Page 24 of Her Radiant Curse

“I…I’d like time to consider the noble suitors who have come today.” She exhales, then turns to the remaining kings on the platform. “Let us call for a respite. I’d like to speak to each of you in private and learn to know you, as His Majesty Emperor Hanriyu suggests.”

“A prudent suggestion,” says Dakuok. He places a hand on Vanna’s shoulder. “But these are kings, not messenger boys. Do you understand, Vanna? Their realms need them, and already they show you great esteem by coming to our humble island. They have not the time to chatter with you.”

Vanna twists away from the priest. “Perhaps they should. If I were in search of a queen, I would wish to know her.”

“Therein lies the difficulty, Golden One.” Dakuok lets out a sigh. “Your Majesties, who here is in search of a queen?”

The only response is a long and baleful silence.

It is in this moment that Vanna’s strength crumbles. Dakuok and Adah have filled her head with fantasies of becoming a great lady, practically assuring her that she will be a queen. But reality is cruel.

Our family has no status or influence; we prosper only off the generosity of Vanna’s admirers. Her sole value is the light in her heart and the tales Dakuok has crafted about its divinity and beauty. But as much as any might covet her, they also fear her, for her mysterious glow and its power. No king in his right mind would offer her a throne beside him.

Her light goes dim.

“You see?” Dakuok says. “The Lady Vanna is tired. Let us finish the selection quickly.”

Vanna jerks. “That’s not what I asked for—”

“Let us bid with gold.”

Gold is a language the kings understand. Suddenly the selection ceremony takes a sharp and dangerous turn.

“I offer a thousand golden riels!” shouts one.

“Two thousand.”

“Five thousand.”

“Be generous with your gifts, Majesties,” clucks Dakuok, “and be respectful. The lady is the Golden One, a daughter of the gods!”

“Ten thousand.”

“Fifteen thousand, along with four Caiyan mares.”

So on it goes. I stop watching the kings and focus on Vanna. When she isn’t fidgeting with her skirt, she touches the flowers in her hair, as if they’d been pinned too close to her scalp. The light in her heart continues to flicker, no matter how she tries to still it.

Within minutes the price is at forty thousand, a sum greater than Adah had hoped for.

“Forty thousand?” Dakuok repeats. “King Narth’ii offers forty thousand in honor of the divine Vanna Jin’aiti. Will any other match his generosity?”

The bids continue. Vanna leans against Lintang, looking feeble. The way this is going, she will not be a queen as she’d hoped, but the mistress of a king.

I try to catch her attention, to signal that she could end this. But her earlier attempts to intercede have cowed her. I can read what she’s thinking: that the gods of luck have always favored her, and so long as she wishes hard enough, she has a way of getting what she wants.

For her sake, I hope she gets her wish today. I only pray it will be everything she dreamed of, and not a nightmare.

King Meguh has not spoken, but his reticence is not due to uneasiness. It is a tactic. He’s calculated for this moment, for when the kings have reached their highest offer and have no more in their purses to give.

His shout splinters the air. “Seventy thousand golden riels.”

I nearly tumble off the roof. Seventy thousand golden riels? That is a tremendous sum, enough to buy an entire island.

Adah and Dakuok exchange a look, and my father starts to declare that King Meguh has won.

No, no, no. I tug at the sharpened pole, trying to work it free of the tent’s canvas. I could easily spear Meguh in the heart from here. But then I’d be captured, and Vanna would be vulnerable to the Demon Witch.

I find Oshli among the villagers, his gaze already on mine.

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