THIS WASN’T TRUE SILENCE. I’D EXPERIENCED THAT before, so I knew the difference better than most. But in spite of the thumps of glasses returning to tables, the rattle of someone’s breathing, and the hiss of cloth, the whole room was very quiet.
A silk-clad woman risked a giggle, as though I’d made a joke.
A man glared at her.
Hristo’s eyes were wide, and I was sure that his mouth dropped open behind his mask.
Ilina pressed her palms to her chest and stifled a sob.
Elbena and Dara were both on their feet, striding toward me. I had to hurry. Say what I meant to say before I never saw the sky again.
“I hear complaints about losing money after investing in Hartans, but love is not consumed with its own gain. I hear attempts to minimize the pain of constant occupation, but love acknowledges the hurt and makes efforts to heal. I hear how everything is different now that the treaty has granted Harta independence, but love does not boast—it offers more. These are not only Daminan tenets, but commands from all our gods.” I dragged a breath, but before I could say more, Elbena grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise.
“That’s enough,” she hissed as she dragged me off the stage. “I’ll hear no more of this.”
I went with her, but I kept my head high and my shoulders back. There was plenty more to say, but I would not leave this place raving like a madwoman. My words would not be dismissed so easily.
Even so, Dara took my place on the stage, her palms up in supplication. “Forgive her, friends.” A note of fear edged her voice, buried under the practiced calm of someone used to speaking to the confused and frightened. “Mira hasn’t been feeling well recently. She’s been ill. And we’re going to ensure she is taken care of.”
“Poor girl,” someone muttered.
That was it. Before I realized, Elbena had me at the top of the stairs above the great lobby. My back pressed against the banister and she left no room for me to move. All I could feel was the long drop waiting behind me, and the furious councilwoman looming before me.
Hristo hovered three paces away, unsure what he should do.
Nothing, I hoped. Nothing right now. He was still safe and I wanted him to stay that way.
Elbena’s face was dark with rage, and her jaw set as though she wanted to bite.
“That was a mistake.” She kept her voice low. From the ballroom, I could still hear Dara making excuses and promises, the rumble of gossip and rumors, and the musicians playing a light tune—as if that could repair the damage I’d done. “Most of the council was against pulling you out of the Pit for this, but I fought for you. I believed you wanted another chance, and I believed you would do anything for our forgiveness.”
I pressed my lips tight together, trapping any words inside.
Hristo stared helplessly at me, hopelessly. If he broke his cover now, everything would be far worse.
“Do you even understand the severity of the mistake you made?”
Strength through silence. I met her eyes and gave her my most defiant stare.
“Why would you throw away the opportunity to go home?”
“I didn’t throw away an opportunity,” I said. “I took one. It was my chance to tell people what was right and I don’t regret it.”
Elbena seethed, but there was nothing she could do. Not here, when someone might come out and see. And not later, because I was still Mira Minkoba. I was still the Hopebearer and the Dragonhearted and anything else they wanted to call me.
After a moment’s hesitation, she seized my arm again and hauled me down the stairs. We crossed the lobby in twenty long steps, thundered through the wide double doors, and waited in angry silence while Hristo fetched the carriage.
The ride back was an ever-tightening knot of anxiety. Elbena didn’t speak, just glared and made sure the curtains were closed so I couldn’t see outside. Hristo sat next to me, but there was nothing he could do, no way he could offer support. I could feel it, though, in the way he kept looking at me, and the way his hands became fists where they rested on his knees.
In the inn, she dragged me to my room and shoved me inside.
“Give me your dagger,” she said, turning to Hristo.
He froze, gaze darting from Elbena to me. Why did she want a weapon?
She wouldn’t hurt me. Of that I was confident. And if Hristo refused, she would discover his identity and he would be in more trouble than I could imagine. His safety was at stake.
Still, my heart pounded as I gave the slightest nod. Hristo frowned, but unsheathed the dagger and handed it hilt-first to Elbena.
“Wait there,” she ordered. Her voice was oddly calm as she came into my room and shut the door. The dagger hung from her hand, the flat thumping against her thigh. “It’s only fair to tell you again how disappointed I am. I thought better of you.”
“And I’m disappointed in the Luminary Council. I’d hoped for action when I approached you about the vanishing dragons, not a speedy relocation to the Pit.” Suddenly, I couldn’t stop the flow of words. “I’d hoped everyone meant what they said about equality throughout the islands, not this betrayal of the very core of the Mira Treaty.”
Elbena slapped me so hard that even she looked surprised. The smack echoed in my head just one heartbeat before the pain flashed bright across my vision—and then my sight went dark.
Dizzy, I staggered back one step and grabbed for the footboard of my bed. My fingers slid over the smooth wood, but I glared and pulled myself upright. “You’re afraid of me,” I said. “You and the rest of the Luminary Council. You made me into a powerful voice, thinking I would always be your voice, but you were wrong. I am not a tool to be used at your convenience. I will not be wielded against the very foundations of the treaty named after me.
“I’ve spent my entire life hearing about the importance of the Mira Treaty. Don’t be surprised that I believe in it. And don’t be shocked that I will use my voice—the voice you gave me—to speak out about the gross injustices done by the very people who signed the treaty against such actions.”
She exhaled. One long breath. “So instead of just saying a few simple words in order to go home, you’d rather defend a bunch of Daughter-children to a room of people who will never change their minds about the deportation decree?”
“Any day.”
“I don’t like this person you’re becoming, Mira. I don’t like this recklessness I see in you now. It won’t benefit either of us.” Her face was deadly calm as her fingers turned pale around Hristo’s dagger.
I glanced down at the dagger just as it moved up.
Before I could think.
Before I could react.
Before I could realize.
Elbena cut me.
At first, it stung like needles, but as the blade dragged down my cheek, the sting bloomed into an inferno of anguish. Liquid fire fell from parted skin. Tears streamed from my eyes and burned in the opening wound. Blinding pain lit up the left side of my face.
I screamed and reeled backward, but the damage was done. She was too quick and I was too slow.
I’d believed she wouldn’t hurt me.
How wrong I’d been.
I pressed my hand against the gaping cut, as though I could stop the flow of blood, but my touch was like hot coals. I convulsed under conflicting instincts: apply pressure, but don’t touch. Also: run away. But where would I run?
The bedroom door flew open and Hristo rushed in, but Elbena held up a hand. “Stop.”
He stopped.
I dropped to my knees, cupping my face, trying not to touch it. My hand trembled, sticky with my own blood. I wanted to scream. I wanted to be silent. My left eye squeezed shut and my mouth pulled painfully. A low, agonized groan filled the room; it was coming from me.
Elbena examined the red-smeared dagger. “I’ve never cut anyone before. I didn’t think it would be so easy.”
I wanted to say something snappy, but tendrils of fire spread around my whole head. My thoughts burned into ash.
“I’ll send a doctor.” Elbena handed Hristo back his blade and started for the door. She paused in the hall and turned back. “You’ll be heading back to the Pit the day after tomorrow, once the Chance Encounter has finished securing cargo. So relax while you can, because the report I send to your keeper there will not be favorable.”
Then she was gone, the door closed behind her.
My hands were like claws over my face, as though I could peel away the pain. It didn’t help. Blackness swarmed up from the depths of my mind, and all the noorestones seemed to dim.
I collapsed the rest of the way to the floor.
Hristo rushed to me, but he was too late. My head cracked against the hardwood, and I knew only darkness.