“I’ll wipe it off.” I reached for a cloth, dipped it into a bowl of water, and dabbed it beneath her eyes.
“You’re a kind girl, Mina. I may seem confident, but I’m very afraid. I want to live. Is there any way a person can die, yet still live?”
At the time, I didn’t have an answer for her. It was the night, and she would soon leave to be sacrificed in the morning. And for a year, I couldn’t understand why she’d choose to be a Sea God’s bride.
Not until that moment when I stood at the prow of the boat, my anger like a storm in my soul, and jumped into the sea.
“You cry too much.” Dai looks up at me, hands cupped beneath my chin to catch the tears slipping down my face.
“Do I?” I say, laughing. A beaming happiness floats within me, that Hyeri should be here now, alive and well. I point to the slowly moving procession. “Tell me more. Tell me anything.”
“You want to know about Shiki’s bride?”
I nod emphatically.
“I don’t know much about her.” He pauses. “Shiki, on the other hand…”
“Yes?” I smile at him encouragingly.
“He’s a coldhearted bastard!”
“Watch your language,” Mask chides. “Shiki isn’t so bad. Just a little on the serious side. And even if he were a little bad, rumors hint that the death god adores his new bride. The wedding was a grand celebration.”
I widen my eyes, making exaggerated movements between her and the moving caravan. “What was it like?”
“I wasn’t invited!” Mask says. “Only the most important people in the city were invited. The lords of Tiger House and Crane House. The Great Spirit. Every lesser god with a shrine to his name.” Mask scratches her wooden cheek. “Now that I think about it, lots of people were invited.”
“Just not us!” Dai shouts.
“The Sea God, of course, but seeing as he hasn’t left his palace in a hundred years, that was a waste of an invitation! Oh, and Lord Shin, I suppose. Though I doubt he made an appearance. All things considered.”
“They had a huge fight,” Dai explains to me. “Do you know what the fight was about?” he asks, turning to Mask.
“What fights that matter are always about.”
“Food?” Dai suggests.
I think of the local warlords who fight over the land back home. “Power?”
Mask’s expression remains benign, and yet I sense hostility emanating from her. “Who raised you both? Did they teach you nothing? Love is what drove them apart, and love is what will bring them together—if they’re not too stubborn to forgive each other!”
“Shin was in love with Hyeri, too?” Dai asks.
Mask throws her hands up in the air, clearly frustrated. Pivoting, she walks into the crowd that has dispersed around Hyeri’s retreating caravan. We hurry to catch up.
What did Shin and Shiki fight over, if not their love of Hyeri? What hurt have they caused one another that must be forgiven? Having met Shin, I don’t find it difficult to believe he’s involved in a feud—with a god, no less. The dark-eyed boy was so infuriating—he stole my voice! He might not realize it, or care, but he’s in a feud with me.
We reach the other end of the bridge. “There it is!” Dai shouts. “Lotus House!”
A massive stone wall takes up an entire block of street. The tops of great trees line the perimeter, obscuring what lies on the other side. The only entrance is a wide gate manned by guards dressed in black. At the moment, they’re allowing individuals through one by one, matching names to an official-looking scroll.
I swallow thickly, faced with the impossibility of my task. Not only do I have to lie my way past those walls without a voice, but then somehow locate a small bird and figure out how to restore it to its original form.
I’ve been fortunate to meet Mask, Dai, and Miki, but soon they will leave, and I’ll be on my own once more—with only a knife and my grandmother’s stories.
Mask places a warm hand on my shoulder. “I thought you were brave! No need to look so fearful. You are a Sea God’s bride, are you not? You have a purpose, and you won’t give up until you’ve seen it carried through to the end, or at least tried your very hardest. Or have you already tried your hardest?”
I shake my head.
“Good!” She steers me away from the gate, rounding a corner to where Dai waits outside a small side door facing a much less-traveled back road. He unstraps his knapsack, giving Miki a kiss before handing her over to Mask. “Leave it to me,” he says.