Chapter 12 Where Comfort Learns to Lock
817 Words
Liraya did not announce the tightening of the court.
She never did.
The first sign was breakfast.
Amihan woke to a low table heavy with food. Too much food. Fruits sliced with obsessive care, rice cakes shaped liked flowers, cups of tea steaming in coolers she didn’t recognize.
She stared at it suspiciously.
“This feels like a trap,” she muttered.
“It is,” said a voice cheerfully.
Amihan turned to find Kisê standing far too casually beside a pillar, arms crossed, hair tied back with a strip of fabric that was definitely not hers.
“Kisê?” Amihan gasped. “How did you—“
“I fell through something,” Kisê said. “Then I apologised. Then I tripped again. Next thing I knew, I was offered slippers.”
She lifted one foot to show a very elegant, very impractical shoe.
“They’re enchanted,” Kisê added. “They scream if I try to stab anyone.”
Amihan burst out laughing before she could stop herself. It felt like release she hadn’t earned.
“I missed you,” she said.
“I know,” Kisê replied dryly. “You vanished dramatically. Very rude.”
They sat together, picking at the food. It tasted perfect. That worried Amihan more than anything else.
“So,” Kisê said, lowering her voice. “This place is bad.”
“Yes.”
“And polite.”
“Very.”
“And I can’t find a single sharp corner.”
Amihan frowned. “That’s… unsettling.”
Kisê leaned closer. “I tried to carve my name into a wall. It healed.”
Amihan winced. “Did it hurt?”
“The wall?” Kisê shrugged. “It screamed.”
They both froze.
A presence settled into the space like a silk curtain drawn slowly shut.
Liraya appeared, already seated at the far end of the table, tea in hand.
“I prefer ‘protective,’” she said mildly. “Not ‘bad.’”
Kisê straightened immediately. “Of course you do.”
Liraya smiled at her. “You may stay.”
Kisê blinked. “That’s… not what I expected.”
“I find you grounding,” Liraya continued. “Like a stone in a shoe.”
Kisê glanced at Amihan. “I think that’s a compliment.”
“It is,” Liraya agreed.
Then she turned to Amihan.
“You wandered last night,” she said gently.
Amihan’s shoulders stiffened. “I needed air.”
“You needed reassurance,” Liraya corrected. “From men who cannot follow where you are going.”
Amihan bristled. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“I do,” Liraya said calmly, and the court shifted
Not dramatically. Subtly.
Paths shortened. Doors softened, then disappeared. The air thickened, scented now with something sweeter, heavier.
“The outer grounds are no longer accessible,” Liraya said. “For your safety.”
Kisê shot to her feet. “That’s confinement.”
“That’s care,” Liraya replied. “You’ll notice the difference when it works.”
Amihan stood as well. “You promised I could choose.”
“And you still can,” Liraya said. “Between comfort and consequence.”
Silence stretched.
“You kissed two men yesterday,” Liraya added lightly. “That’s sort of instability attracts attention.”
Kisê made a choking sound. “Two?”
Amihan groaned. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Of course not,” Liraya said. “But the forest doesn’t care about intent. Only patterns.”
She stepped closer, lifting a hand to adjust Amihan’s sleeve, maternal and intimate all at once.
“You will stay within the court now.” Liraya said. “You will be escorted.”
“By whom?” Amihan asked tightly.
Liraya smiled.
Three figures stepped forward, graceful and unsettling, faces smooth as polished wood, eyes too bright.
“Your attendants,” Liraya said. “They will make sure you are never alone.”
Kisê leaned in and whispered, “I hate them already.”
Liraya’s gaze flicked to her. “You, especially, may not carry weapons.”
Kisê sighed. “I knew this place hated me.”
Amihan felt it then.
Not fear.
Pressure.
Her wanting pressed back, restless, irritated.
“You can’t keep me here forever,” Amihan said.
“No,” Liraya agreed. “Only until the forest decides what you are.”
The ground trembled faintly.
A bell rang somewhere deep within the court.
One of the attendants bowed. “My lady. The threshold stirs.”
Liraya’s smile sharpened.
“Oh,” she said softly. “That’s sooner than expected.”
She looked at Amihan with something like delight.
“It seems,” Liraya said, “that someone else is trying to claim you.”
The court doors sealed.
Kisê reached for Amihan’s hand.
And far away, something ancient and impatient began to knock.
- Writer
