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Chapters (50)
  1. Praise for
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. City of Mariit: Capital of Maynara Map
  5. One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Two
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Three
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Four
  31. By Order of General Ojas,On Behalf of Her Majesty Hara Duja
  32. Twenty-Three
  33. Twenty-Four
  34. Twenty-Five
  35. Twenty-Six
  36. Twenty-Seven
  37. Twenty-Eight
  38. Twenty-Nine
  39. Thirty
  40. Thirty-One
  41. Thirty-Two
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Five
  44. A Coronation Prayer
  45. Thirty-Four
  46. Epilogue
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. Thank You
  49. About the Author
  50. Violetear Books x Bindery Books

Instead of subjecting her son to a lecture, Imeria took a seat on the veranda. She gestured for Luntok and Vikal to join her. Luntok sauntered over to the tea table. He removed the scabbard from his belt and leaned it against the capiz-shell screen that walled off the veranda from the rest of the house. Vikal watched him, a small smile on his boxy face, and followed suit.

“Oh my. Has she tired of your company already?” Imeria drawled as she poured them each a glass of wine.

His gaze snapped to hers. “Dayang Laya sends her regards,” he said sarcastically.

“I don’t like how she toys with you,” she said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Laya doesn’t toy with me. She’s very fond of me, you know.” This time, Imeria could detect a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

She barked out an unkind laugh. “Fondness,” she said. “Surely you can inspire something stronger than that.”

Across the table, she and Vikal exchanged a knowing look, but Luntok didn’t notice. He crossed his arms and slouched further in his seat. To avoid an argument, Imeria turned to Vikal. They went over the schedule for the week of the feast days while Luntok stormed silently between them. Imeria resisted the urge to hold him to her chest. He was a man now, and a sensitive one at that. She wished she could soothe his angry thoughts as she had when he was a child.

Luntok deserved not the princess’s mocking, but a throne of his own. This, too, is temporary, she wanted to say. For now, it was the sole comfort Imeria could give him. Instead, she laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. His brow was still knitted in frustration, but his shoulders softened at her touch.

Rage now, my boy. Soon, the Gatdulas would toy with them no longer. Once Imeria’s plans came to pass, the Kulaws would be the ones laughing in the end.

Six

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Laya

At the first glimmer of light, the royal guard drew open the palace gates to make way for the procession. Laya stood wedged between her sisters on top of the great marble steps and watched their subjects flood in. The procession stretched through the pebbled ground of the forecourt and along the full length of the main canal, its water glittering a preternatural shade of turquoise thanks to the cone-hatted workers who’d spent the past week fishing out debris.

At least a hundred Maynaran nobles had already professed their devotion to Hara Duja and presented the Gatdula family with lavish gifts. Laya lost count of the imported porcelain, rare stone vases, and pongee-wrapped parcels they received.