by Erin Johnson
I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. Oh. They were really good friends.
I held Iggy aloft by my head. He cocked his head to the side as the kiss turned tender and Elke snaked her arms around Shaday's middle. I turned away, aware suddenly of how much we were intruding.
"You and Maple don't act like that." Iggy blinked slowly.
"They're together…a couple," I hissed.
Iggy's mouth formed a perfect O, his eyes opening wide. Then his usual smirk returned and he chuckled. "I know, you dummy."
I rolled my eyes. "We should leave," I whispered.
"Why, because they're kissing?" Iggy frowned. "Maybe Elke's dad found out and tried to break them up, maybe they killed him to keep their secret." He shrugged. "If anything, this just thickens the plot. Don't chicken out now. You don't want Hank marrying a murderer, do you?"
A chill shocked through my chest. I hadn't thought of it like that. Hank being in danger made me more afraid than if I myself were in jeopardy. I nodded. "You're right." I turned back and peered through the screen.
"I'm sorry you had to do that." Elke stood in Shaday's arms, her back against the wall, and tucked a loose strand of jet-black hair behind her ear.
Shaday turned her head and gave Elke's hand a quick kiss. She shrugged. "It wasn't so bad."
Elke frowned. "Do you think she suspects?"
I froze.
Shaday shook her head. "Not really. I spoke with her for a while this afternoon. She asked a lot of questions in roundabout ways, but I don't think she has any idea who it is."
My eyes slid to Iggy's round ones. "She's talking about me," I hissed.
We turned to watch through the screen.
"For now," Elke pouted.
Shaday stroked her thumb under Elke's chin. "I led her to believe it was Muma."
Elke's jaw dropped. "You pinned it on a sixty-year-old servant with a cold?"
Shaday grinned and the light from the lantern at their feet cast her face in deep, shifting shadows. "She doesn't know who Muma is and even if she figures out I was lying, I'll be married and traveling to the Water Kingdom and it'll be easy to avoid her." Shaday smiled at Elke. "And you'll be right there beside me."
I bit my lip and racked my brain. Had we talked about Muma? What did she mean she pinned it on her? I gasped. "She told me her usual henna person was sick," I whispered to Iggy. "Maybe she knows I'm sniffing about trying to solve the murder. Remember, Urs cast a spell that would make any intruder violently ill. Maybe that was her way of getting me to look into Muma, her poor servant."
"Does that mean…”. Iggy's eyes grew even wider. "That they killed Elke's father, Bernhardt?"
"I think so." I barely breathed the words. A jolt of excitement coursed through me. I'd solved the mystery. But maybe more than that, the prospect of stopping the wedding made me nearly giddy.
Iggy and I turned back to the screen. Elke and Shaday stood with their heads close together and spoke in whispers. I edged closer and turned my head to hear better. I pressed my ear up to the screen and bumped it with my shoulder. The screen wobbled and my stomach dropped. I fumbled with my free hand to grab it, but it fell forward before I could and clattered to the floor.
That left me holding Iggy and staring across the wide room to Elke and Shaday on the other side of it. They froze in their embrace for a moment, then jumped apart. Elke pressed her hands to her heaving chest and Shaday blinked.
"Imogen?"
"Uhhhh…."
"I hope you're not counting on your legendary way with words to get us out of this," Iggy hissed.
"Oh hi." I waved my fingers at them. "Oh wow, I didn't see you there."
"Sea snakes," Iggy muttered.
My chest flushed hot and I gulped as I edged backward towards the rug. Maybe if I ran I could lose them. I frowned as I remembered Shaday's acrobatics. That was unlikely.
"Were you watching through the screen?" Shaday's eyes flashed. She huffed and turned to Elke. "I forgot that was there. This ridiculous palace and its secret rooms."
"What screen? Oh! Oh, that screen." I gestured lamely to the floor where it lay.
Elke let out a shaky breath and Shaday lifted her henna-covered palms. The same ones that were criss-crossed in scars and burns—strong hands. She stepped toward me. "You're not going to say anything, are you?"
Iggy started screaming and I yanked the shutter on his lamp shut to muffle him. A line formed between Shaday's brows.
"What? Psh." I gave a shrill chuckle and stumbled backward, feeling blindly for the hanging rug and the way out. "No, nope, I won't say anything, please don't kill me."
Shaday straightened. She blinked. She and Elke exchanged puzzled looks. "What?"
I hunched my shoulders up to my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. "I said please don't kill me." Iggy continued to scream.
Deep belly laughter made me peel an eye open. Shaday had folded over, her hands on her stomach, shaking with laughter. Even Elke chuckled. "Kill you? Seriously?"
I cleared my throat, torn between bolting and feeling foolish. "Like you killed Bernhardt?"
Elke's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
My eyes darted back and forth from Shaday to Elke and back to Shaday. I winced. "You didn't kill him?"
Elke pressed a hand to her chest. "My father? No!" She scoffed and looked horrified at the suggestion. Shaday straightened and shook her head. "That's ludicrous."
I planted my free hand on my hip. "You guys were just talking about pinning it on Muma, you can clearly fight, and Elke, you're trained in hand-to-hand combat. I mean, you're meeting here in secret. It looks pretty suspicious."
Elke folded her arms across her ample chest and cocked one hip. "You're the one hiding behind a screen to watch us meet in secret, which is worse?"
I nodded. "Point taken."
Shaday chuckled. "Come on, Imogen, really? I was talking about a conversation I had this afternoon with this reporter, Madeline L'Orange. She was trying to find out if I knew about Hank's lover. I kept trying to play it down as a ridiculous idea, but she apparently had some believable intel."
I scratched the back of my neck. "That might have been me."
Shaday lifted her dark brows. "Ah. So you're telling your own secrets. Well, maybe I shouldn't have tried to help you then. I pretended to be upset by the idea, saying I'd heard rumors about him and a servant named Muma—that was me pinning it on her." Shaday grinned. "I can't wait for her to try to interrogate Muma."
Elke smirked. "Heaven help her."
I gulped and turned to the blonde young woman. "You didn't want your father to die?"
Elke shrugged. "We weren't close. I'd barely seen him in years, but he left me alone, let me do as I liked. It has always been this way, since my mother died when I was very young. It wasn't that we had a bad relationship, it just wasn't much of one at all." She smiled at Shaday and took her hand. "When I came with him to the Fire Kingdom, years ago, when he trained the men in fighting, I fell in love, and he let me stay without question." She shrugged at me. "I had no reason to want him dead. I disagreed with just about everything he stood for, but he didn't deserve to die like that."
I frowned. "Then why all the secrecy with you training Shaday? Why did you want me to hide your scars and cuts and burns?" I held up my hands.
"First of all." She tilted her head against Elke's. "Our relationship would not be accepted in the Fire Kingdom at large, but especially not by my family. I'm marrying Hank, remember, tomorrow?" She lifted a slim shoulder. "But even if I weren't engaged to another, my mother always wanted a perfect princess and this…” She gestured between her and Elke. "Doesn't jive with her idea of ladylike. We've been careful to keep it a secret—only Muma knows."
I winced. "Guessing your mother wouldn't be a big fan of the fire-fighting either, then?"
Shaday grinned. "You saw?"
"Yeah, you're amazing."
She grinned wider. "And it looked like fighting to you?"
I shrug
ged. "I've never seen anything like it." Elke and Shaday exchanged grins. "It was like a mix between kung fu and dancing."
Shaday clapped Elke on the shoulder. "You've never seen anything like it because we made it up." She waved me closer.
I unshuttered Iggy's lantern and muttered, "What do you think?"
He half lowered his lids. "If she wanted you dead, she'd have killed you by now."
I moved past a stack of dining chairs covered in a beige cloth and across the empty expanse of the room. "Just me, huh?"
"I'm too cute to kill." Iggy cackled.
"Right."
When I got close, Shaday pointed at the smoldering veil still on the floor where she'd dropped it. "Elke's a brilliant inventor. She created a new type of fabric that holds enchanted oil for longer. The women of the Fire Kingdom are trained from little girls to dance with fire. We do so by covering our hands and arms and anywhere that might contact the flame with enchanted oil that allows us to handle the fire for longer periods of time, but typically only about twenty to thirty seconds before we have to recoat."
Elke nodded. "At performances, there are always barrels or bowls of the oil placed around the stage or dance floor for the dancers."
I grimaced. "Seems a little dangerous."
"It is, just a little though. The flames we typically dance with are small and manageable." Shaday bit her lip. "And we do veil dances—they're just not typically on fire."
I chuckled. "Who knew you were such a daredevil?"
She sighed. "I have a lot of secrets. I've always loved fighting. When I was little, I convinced the guards to train me along with my younger brothers. My parents allowed it until I hit puberty. Didn't matter that I was better than boys years older than me." She shook her head. "My mother wanted to raise a typical princess. I suppose I've disappointed her in every way possible."
I frowned. "That can't be true."
Shaday's eyes dropped to her booted feet. "She would be if she knew who I really am. Anyway, when I was twelve she pulled me out of fighting and doubled down on the dance lessons. I hated them. I talked back to my instructor, skipped lessons, messed up group dances on purpose."
"She was a brat," Elke chimed in.
"True." Shaday grinned at her and I marveled. I still couldn't get over a smiling, fighting, dancing Shaday. "But I came around. My instructor had patience with me. She taught me poise, reserve, grace. She showed me how dance was a way to express myself."
"And then I showed up." Elke elbowed the princess. "My father had never minded me learning the technique he and Urs developed, they encouraged it even. I often helped them demonstrate the moves for their pupils. I think Shaday fell for me the day I flipped her on her back and pinned her."
Shaday rolled her eyes. "The next time we grappled, I did better."
"Because I taught you."
Shaday shook her head at me. "I don't know why I put up with her."
Elke fluffed her thick, wavy blonde hair and batted her lashes. "I do."
"Anyway, long story short, we've been together since then—inseparable. We've meshed Elke's fighting with my dancing to create a new style that's a little bit of both. And combined with Elke's inventions, I'm able to handle the fire for longer and in different ways."
"That's incredible, truly. I've never seen anyone move the way you do." I looked between the two of them. "So what's next for this style. Are you going to teach others?"
Shaday's face fell. "Women have a lot of limitations here that they don't in other kingdoms."
Elke rolled her eyes. "Believe me. They all have limitations."
"Yes, but you're allowed to learn martial arts where you're from." Shaday stared at her girlfriend and Elke nodded in agreement. The princess turned back to me and Iggy. "Here, even though I'm the eldest, I can't rule, can't be queen of my own people, because I'm a woman. I can't openly be with the person I love…."
I sighed. "I feel you there."
"I have to marry someone else instead. My whole life is being used as a political tool, as if my only worth is as a bargaining chip." She huffed. "I deserve better. The people of Calloon deserve better."
"I'm sorry." I shook my head. "Honestly. It's not fair. And for what it's worth, I think you'd make a kick-ass queen."
Elke grinned. "Yeah, she would."
Shaday sighed. "Thank you both."
"I agree," Iggy chimed in.
Shaday lifted a brow. "And thank you, Iggy." She raised her decorated palms. "So, do you believe that we didn't kill Elke's father?"
Heat burned up my neck and I bit my lip. "Yeah… I'm really sorry about that. I think, I think I just let my imagination get the best of me. You've never been anything but kind and thoughtful. I'm sorry I thought that of you, even for a moment."
Shaday quirked her lips to the side. "It's all right. I know you're having a hard time right now, too." She squeezed my hand, her own rough and hard. "We ladies have to stick together." She nodded at Elke. "I'm going to go do my cooldown." She moved away and plopped down on the tiled floor to stretch.
Elke walked up to me.
"I'm sorry, Elke. I didn't think through how harsh that accusation sounded. I'm sorry for the loss of your father."
She pressed her full lips together. "Like Shaday said, I think we're all going through a lot right now." She gave me a sad smile. "Guess we have a lot more in common than I would have guessed. We both have to watch the people we love marry someone else tomorrow."
My chest grew tight. I gulped and tried to shake it off.
"Shaday thought it might be good for us to talk. She thought we might hit it off as friends and the sky knows, I need someone to talk to about this right now. Someone who understands."
I shrugged, then cleared my throat. I really didn't want to talk about this at all, especially with someone I hardly knew. "Elke. I'm sorry you're having a hard time, and I'm sure Shaday's right, that we could be great friends, but I—I'm really doing all right. Not great, but I'm hanging in there."
She blinked at me with her soft brown eyes. "Really?" She sighed. "I'm having daily meltdowns. I cried into my porridge this morning—turned it salty."
I clicked my tongue and rubbed her shoulder. "I'm so sorry." I shook my head. "I'm just really tired tonight. But maybe we can talk more tomorrow?" Maybe after it was all done and over with, that pit in my stomach would disappear and I could talk about it without my throat getting tight. "I'm sorry. We'll talk tomorrow, but I should get to bed."
"Oh. All right." Elke blinked at me and my stomach tightened with the realization that I'd hurt her feelings a little. I waved at Shaday and carried Iggy out through the secret doorway behind the hanging rug and down the hallway.
"That was rude."
I bit my lip and held back tears. "Not now, Iggy, okay? I just couldn't talk to her right now."
I stormed forward, barely aware of where I was headed. I rounded a corner, my eyes on the ground and my head whirling with thoughts. "Why does everyone insist on trying to make me talk about it when I keep telling them I don't want to?" I grumbled.
"Ooh." Iggy cleared his throat. "Imogen."
I sighed. "I just told you, I don't want to—"
"Imogen?"
I stopped dead and slowly raised my eyes. Hank stood directly in front of me. He sighed, and I noticed how tired he looked. Dark bags drooped below his eyes and he looked paler than usual. He stepped up to me and threw his strong arms around me in a tight hug. I took a deep breath and noted he smelled of cardamom today. He liked to pop into the bakery, and he always picked up the scent of spices and sugar and baking bread. In other words, he smelled delicious. My stomach turned with longing and sadness and I pulled out of the hug. He blinked at me.
"Imogen, I've been looking all over for you." His thick brows pulled together. "For the last two days, actually."
My heart rate picked up.
"I need to talk to you."
15
Island Getaway
I sighed and shrugged.
Iggy's lantern dangled from my hand. I really, really didn't want to talk about this. "Like I've been saying, I'm fine."
Hank stepped closer and I dropped my eyes to his broad chest. He wore his uniform again, with that broad blue sash across his white coat. The light of the nearest wall sconce danced off it. "Well, I'm not." His deep voice came out hoarse and I looked up into his bloodshot eyes.
He shoved a hand through his dark hair, roughly pulling it back. "I miss you. For months we've been spending every minute together and now I can't even get you to talk to me."
I swallowed against the tight lump in my throat and looked away. It was true. Since Bruma, even before that, we'd been practically inseparable. Even when I was working, he snuck down to the bakery and worked alongside us at least once a day. And at night we went on dates in the royal library or gardens or joined our friends for a pint at the Rusted Wreck in town. It'd been wonderful… and now it felt like it was all over.
Hank sighed and gripped my shoulders. "You're still not talking to me. Is this what it's going to be like?"
I lifted my eyes to his and willed them wider to hold in the tears that were brimming almost to overflow.
"Because I can't do this." He shook his head, his face pinched with pain. I hated to see him like this. "I can't go back to the way I was living before I met you. I can't lose you."
I swallowed. It hurt. I licked my lips as a tear escaped and trailed down my cheek. I swiped it away. "I don't like this any more than you do. Believe me." I pressed my lips into a tight line and shrugged. "But this is how it is, right? I knew that from the beginning."
Hank squeezed my arms and searched my face. "I should've told you this earlier, but I didn't want you to feel responsible or guilty if I—if I decided to call off the wedding."
My brows jumped and chills spread over me. "Are you thinking of doing that?" I asked it carefully, slowly, trying not to let myself hope or to show him how much I'd hoped for him to do that. I hadn't even realized how much I'd wanted it until this moment.
"Imogen." He shook his head, his blue eyes wet and sparkling in the firelight. "I've thought about it since we almost kissed in the baking tent—every day, I've thought about it. I would've have called it off by now, but I'm beholden to my father's line of magic. All of my brothers are, too. It's been that way for generations. My magic is tied to Bijou Mer and to the ruler of it, my father. If I called off this wedding—" Hank let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "He'd be beyond furious. I'm not high in my father's esteem anyway. I've always been the black sheep of the family. He hates that I enjoy baking, hates that I'm a swallow and different. I catch him watching me sometimes from across the room or at a feast—he's always glaring at me." Hank shook himself. "It doesn't matter, except that I have no doubt he would disown me and that would mean losing my powers, my magic." His chest heaved. "I should've told you earlier, but I wanted you to feel comfortable expressing what you wanted, even if that meant asking me to call off the engagement. I kept waiting for you to. And when you didn't, I tried to talk to you about it, but you've been avoiding me."