"What in the world?" I looked at the newspaper that had been left on my night stand. I normally didn't read society gossip, but it was hard to miss that a giant photograph of my face was taking up half the page. I read the article, my heart sinking as I found out more. Apparently my mother had been busy while I was out with Xuan yesterday smearing his name with mud and calling him a Yore savage.

It didn't seem to matter to her that he was the brother-in-law of two powerful princes. I frowned as I read a quote that was supposed to be from me explaining that Xuan was just a dalliance and nothing more, that I wasn't a blood traitor.

I hunched my shoulders as I read a quote from one of my schoolmates saying that blood would tell, and of course a half-Yore wouldn't mind being a blood traitor.

My fists clenched up. I wasn't a blood traitor. I liked that Xuan was teaching me about being Yore and introducing me to them. In our household, they were absolutely forbidden to speak to me at all. I'd had a Draka nanny and when I was older, a personal maid. They were more expensive, but it was part of my mother's plan to help me forget that I was half Yore. Xuan was undoing all those years of work with a few days of immersion in another culture. I was grateful that he was taking the time to help me and that he cared about me so much. She just didn't understand.

I decided to storm downstairs to confront my mother, and afterward I could go apologize to Xuan and explain that I hadn't said anything reported in that horrible article. But when I tried the knob, my door was locked. I was locked into my room.

* * *

It wasn't the first time that my mother had decided to control me this way. It certainly wouldn't be the last. And she didn't know that I'd kept a secret escape route through the servants' tunnels that led to my room but nobody would dare use. No Draka would use them and the Yore were forbidden from speaking to me or really being near me. I kept my room swept very well, so that my mother couldn't see the door opening from the dust patterns.

I got my comm and snuck out. Who knew when she'd check on me? I just hoped that I was back before she noticed.

I sent Xuan a comm message.

I'm on my way.

No response. I needed to get to the antique store so that I could see him. They probably wouldn't let me into the palace. I called a levi-car to the corner near my house. I winced at the expense, but it was an emergency. I jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped in front of Xuan's place, smoothing down my skirt and hair.

When I got in there, ten interested parties turned to look at me. I knew that I must look like a mess, and maybe they read the society pages. I couldn't bear to think about it. Xuan was in the back, talking to a customer about a tiny porcelain tea set.

"I have to talk to you," I said. "You didn't answer my comm message."

"Busy," he said. "You'll have to wait in line."

I turned and saw a line of five people trying to buy things. I didn't want to mess up his livelihood.

"I'll wait," I told him, and I went to sit on a bench beside the wall. I closed my eyes because I was close to tears. Yesterday, everything had been so beautiful. Our relationship was really growing stronger. But now my mother had to go in and ruin my chance at happiness.

I knew that she thought that she was doing the right thing, which just made it worse. She loved me, I knew that much, but the way that she expressed her love was by trying to control me. I just needed to build my own adult life. I was in my twenties now. She couldn't control me the same way she could when I was a kid, but she thought that she could. I must have dozed off still ruminating about my mother's machinations.

* * *

I woke up when Xuan tapped on my shoulder.

"I'm about to close the store."

I looked around me. Everyone was gone. 

"What time is it?"

"Time for you to go. Isn't it dangerous for you to be seen here?"

The tears that had been sitting on the edges of my eyes fell.

"You're wearing very secretive attire," he told me, gesturing down. I was wearing all black.

"I had to sneak out of the house. She locked me in," I protested.

"Right," Xuan said. I could hear the skepticism in his voice.

I'd snuck out of my home to talk to him and clear things up, but he didn't want to hear my side of the story. I didn't want to cry like this in front of him, either.

"I'm sorry for taking up space," I said in a stiff tone. I marched off, leaving him behind. So much for love and connecting to my Yore heritage.