“You have my thanks as well, Lina,” said Lady Bushian, sparing me the briefest of glances. “We are grateful for your help.”
“Indeed, Lina.” Zairena looked up. “Why don’t you take some persimmons back with you?”
It was a dismissal, one I was more than ready to accept. I’d done what I needed to for Takkan. Our strands could be uncrossed.
“There’s no need.” Takkan gestured at the long lacquered table. “Have as many as you like. Join us for breakfast.”
Me?I balked. I glanced at Pao, who raised his chin a hair, as if to say,Go on.
I took the empty seat beside Zairena, trying not to gloat at her tight, strained smile. Takkan’s at least was real.
“I realize now that I never properly introduced myself,” he said. “I am Bushi’an Takkan of Iro.”
Yes, I already knew he and Hasege had traded places to thwart assassins. What I didn’t know was why A’landan assassins were after him. Lady Bushian had implied it had to do with Takkan searching for me, the princess. But I sensed there was more.
“Lina,” said Takkan, snapping me out of my thoughts, “you have already met my mother, my sister. And Tesuwa Zairena, our guest.”
Zairena suddenly rose. “Please excuse me. I realize now I neglected to thank the gods for Takkan’s recovery.” Her words sounded utterly contrived, but she reached for her umbrella nonetheless. “I will be quick; it merely does not sit well with me to leave them unthanked.”
“Go on, Zairena,” said Lady Bushian. “We will be here when you return.”
I barely noticed her leave. My attention was on the food, and it took all my restraint not to throw myself at it. I helped myself to a little bit of each dish: a dollop of steamed egg custard, a spoonful of braised lotus root, and five or six pickled bamboo shoots. I pretended not to notice Takkan chuckling at my gluttony while his mother wrinkled her nose.
“That’s the third time she’s gone to pray this morning,” Megari observed. “Perhaps it’d be more convenient if she took her meals in the temple.”
“Megari!” chided Lady Bushian. “And you, Takkan, it was her quick thinking that saved you. She spent all night redoing the stitches on your wounds, and with her eyes closed to preserve her modesty. Do you not recall?”
Irecalled stitching Takkan’s wounds—when the blood coating his chest was so bright and thick that I could not tell where his flesh began. IfIhad closed my eyes to preserve my modesty, he would have died.
“With all her goodness, she should be a priestess,” Megari muttered. “Can we donate her to the city temple? I’m sure she’d be happier not having to run back and forth to the temple all the time. And why does she always have to bring her umbrella?”
“Her umbrella is for the rain,” said Lady Bushian brusquely. “If you keep up such talk, I’ll makeyougo pray to the gods. You know very well there was a storm when Zairena’s parents died. It’s perfectly reasonable for her to loathe anything that reminds her of that awful day.”
“But she carries it even when it’s not raining,” Megari protested. She tugged on Takkan’s sleeve. “You noticed it too, didn’t you?”
“Not everyone revels in seeing the sun like you do, Megari,” he replied. “Though it certainly wouldn’t hurt Zairena. She’s become so pale since the last time we saw her.”
“That’s powder,” Lady Bushian huffed. “And the last time you saw her, you were all children, chasing rabbits like uncivilized beasts. At least Zairena has the sense not to do that anymore.” Lady Bushian harrumphed at them, then focused her attention on Takkan, fussing over his health and only acknowledging me when absolutely necessary. Every time, she avoided looking at the bowl on my head.
I was only halfway finished with my breakfast when Zairena returned, too soon to have visited the temple and come back. I wondered where she had really gone.
“Such respect you have for the gods, Zairena,” said Lady Bushian, welcoming her back. “If only my children were so devout. Ashmiyu’en must have listened to you and seen to Takkan’s swift recovery.”
Zairena touched her cheek, radiant from the praise. “The goddess of life is compassionate. The priestesses taught me to revere her above all.”
“We ought to thank Lina as well,” Takkan said, his gaze finding mine and holding it with intensity. “If not for her, I’d have been dead by the time the physician arrived.”
The certainty in his voice made me suck in my breath. What did he remember about that night? He’d been awake long enough to help fight off the assailant. Had he seen Kiki flittering over my shoulder, urging me to keep calm as my shaking fingers sewed his wound shut?
“I owe you my life,” he said, bowing his head in deep gratitude. He turned to his mother. “From now on, Lina is my guest here, free to come and go as she pleases.”
I exhaled.What?
“Your guest?” Zairena repeated, echoing my surprise. “She’s a…a cook. Not to mention, Hasege’s prisoner.”
Takkan’s tone hardened. “I am in charge of the castle while my father is at court. Not Hasege.”
“Is she to eat with us too,” Zairena spluttered, “and sleep in the fortress?”
