“Where are you going?” Han asked.
She strode toward the door. “To find answers.”
Doranna had finally gone to sleep upstairs, and Lilette had no desire to wake her. She stepped into the weak morning light. Han came up behind her and checked his sword before strapping his baldric over his chest.
Together they walked up the path. People gave them strange looks as they passed. Lilette hadn’t bothered to change her clothes or wash her face. Her eyes were probably smeared with kohl, and her hair had fallen from its bun to lay in messy waves around her shoulders. With his armor and his impassive face, Han looked the part of the warrior.
The pavilion was empty, so they strode to Merlay’s tree. Lilette didn’t knock, she just thrust open the door. A wastrel with a smudge of flour on her nose hurried into the front room but stuttered to a halt when she saw Lilette and Han.
“I will see her. Now,” Lilette demanded, her voice shaking.
Just as the wastrel began telling them to leave, Jolin stepped into view. Lilette wasn’t surprised to see her. She blinked sleep from her eyes. “Lilette, Han, what are you—”
Lilette held out the book she’d found—the one Jolin had written. “How many of us have you betrayed?”
Jolin’s face went deathly pale. “Bani, go away.”
The wastrel disappeared back the way she’d come. Jolin dropped her gaze and started up the winding stairs, Lilette and Han silently following. At the second floor, she knocked on the door. “Lilette is with me. She knows.”
Several seconds later, Merlay walked out wearing a dressing gown. Lilette took a vicious pleasure in her matted hair and bloodshot eyes. She held up the book. “You’ve found a way to hide your songs from the others. And you attacked Harshen last night.”
Merlay didn’t deny it as Lilette had expected. The Head of Light just sighed, her shoulders sagging as if the load she carried was too heavy to bear. “Bani,” she called down the stairs, “please bring us some tea.”
She asked Lilette and Han to follow her and strode to another room, a library. She crossed the room to step onto a balcony surrounded by flowers. A branch bridge connected the balcony to the listening tree. Merlay stared out over the city as the morning light glinted off the tops of the trees and shone on the distant sea. “I’m sorry,” she said to Lilette. “It was a very long night last night. I’m very tired.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Lilette said. “You attacked Harshen—I felt it.”
Merlay sighed. “I did.”
It took everything Lilette had to control her rage. “You killed my sister?”
Merlay turned to face them, tears streaking down her face. “The emperor did. He killed all of them.”
Lilette staggered back, and Han said, “No. Chen is many things, but he isn’t a murderer.”
Merlay looked at him. “Our spies confirmed it. They were all killed yesterday evening, just after the chesli harvest began.”
Suddenly, Lilette found it very hard to remain standing. She slumped into a chair. She’d been feasting in the pavilion, trying to climb into the nearest man’s lap, while her sister had her head cut from her body? How had Lilette not felt it? How had she not known that a part of her had died?
Han hadn’t moved from his place by the door. “What did you do?”
Merlay looked away, as if she couldn’t bear the sight of Lilette in pain. “We shook the city to its knees.”
“And Chen?” Lilette choked out.
Merlay glanced at her. “Our spies have searched what remains of the palace. I think it’s safe to say you are a widow now.”
“Chen wouldn’t do this,” Han repeated, but this time without conviction.
Lilette buried her face in her hands. “I watched him kill his wife.”
She felt Han’s gaze on her. “He saved her the humiliation of a public execution,” he said. “Gave her the chance to be buried by her father instead of sold for curses.”
Lilette shook her head. They were brothers. Even if Chen was guilty, Han would naturally stand up for him, believe the best of him. She refused to dwell on the fact that Han’s brother had killed her sister.
Jolin finally spoke up from behind them. Lilette had almost forgotten she was there. “You see why I had to help them?”
Lilette refused to look at Jolin.“You’ve never used that barrier before?” Lilette asked.
“It’s called the veil. They couldn’t,” Jolin said. “They didn’t even know about my research into barriers until a few months ago.”
Lilette directed her words at Merlay. “Why keep their deaths a secret? Why not tell everyone—why not tell me?”