Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(100)

“It’s more important to me than ever that S?ren is released from prison,” I say, trying to think up a lie that will appeal to her. “S?ren was very close with Ho…with the Ojo.” I can’t say Hoa’s name—it sticks in my throat.

“I’m sure he’ll be quite upset,” she agrees.

“Not only that. Do you know why the Kaiser kept her alive for as long as he did? Even after he left Goraki behind?”

“I’ve heard rumors. They say she was quite beautiful, once,” she says.

Once. The dismissive way she says it rankles me. It’s true that Hoa’s youth had left her, that she looked older than her years, that the Kaiser had left his mark on her in too many ways to count, but I think of how Hoa looked in the refugee camp and I think she was more beautiful than Coltania with her painted lips and feline grace.

“I don’t think the Kaiser is capable of love, but obsession is a whole other thing,” I say, forcing myself to continue. “When the Kaiser finds out she was killed instead of her son, he’ll be furious. It’s important that we settle this marriage business as soon as we can and leave before the Kaiser attacks Sta’Crivero. I know I alluded to it earlier, but now let me make myself quite plain: once S?ren is free, I will choose your brother as my husband and we—all of us—can get out of this place before the Kaiser arrives. I think that is in all of our best interests.”

Coltania considers this for a moment. “I couldn’t agree more,” she says before nodding at the cup still cradled in my hands. “You ought to finish your tea before it goes cold.”

I look down at the green liquid. The aftertaste from my first couple of sips still lingers in my mouth, like twigs and rust. This time, when I lift the cup to my lips again, I seal them against the bitter liquid.

“See? It’s growing on you, isn’t it?” Coltania asks with a smile.

The riser jerks to a stop, causing some of the tea to slosh over the rim of my cup. It falls to the floor of the riser, staining the cream-colored carpet an ill yellow. What I wouldn’t give for a cup of strong, sweet, spiced coffee instead.

“Come,” Coltania says, tugging my free arm and leading me out of the riser. “Some fresh air will do your heart good.”



* * *



—

The garden is deserted this time of night, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Danger aside, though, empty and dark, it feels straight out of a fever dream, full of smoky, subdued color and fragrances so overwhelming I feel drunk on them. It’s enough to make me dizzy. I grip my teacup tighter. There’s still half left and I don’t want to drink any more, but Coltania’s attention is so focused on me that I’m not sure I can refuse. She still holds S?ren’s fate in her hands. I meet her gaze and take another tight-lipped pretend sip.

“Delicious,” I lie, but that earns a smile from her.

“The flowers are beautiful in the moonlight, aren’t they?” she asks me as we walk down the path. Her fingers trail along the top of a bush full of white buds that almost seem to glow. “Most flowers are loveliest in sunlight, but a few thrive at night—like these. Bolenzas—it translates to ‘night blooms’ in Yoxian. There’s a natural compound that coats their petals and makes them glow like this. Isn’t it something?”

“It’s lovely,” I tell her, even though I don’t want to talk about flowers.

“Lovely,” she echoes. “But that same compound can be stripped from the petals and boiled to a concentrated liquid that can be lethal if ingested.”

She says the words casually enough, but they knock the breath from me. Pieces slide into place. A picture becomes clearer.

“You were never worried about your brother,” I say slowly. “Even when the Czar said another one of the suitors had been killed. You already knew who the target was.”

Coltania doesn’t deny it. She languidly blinks at me like she’s already bored of the conversation.

“Why, though?” I ask her. “Why work for the Kaiser?”

At that, she laughs, taking a step toward me. I take a step back, a bush scratching my legs even through the skirt of my dressing gown.

“In Oriana, there’s a story we tell children about a grotesque monster who will snatch them out of their beds and eat them if they misbehave—the Kaiser is your monster. Just the mention of him is enough to frighten you. I needed you frightened because I thought it would push you to make a decision faster. The Kaiser was just a story to nudge you along.”

“But the servant girl said it was the Kaiser,” I say. “She’d had the truth serum. Or was that fake?”

Coltania lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “She told the truth as she knew it and she only knew what she had been told—that the Kaiser was behind it and she would be well compensated for assisting him.”

I remember the girl falling to the floor, her body convulsing as she died, and I feel sick.

“Why the Archduke, though?” I ask, my voice rising in a vain hope that there is someone in this garden who will hear. Someone who will help me.

She shrugs. “I heard you talking to Prinz S?ren in this very garden, telling him Archduke Etmond was your first choice of the suitors. King Etristo had promised me that you would choose Marzen, but I feared he didn’t have as much control over you as he thought.”