“The King won’t be able to take his eyes off you,” I tell her, and from her smile I can tell that for the first time, she truly believes it.
The journey to the Inner Courts flies by in a whirl of color and noise. Every street overflows with decorations. Music sifts through the air, dancers performing in twirling dresses, the bells on their anklets chiming. Children scream with laughter as they chase each other down the streets, scarily realistic origami masks of the heavenly rulers strapped across their faces. One of them dashes so close to my carriage the oryx veer quickly aside to avoid her. The little girl laughs, long hair streaming behind the angry red face of Nizri, Goddess of Chaos. She waves as she watches us go, but there’s something creepy about the contrast of that light, high-pitched laugh with the furrowed leer of one of the most dangerous gods, and I shrink away from the window.
By the time we arrive at the Moon Ball my heart is beating so hard it physically shakes me. The tree-lined avenue is busy. As my palanquin waits in a long line of others, I check again that the pin is still in place. My fingers tremble so much that I almost unravel the whole fancy hairstyle my maids spent so long creating.
Outside, I join the rest of the guests as we’re led toward a large round building made entirely of glass. Its domed roof sparkles with streams of tiny lights. A ring of enchanted gardens surrounds it, fireflies shimmering over the treetops. Mistress Eira told us earlier that the building is called the Floating Hall, and I see now why—because of the way it perches over a lake, held up by thin crystal columns rooted in the water, it looks like it’s hovering in midair. The aquamarine glow from the lake below sends shifting ripples of color across the glass.
Inside, the hall is packed. For the New Year, all the guests are wearing red, but instead of looking celebratory it’s like being swallowed by a sea of blood. Bodies press from every side. Music fills the domed space, rising over the buzz of voices.
I try to stay close to Aoki, but the wave of the crowd separates us. I end up getting shifted toward Blue and the twins.
“Beautiful dress, Lei,” Zhin remarks, her sister nodding in agreement.
“Yours too,” I say, distracted, barely glancing at what they’re wearing. “Both of you.”
Smiling, they turn away to greet someone else. As soon as their backs are turned, Blue wraps her hand round my wrist, pulling me close. Her fingers dig into my skin. “I know what you’ve been up to, Nine,” she whispers. “You and Wren.”
I wrench my arm away. “Please, Blue. Please don’t tell anyone.”
She laughs, her eyes wild. It takes me a few moments to realize what it is I’m seeing in them.
Triumph.
“You’ve already told him,” I croak. The words stick in my throat. “After what happened to Mariko—”
“You don’t understand at all, do you?” Blue cuts in, scowling. “It’s because it happened to her that I told! It wasn’t fair, Nine. She was cast out to heavens know what kind of life and we’re still here, living in luxury, and all this time, you and Wren, loving each other…” Her voice spits with venom. “Being happy.”
“He’ll kill us,” I say.
Something broken crosses her face, making her look strange, not quite right, like the echo of a person. “So? You don’t even want this life.”
Just then, someone bumps into me, knocking me off balance. By the time I look back around, Blue is gone.
I make my way into the crowd, ice unspooling in my veins. The King knows.
As if what I have to do already weren’t hard enough.
Laughter and the cascading song of strings whirl round me. I shoulder my way past gossiping court members and servants carrying trays of tiny cakes nestled on crystallized sakura leaves. Overhead, strings of lights drape from the dome like scattered stars. The sapphire glow of the lake shimmers up through the glass, giant koi and sea horses swimming in its depths. The ball is a dizzying kaleidoscope, but my focus is honed, and I whip my head left and right, hunting for the King. I can’t act until Kenzo’s signal, but I need to keep an eye on him.
And then.
There.
Thick, pointed horns. Mahogany-brown hair. That familiar smile, all teeth. The red of the King’s robes is dark, almost purple, the color of plums or old blood.
Naja’s with him. Her snow-white fur sparkles with silver powder, a long-tailed sari clinging to her lean, foxlike figure. She scans the crowd as the King gazes down the length of his smooth bovine nose, talking to a couple dressed in red baju sets, surprisingly plain for the occasion, their backs to me. As if sensing me watching, the King lifts his eyes.
His grin sharpens. He leans aside, whispering something to Naja.
The white fox glides over to me, slinking sinuously through the crowd. “Hello, whore,” she remarks casually.
“Hello, jealous bitch,” I shoot back.
No point acting polite anymore. One way or another, I’ll be out of here tonight.
I can tell my comment catches Naja off guard. She stiffens, cool eyes gleaming. “I would be offended,” she purrs, composing herself, “if I actually cared what Paper trash thought.”
“Well, let me try harder, then—”
She holds up a hand to silence me. “Enough games. The King has a message for you. He’s kindly invited a couple of people he thought you’d be pleased to see. He wants you to know that if you try anything tonight—run away, disrupt the ball—they will be killed.” She leans in, her voice smooth, like the gleam of stones on a riverbed, and just as hard. “Don’t they look happy? Such a shame they won’t be that way for long.” And with a flick of her tail, she stalks off.
I frown, peering ahead through the shifting crowd. The couple glance around as the King gestures to something on the other side of the hall, and I glimpse their faces.
My heart stutters. It’s some trick of the light. A waking dream. Because surely it can’t be real, the two of them here, so far from where they should be, safe and hidden on the opposite side of the kingdom.
But it is them.
Baba. Tien.
My eyes take in their pressed clothes, the self-conscious way they’re holding themselves. And worse: the way they seem distracted despite the fact that they’re talking to the King, because they are looking with hopeful, eager eyes for me.
“You bastard,” I snarl.
Because now I understand what the King’s plan is. This was the surprise Lill was talking about yesterday. Thanks to Blue, he knows I have betrayed him. That I’ve been betraying him night after night, with no less than one of my fellow Paper Girls. And as with the assassins, he’s going to teach everyone what it means to betray the King.
Tonight he is going to kill me.
And he has brought my family here to watch.
I’m striding forward before I know what I’m doing, my hands curling in fists, a shout readying on my lips—
Someone grabs me by the arm.
“No!” I cry as they drag me away. I struggle, but their grip is strong. They lead me out of the hall and onto a balcony. A glimpse of night-cloaked gardens, fireflies dancing over the treetops, and then I’m whirling round, my voice rising to a shout. “How dare you!”
Zelle gazes back at me, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “I just saved you from doing something exceptionally stupid, Nine,” she says calmly. “A thank-you would be preferable.”