do not care to entertain those who have been paid to kill me. Alize, have you informed your sisters of last night’s success?”

“They will mobilize in the fir forest by midday,” Alize answered. Though Greer had moved straight into strategies, the princess’s eyes danced on hers, her elation evident in her every movement.

“Perfect. My father’s invitation for a feast in the covered market offers a strategic decoy we had not anticipated. Your clan members can still use the qanat entrance, and I will close that street, so you will be able to move much faster.”

Alize nearly laughed with her good fortune.

Greer continued, “Can your sisters handle the Deku?”

“Certainly.” Here Alize’s smile faded. She dreaded facing the assassins. But amongst her Hrumi sisters, they could never recognize her as one of them. She drew a deep breath and hardened her resolve. She would defeat her cursed family. Let that be her absolution.

Greer lowered her voice. “We expected far more resistance from the Deku. Alize, your sisters will play a smaller role than anticipated, but I wish to emphasize a thousand-fold my appreciation for their alacrity. Never in my province’s history have we approached anything resembling understanding with the Hrumi. I know the complications, with so many prisoners dead, but my father sees an opportunity for a spring thaw.”

Alize bowed her head. “I concur. It may take some time, but I believe we have found common ground to stand on. This will not be the last communiqué between our people.”

“Alize will come back,” Kell announced, unable to suppress the smile on his lips.

Alize flushed with contentment. It was true. She had left her dagger with Kell as a promise. They both knew that she would return in time to claim it. In truth, nothing else she could give him would ever compel her back once she returned to the forest.

“Not to stay, of course,” Kell added, “but she’s coming back.”

“Mm hmm,” Greer and Davram responded in perfect intonation.

The sun shone everywhere that morning.

“Did you hear the one about the Mage that walked into a bath house?” Kell asked later. He and Alize sat on the tile floor in the Greer’s courtyard as Davram fished acorns out of the fountain.

“Let me think,” Alize laughed, “he demanded to know whose magic could command so much freshwater from the very earth.”

Davram chuckled, shaking his head. “That barely makes sense.”

Alize tossed a handful of sodden acorns back into the fountain. They made several satisfying plops. “Oh no, Davram, I think you missed some.”

Davram shot her a nasty look but behind him Kell’s laughter faded.

“Hollan,” Kell nodded in greeting.

Alize turned to see Kell’s Oghuz friend.

Hollan regarded her. “It’s time.”

Kell rose with Alize. “It’s not good bye,” he whispered, but he hugged her tightly.

Alize turned to Davram and he embraced her with dripping sleeves. “I’m still thinking about what you said,” he murmured, clasping both her shoulders. “All of it. Thank you, for everything.”

Alize blinked her eyes, which seemed strangely hot. “It’s not good bye,” she repeated. But the Sargons would go to the feast that evening while she would lead her sisters on their prison raid. Alize had made no commitments to Kell about when she would return to Parousia, or for how long.

She smiled once more at Kell, but it was forced. Both he and Alize knew that she would replace her government dress that evening with Hrumi clothing, and her life would again fit the familiar pattern she had sought to recapture from the very first day she met Onder in the autumn. As much as she found comfort in Kell’s arms, it could not compare to the Hrumi community. Someday, she would have to choose, but for now, Kell was losing her to the life she lived without him.

Alize followed Hollan from the courtyard, out of the palace, and towards the direction of the old qanat tunnel.