The Girl King (The Girl King #1)(25)

“A woman. Yes,” Set said, his voice soft beneath the steady beating of the monsoon rain. “Yes, of course. I see it now. A young woman.”

“I am,” she agreed, her voice high with relief.

He seemed to mull this over. “And yet, earlier, when I arrived, I presented you with a set of porcelain dolls—a gift suitable for a child half your age. Most inappropriate. I fear I’ve insulted you, and embarrassed myself in the process.”

“Oh, no . . .” She flushed, remembering. He’d barely looked at her, placing the velvet-lined box of dolls in her hands before flitting off to speak with her mother. “N-no, cousin. Your gifts—they were lovely. Truly, I cherish them with all the affection and delight they warrant.”

“Nonsense! I would not leave you so unduly insulted. Much could be said against the young scion of the Hana, but few have called me miserly.”

“I would never—”

But he held up a long, pale hand. “You are in the right. Tell me what you would like, and come the morning you will receive your new, much improved gift, Small Princess.”

“Minyi,” she said. “Call me Minyi. If you wish.” That was the polite thing to do, was it not? He was her elder, he ought to call her by her given name. True, she had the higher rank for now perhaps, but he was her cousin, and one day he would be her emperor—she felt a flash of guilt, as though the very thought were a betrayal of Lu.

Not that she would care. The thought pricked meanly at the skin of her nape. She could hardly deny the truth of it, though; what use did her sister have of Min’s opinion either way?

“Minyi,” Set was repeating slowly, as though weighing each syllable with his tongue. He reflected for a moment, then said, “Your mother always called you Min, as I recall.”

“Min is only a pet name. A child’s name.”

“And as we established, you are no child.”

“No,” Min agreed. “I am not.”

In spite of herself, she grinned. It was nice, this rhythm, this verbal dance into which they had fallen. Her nunas did this with each other sometimes, but never with her.

“Well, Minyi.” Set quirked his lips into a smile that she thought really very pleasant, after all. “What should we do about finding you a more appropriate gift? What would you have of me? A pair of silver earrings dripping moonstones down to your shoulders? A carved hairpin of green nephrite?”

“I have earrings. And hairpins,” she ventured coyly.

He grinned in encouragement. “Tell me what you wish for, and it will be yours.”

“The crystal around your neck.” She blurted the words out without thinking.

Surprise flickered across Set’s still, handsome face, followed by a peculiar uncertainty.

“This crystal?” He laughed, but the sound was hollow.

Gods, what had she done? He could grant her literally anything within her imagination and of course she had asked him for the one thing he wasn’t willing to give.

“Dear Minyi, this charm is only quartz. Worthless. You deserve fine, polished jewels. Aquamarine and amethyst to stoke your gray eyes. Veined agate and saltwater pearls nested in a setting of silver polished until it gleams.”

She blushed scarlet. Things had grown so nice between them. Why had she gone and spoiled it? That was the wrong thing, Min—no, the worst thing you could have asked for. Idiot! Look at his face. This crystal clearly means a good deal to him.

“It was wrong of me to—forgive me.”

He seemed to consider her carefully. It reminded her of the way a sleepy cat might idly watch a bird. “Small Princess—Minyi,” he said. “Tell me what attracts you to this trinket.”

“I-I was only being foolish. I know so little of the world, I did not realize it was worth so little.”

“But you admired it nevertheless.”

“When I first saw you—that is, when I first saw it about your neck, it—it sang to me.”

“It sang to you?”

“Yes.”

He stared at her for what felt like ages. When he spoke, his voice was low. “Well. That is interesting. You see, this pendant is from Yunis. Brother and I recently investigated the ruins of their old city, and I came upon this fragment in the rubble. So I took a piece and had a jeweler turn it into a necklace. Just a keepsake from my travels.”

Then he shrugged. “No doubt there is more where it came from. And we are soon to be brother and sister, so I suppose I can see it any time I wish. Just as I can see you any time I wish.” He lifted the chain over his head, and with little ceremony draped it over hers, careful to avoid catching her hair.

Min looked down to where the crystal rested on the high curve of her breast, touched it delicately. It felt oddly warm and animal. Alive. Her robes weren’t so constricting anymore. She felt as though she were floating, made of cool air and moonlight.

When she looked up, Set was watching her with bemused, attentive eyes.

“Now, if I may be so bold to ask, what did it sound like?” he asked.

Min considered the question, then the questioner. High above them, the sky darkened and reopened. Rain fell in a deluge. Where it struck, heat rose from the earth as steam. Under the cover of the walkway, the hanging lamps seemed oddly bright, blazing about Set’s face like a corona. Fiery white and shivering. A thousand eyes staring down at her, sharing his same glowing curiosity.