Page 6 of Black Salt Queen

“About running away with me.” He turned to her with a cheeky grin.

Laya scowled and waved him off. “Go on, then. Don’t you have swords to sharpen? Fish to catch?”

Luntok’s mouth twisted in annoyance. He was among Maynara’s highest-born sons, and he hated nothing more than her gibes likening him to a common fisherman.

But as she pulled away, he grabbed her hand and held it to his lips. “I’ll catch you a whale shark, Laya. How about that? Then I’ll string you a necklace out of its teeth, and we’ll carve our wedding bed from its bones.”

“Sharks don’t have bones,” Laya said. Her fingers twitched in his hand, but she didn’t jerk them back. He needed to leave now, before his promises left her breathless.

“An elephant, then. Or a wild boar.” Luntok looked up from her knuckles, hope glistening in his eyes.

Her heart broke then. She couldn’t give him what he wanted. She couldn’t ask him to stay.

“You really should leave. Someone will catch you,” she said, this time a touch less cruelly.

Luntok sighed once more. He planted a last rueful kiss on the back of her hand before releasing her. Wistfully, she stared as he swung one leg over the balustrade.

“I’ll come back,” he vowed, “whether or not you send for me.”

Too cheeky.Laya frowned. “You’ll come back when I send for you, and not a moment sooner,” she told him. The fatigue swept through her once again, and his promises became too heavy.

Luntok chuckled in return as he heaved himself atop the balustrade. In a flutter of scarlet, he disappeared over the side of the balcony. Halfway down the wall, he fell, landing with a groan in the bushes beneath Laya’s window. She bit back a laugh as he dusted himself off. Luntok stopped once more to salute her, flashing her a final disarming grin. Laya gazed at his back as he retreated into the gardens, through patterns of blossoms and fruit sprawling northward behind the palace. From the gardens, he would head for the thick stone ramparts encircling the complex. Then he’d slip beneath them through a long-forgotten drainage tunnel, which emptied into a narrow alleyway that oft evaded the Royal Maynaran Guard’s view.

No soul apart from the two of them knew of this tunnel. Laya was the one who’d shown Luntok its entrance, a rusted grate scarcely visible beneath a thicket of tangled vines. He must have taken it over a hundred times by now. This was the only path to her he was allowed.

When I am queen,Laya thought sadly,all this will change.

The false hopes she fed Luntok were trite compared to the lies she told herself.

She remained on the balcony long after he left. She stayed there until the sun disappeared and fat droplets splattered against her brow. She looked up in alarm. Rain clouds swirled above her head, casting shadows on the gardens below. They descended upon the palace’s tiered roofs, thicker than mountain mist. Laya had summoned them unintentionally.

She closed her eyes, then exhaled slowly through her nose. The tension ebbed from her shoulders. The clouds dispersed as the threads of power slithered from her grip. A light breeze whooshed past her ear, tender as Luntok’s lips along the side of her neck. When she opened her eyes, Luntok was still gone. Sunlight shone brightly overhead, glaring off the golden finials lining the rooftops, blinding her.

Laya shouldn’t have fallen in love with Luntok Kulaw. She had always known better.

“Fool,” she murmured, even though there was no one around to hear.

To His Royal Highness, Hari Aki,

Twice now, you have rejected my offers of assistance. I implore you, old friend, to reconsider. Please forgive my terseness. You favor a gentler hand, but you know as well as I do that subtlety was never my strong suit.

You made your reservations abundantly clear in your previous letter, and I will not challenge them. You have every reason to doubt me. My words alone cannot convince you.

Instead, would you listen to the words of an honest messenger? Despite your many rejections, I have brought him to Maynara as evidence of my goodwill.

You must speak to him, Aki. For he is a man many on this side of the Untulu Sea call an alchemist. He holds the key to abiding glory. I believe he is the answer Duja has been searching for.

I dare not lie to you, old friend. If you refuse to accept my messenger, what more proof can I give? Know that I pen these words with steady fingers. And, should you decide to meet me, I will stand and greet you on sturdy legs.

If you love the queen, as I believe you do, you will meet him. I beg you to meet him. After I receive your reply, I will send him to you. He can help Duja more than you or I ever could.

My previous letters did not convince you. Let me tell you this: I care not for myself, but for my sister. A lifetime has passed since I left Maynara?—everything I’ve done in the years since, I’ve done for her.

This is the truth, Aki, whether or not you choose to believe me.

All my love to Duja and the children,

Pangil

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