Chapter 16: The List
805 Words
CHAPTER 16: THE LIST
The letters felt like lead in Kadir’s hands.
Twenty-three names.
Council lords. Generals. His own blood.
He dropped them on the war table. The sound was too loud in the quiet room.
“Explain,” he said. One word. A command.
Serenya stood across from him, hands folded. No tea. No vanity. Just the Queen Mother.
“Half of them want the treaty burned,” she said. “The other half want you replaced. All of them think Seo-ah is the problem.”
Seo-ah stood by the window. She hadn’t spoken since they left Serenya’s wing.
Her reflection looked pale.
Kadir looked at the list. “Lord Varek. General Orin. Cousin Darian.” His voice was flat. “Traitors.”
“Alleged traitors,” Serenya corrected. “Writing letters isn’t treason. Yet.”
“It is when poison is involved,” Kadir said.
Serenya’s eyes flicked to Seo-ah. “Is she alright?”
“She’s fine,” Kadir snapped. Then softer: “She’s fine.”
Seo-ah turned. “I’m not fine.”
All eyes on her.
“I’m tired,” she said. “Tired of being the reason people die. Tired of letters with my name on them. Tired of hiding.”
She walked to the table and picked up one letter.
She crumpled it.
“Then let’s stop hiding,” she said. “You have a list. Use it.”
Kadir stared at her. “You want me to arrest half the court based on letters?”
“I want you to scare them,” Seo-ah said. “Call a council meeting. At dawn. Read the names out loud. See who sweats.”
Serenya made a sound. Almost a laugh. “Clever girl.”
Kadir didn’t answer. He was watching Seo-ah. The fire in her eyes. The queen he’d married.
“Fine,” he said. “Dawn. Full council. And you—” He pointed at Serenya. “—will be there. To watch who looks at you.”
Serenya inclined her head. “As you command, Your Majesty.”
---
Hours later.
The palace was dark. But Kadir’s chambers were not.
He couldn’t sleep. Neither could Seo-ah.
She sat on the edge of the bed, still in her dress. The list was spread between them.
“You think it’s one of my cousins,” she said quietly.
“I think it’s someone who wants me to think it’s one of my cousins,” Kadir corrected. He sat behind her. Close. Not touching. Yet.
His hands came to her shoulders. Massaged. Slow.
“You did well today,” he murmured. “With my mother.”
“She hates me.”
“She fears you,” he said. “There’s a difference.”
Seo-ah leaned back into him. Just a little. “Kadir.”
“Hm?”
“If it’s someone close to you... will you be able to do it?”
His hands stilled.
Then tightened.
“Yes,” he said. No hesitation. “No one touches you. Not them. Not me. Not anyone.”
The words settled over her like a blanket. Heavy. Safe.
A knock. Soft.
Kadir was on his feet in a second, sword half-drawn. “Who.”
“Captain Reyes, sire. Urgent.”
Kadir opened the door a crack. The captain looked wrecked. Blood on his sleeve. Not his.
“What.”
“We found him, sire. The kitchen boy who delivered the poisoned tray.”
“And?”
“And he’s dead, sire. Throat cut. In the dungeons. With this in his hand.”
The captain held out a scrap of fabric. Black. Embroidered with silver thread.
Kadir took it. His blood ran cold.
Serenya’s crest.
Seo-ah saw it from the bed. Her stomach dropped.
Kadir looked at his mother’s door down the hall. Then back at the fabric.
“Get Reyes out of here,” he said, voice deadly quiet. “No one else sees this.”
The captain saluted and ran.
Kadir shut the door. Slowly.
He turned to Seo-ah. The mask was back. The king. The killer.
“It’s not my mother,” he said.
“Then who—”
“Someone wants us to think it is,” Kadir finished. “Someone who had access to her crest. Someone in the palace. Someone watching us right now.”
He crossed to her in two steps and pulled her up. Into his arms. Tight.
“Change of plans,” he whispered into her hair. “We don’t go to the council at dawn.”
Seo-ah pulled back. “Why?”
“Because the traitor expects us to.” His eyes were black. “So we let them think they won. And tonight... we hunt them first.”
Outside the window, a shadow moved across the courtyard.
Then was gone.
Someone was watching.
- Writer
