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“Let us pass,” she commands.
Simple as that, the air goes still. There’s a power to her voice that makes me stand taller, and the guards part like two waves around the prow of a boat.
“You’ll find His Highness at the healing houses behind the temple,” says a guard in an awestruck tone. Enthralled by Vanna’s spell, he adds, “Prince Rongyo and the queen are tending to the wounded.”
Vanna dips her head in thanks, and back toward the temple we go. Except Vanna’s hurt. Her breathing grows short and heavy, and I practically have to push her forward. Then suddenly, in the middle of the road, she stops. Her whiskers straighten, and she sniffs.
The hedges surrounding us rustle. I start to aim my spear, but there’s no need.
It’s Oshli. When he sees the tiger at my side, his composure falters. He runs to Vanna and kneels down beside her, and the two share a rueful look.
He knows.
I’ve assumed Oshli loved Vanna for her beauty, not for the person she is. There’s a twinge in my chest, but I’m glad that I was wrong.
“I’m taking her to see Prince Rongyo,” I tell him. “We need a ship to return to Sundau.”
“She’s hurt.”
“It’s just a graze,” says Vanna.
Oshli says nothing, but the way he unravels his orange scarf and sweeps it over her wound, then touches her, his hand sinking into her fur…
“The prince can wait,” he says. “I’ve some training as a healer. Let me.”
Forgetting about me entirely, Oshli opens his palm, and magic pulses from his fingers. While he begins work on my sister’s wound, she lowers herself onto the grass.
“I’m sorry, Oshli,” she says, so softly I almost don’t hear.
“I am too.”
It doesn’t matter what they are apologizing for. Vanna leaving him to marry a prince she’d never met, Oshli for some secret that only they share—there’s something fateful and right about the two of them together, and as if the gods agree with me, they send two butterflies fluttering above their heads. One lands on Oshli’s shoulder, and the other on Vanna’s nose.
I look away, feeling like an outsider in their tale. I can’t help the jealousy stirring inside me. How I crave a love like theirs. Seeing Oshli forgive my sister for her mistakes and love her even as a tiger, I’m forced to see the brightness in the world and not only its darkness.
They’re so absorbed in each other that they don’t see Prince Rongyo striding toward us, with Hokzuh a few steps behind. The prince’s fine clothes are ripped, and from his anxious grimace, it looks like his heart has been torn as well.
I start to bow, but Rongyo grips my forearms, shaking them. “Is it true—the Demon Witch has her body?”
“And Vanna has hers.”
His face turns ashen, and his eyes drift to Vanna. Unlike Oshli, he won’t go near her. He can barely even look at her without flinching.
“What is it?” I speak without thinking. “Is she no longer worthy of you now?”
“No,” Rongyo says, looking wounded. “Of course that isn’t so.”
His shoulders fall, and I regret snapping at him. It’s no easy thing for anyone to see Vanna in Angma’s body. My irritation fades, and if I were better with people I might say a few comforting words, but that is not who I am.
“Can it be undone?” the prince asks.
“We’ll have to find the Demon Witch first,” I reply. “Vanna says she’s gone to Sundau.”
“Then that is where we must go. The winds are strong, and my vessel is fleet. If we depart this evening, we can be there in two days.”
“One day,” I counter. “If my dragon pulls the ship, we can get there by tomorrow.”
Vanna lifts her head off Oshli’s lap. Her ears perk up.
