TWENTY-EIGHT
The yard was dark, for no torches were lit there at night. Mai stumbled through the gardens, swearing as she struggled to find the path again. Had she somehow entered the wrong courtyard instead? She didn't remember there being quite so many bushes before.
She tripped over a rock, barking her shin on the way down. Instinct told her to roll, to recover, so that she might regain her feet and fight on, but Mai resisted. She barely felt the impact as she hit the ground. She had fought too long for too much that she could never have. Prince Yi would never be hers, and she could not bear to go to a ball to watch him choose someone else.
Lying facedown on the gravel path, she started to sob in earnest. What did it matter? No one would see her here.
She should have known better.
