Page 75 of Her Soul for a Crown
“It is.”
“Your face says differently.”
“My face says nothing.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Calu clapped him on the shoulder with one hand and fingered his neckline with the other. The gnarled pendant was gone, but surely secured elsewhere alongside Sohon’s offering.
Disentangling himself, Reeri turned to the others. He need not prove his questions valid.
Sohon lounged on the throne, flipping through the journal as another thick book sat by his side. Kama sprawled on the floor, tripping her fingers over the pages. “If I were to set fire to a memory book, would their souls feel it?”
Sohon snatched it up. If he did not deliver it intact, the offering would disappear, for a bargain broken takes from both sides. “You are insane.”
“I am passion,” she corrected. “Fascination feeds me.”
The doors to the throne room banged closed. Reeri glanced up as Anula marched in, a light in her eyes. It riled his shadow.
She held a letter aloft. “Nuwan has summoned us.”
Had she doubled back to Nuwan that night? Was she troubled by what he had said or done? If so, why would she not tell him? They were in this together.
“He wants ‘the consort and her ladies’ to deliver the painting.” Anula smirked at Kama, the only lady of court ever seen attending her. “Though Bithul is allowed to carry it.”
“Absolutely not,” Reeri said, terse and swift.
Anula raised a brow. “Are you worried I can’t defend myself if he means harm?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Calu said simultaneously. Reeri bristled.
“Has the poison eroded your memory?” She pointed to hernecklace. “Bithul will grab the painting, and Kama and I will be on our way. You can finish your ‘business’ before the day is done. So don’t get comfortable on my throne, Sohon.”
“We cannot.” Kama stood.
Anula narrowed her eyes. “Cannot what?”
“Kama,” Reeri warned.
The Yakka of Love tsk-tsked. “She should know.”
“Know what?”
“The relic is merely the first step. There are more.”
“How many?”
Kama skipped to her side. “One that is two. I must find my true essence first.” She tripped her fingers up Anula’s arm and across her chest. “Will you help me? You know the workings of a heart.”
Anula lifted her gaze. Wounded and angry. Whatever ground Reeri had gained with her stopped short, the earth falling away in a landslide.
“Anula.” He stepped forward, the words on the end of his tongue. He could tell her, explain it all. Would she open to him then? Bring him a book to remember?
No. It risked too much. If she rescinded—
“It’s fine,” she snapped, grabbing Kama’s hand from her chest and pulling her to the door. “If there’s more to do, then we can’t waste time.”
She blazed out of the chamber, Bithul quick on her heels, the painting jostling in his hand, cane in the other.
