“Laya is distraught.” Duja kicked off her sandals and stretched out beside him on the bed. Her fingers shook as she reached up to trace the fine black stubble on his chin.

He took her trembling hand and planted a gentle kiss atop her knuckles. “Give her a few days to mend her heart. She will understand in time.”

“I don’t know about that,” Duja said with a weary sigh. She knew that this kind of pain had a way of braiding itself into the fleshy tendons of your soul. Time did not heal this kind of heartbreak; rather, it allowed it to fester. Duja had not realized the extent to which such pain could endure until she spoke with Imeria in the throne room.

Earlier that evening, Imeria had wept just as she had the first time Duja sent her away. Imeria saw it as a punishment, but Duja truly had wanted to protect her. Marrying Imeria was out of the question⁠—and not simply because they were both women. If they had been born into different families, Duja might have continued to love Imeria all her life, taking a husband for the sole purpose of producing Gatdula heirs. The royal court was no stranger to such arrangements. But in their eyes, loving a Kulaw was not only dangerous. It was unforgivable.

In the years after the Kulaw rebellion, the scars remained fresh. Few of the datus loyal to the Gatdulas would have taken news of their power’s resurgence lightly if they had known. They might have demanded Imeria’s removal, or worse⁠—her death. And if Duja had allied with Imeria against their wishes, the other royal families might have banded together against them. The ensuing war would have brought an end to Maynara as they knew it.

As much as Duja feared Imeria, she couldn’t let that happen.

After twenty-two years, she hadn’t told a single soul about Imeria’s infernal abilities. Not the rest of the council. Not Maiza. Not even her husband, with whom she kept no secrets. None, except this.

“I’ll speak to Laya again in the morning. You mustn’t worry so.” Aki kissed her on the forehead. Her devoted husband. When it came to Duja’s true history with Imeria, he had his guesses. Even after all their years of marriage, she had yet to muster the courage to tell him.

Duja chewed the inside of her lip. “I suppose you’re right.”

She changed into her night things and crawled under the sheets. They turned the lights down and rolled back the window screens. Silvery light streamed through the capiz-shell panels. A light breeze rolled in from the Untulu Sea, and the panels quivered in their rosewood frames. Aki drifted to sleep minutes later. Duja listened to his soft, steady breathing as she stared into the darkness.