Page 79 of Black Salt Queen

Imeria’s entire body went rigid from her icy rebuff. She stared at Duja as a renewed wave of hurt wracked her body. It was too late. The princess had seen what Imeria Kulaw was. She’d never let Imeria touch her again.

“General.” There was no hint of tenderness in Duja’s tone as she called Ojas back to her attention. “Have someone escort Imeria Kulaw back to her chambers. Keep a guard posted in front of her door. I fear she is in shock and may need some time to recover.”

The apologies turned to bile in Imeria’s throat. Distantly, she felt a guard’s hand closing around her elbow. She opened her mouth to protest. No words came out. How could she deny the Maynaran sovereign? She prayed for Duja to relent, but her mind was already made up. The new queen gazed impassively at Imeria, her face cooling into a mask of stone.

“Don’t look at me like that. Duja, please!” Imeria pleaded as the guard led her away.

The hand on her elbow gave it a comforting squeeze. “Her Majesty is occupied. She will attend to you soon,” the guard murmured in her ear. But Imeria couldn’t be reassured. She craned her neck to meet Duja’s eyes a final time. She wanted to cry out:I saved you. I protected you. I love you. I?—

“Enough,” Imeria hissed to herself, blinking away the memory. When she opened her eyes again, she was still frozen in the middle of the courtyard, caught in the sea of servants rushing with the wedding preparations. She tore her gaze away from the eastern wing and leaned against one of the marble pillars on the edge of the courtyard as she caught her breath.

The pain from that wretched day, would it ever end?

Above, the sun dipped beneath the palace roofs, the jaw-shaped finials casting long shadows across the tiles. Dusk crept in over the horizon. They needed to depart for the Black Salt Cliffs soon. With little time before the ceremony, Imeria didn’t visit Luntok’s chambers. Nor did she go upstairs to dress. Instead, she headed for the winding staircase that led down to the prison hold.

The staircase emptied onto a long, narrow corridor lined with cells, each of them filled with the Gatdulas’ closest allies. Duja was being kept in the largest cell all the way at the end. Cool sweat dripped down Imeria’s spine as she swept through the corridor. She stopped at Duja’s door. Imeria kept the key to the queen’s cell in her pocket because she didn’t trust any of the guards with it. Through the barred window, Imeria spied the outline of Duja’s sleeping body on the cot at the back of the cell. It was the first time Imeria laid eyes on her since the coup.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob. She couldn’t bring herself to open it.

“Imeria Kulaw,” a familiar voice rang out. “Have you come to flaunt your victory?”

Imeria whipped around. The king was being held in the cell diagonally across from Duja’s. His face peered out from between the thick metal bars. His tone had been jovial, but his gaze was hard.

“Hari Aki,” she said, raising her chin. “How do you find your new accommodations?”

“I must say, I prefer my old chambers.” The king held her gaze, his fingers curling around the bars. “But I’m pleased to see you, Imeria. I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence.”

Imeria didn’t like the knowing way he was looking at her. “I couldn’t deny my old friends a visit,” she said curtly, turning to leave.

“She loved you too, you know,” Hari Aki said.

Imeria froze. She let out a shallow breath. “What did you just say?”

“Duja,” he whispered. “You know it’s true.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “It was never love,” she spat. “If she loved me, she never would have?—”

“A mistake,” he said. “It was all a terrible mistake. You must forgive her, Imeria. Please. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Imeria shook her head furiously. “You don’t know of what you speak.”

“But I do,” Aki protested. “I was the one who stood by Duja’s side all these years. I saw how she wept after she banished you from the palace. The decision to push you into another man’s arms destroyed her. She regretted it every day.”

“No,” Imeria spat. “Duja never?—”

“Duja never told me how she truly felt for you,” he said, his mouth twisting into a bitter frown. “Because that feeling never went away.”

Hope fluttered in Imeria’s stomach, but she refused to give in to it. The king was merely feigning hurt. He was trying to win her over with his honey-coated words, the same way he won over the rest of the court. The same way he stole Duja from her all those years before.

“You’re wrong, Aki. Duja never loved me,” she said. “This is how it was always meant to be. And in a few years’ time, I’m sure Laya will thank me for it.”

At the mention of his daughter, the blood drained from Aki’s face. His knuckles whitened against the bars. “What have you done to Laya?”

Imeria’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “I’m giving her what she’s always wanted. Thanks to me, Luntok is all hers. Thanks to me, she’ll be queen of Maynara.”

The king’s eyes widened in panic. “No. This isn’t Laya’s fault. Imeria, please?—”

“You should be satisfied, Aki,” she said, cutting him off. “I found your daughter a suitable match?—a way to thank Duja for finding mine.”

---