“I just wish you had locked the door,” Tahki said.
Rye frowned. “Are you ashamed of what we did?”
“What? Gods no.”
Rye grabbed his hand. “Don’t worry about Dyraien. He’s the one always telling me I need to bed someone.”
Tahki kissed his shoulder. “I’m starving. Make me breakfast.”
Rye shoved Tahki’s head away. “How about you make me breakfast this time?”
“All right. How do you want your bread? Baked or fried?”
“Honestly,” Rye said, “what would you do without me?”
Tahki considered this. Had it not been for Rye, he would have been fired, lost, drowned, and who knew what else.
“I owe you a lot,” Tahki said. He hoped it came out sincere, because he’d never thought anything as genuinely as he thought this. “More than I think I’ll ever be able to pay back.”
Rye swiveled over the side of the bed. “You really have a way of turning lighthearted conversations into something dramatic, don’t you?”
“I think I get that from my mom’s side.”
“How about we both make breakfast? Omelet on fried bread.”
“I can manage that.”
They dressed and went to the kitchen. Rye cracked a few eggs in a bowl while Tahki buttered some bread at the table. The wind tapped at the window behind him. He couldn’t stop smiling. After weeks of stealing glances, Tahki could finally stare openly at Rye. The wind rapped gently again. Tahki watched Rye grate cheese into the pan where the eggs sizzled. He knew it wouldn’t be easy convincing Rye about Dyraien’s secret, but he needed to try. The supplies were to be delivered any moment. He was running out of time.
The wind knocked at the glass behind him, three consecutive beats. Tahki glanced back and nearly fell out of his chair. Sornjia stared back at him, one hand on the glass, eyes wide, positioned to the left of the window so only his head could be seen. Tahki stood so quickly the chair tumbled back and crashed to the ground.
“Something wrong?” Rye asked, his eyes on the eggs.
Tahki put his back to the window. “What? No. No, nothing’s wrong.”
“I thought you’d be more excited,” Rye said. “They’ll be delivering the order today. You’ll finally get to see one of your designs come to life.”
For an instant, the thought sent a wave of joy through him. Seeing one of his designs come to life—he didn’t count the temple, since it had fallen apart—had been a dream since he first started sketching. He didn’t know anything about the gods, if they controlled a person’s fate, but if they did, it was cruel and unjust to give him a taste of success and then take it away before anyone could see him shine.
He walked over to Rye. “Listen, I completely forgot, I promised Gale I’d stop over. She had a question about the installation of the conduit system.”
“We can go together, after breakfast,” Rye said.
Tahki rubbed his wrist.
Rye rested the spatula against the pan. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Tahki smiled.
“You’re rubbing your left wrist. You only do that when you’re nervous.”
Tahki let his hands drop to his side. “Have you met Gale? I don’t want to incur her wrath. I need to run down there, now, but there’s no sense in both of us going. I’m sure Dyraien needs your help with unhinging the door, and I’d prefer not to upset him again.”
Rye shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”
Tahki started to walk out of the room, but Rye grabbed his wrist. He tugged him close and kissed his mouth. When they pulled apart, Rye gave him a gentle shove out the door and said, “I’ll see you tonight.”
“HAVE YOU lost your mind?” Tahki said. “Gods, Sornjia, what were you thinking coming here? What if someone had seen you?”
They moved from the castle into the thin mist. Sornjia stayed a few paces ahead of him, his hands clenched into fists.
“Sornjia, slow down.” Tahki had to jog to keep up with him. “What’s going on? Where’s Pooka? Talk to me.” He grabbed his brother’s shoulder and spun him around.
“There’s no time,” Sornjia said.
“Sornjia, you’re scaring me.”
Sornjia continued toward Gale’s house. “I knew something awful would happen. I could feel it turning in my gut, but I never thought it would be this.”
“What? What happened? What did you see?”
Sornjia kept quiet until they reached Gale’s. The old woman hadn’t returned from her fishing trip, but she might be back at any time.
“How long until the castle is complete?” Sornjia asked.
“The supplies have probably arrived by now. They’ll install everything today. Dyraien hired some outside contractors to help.” He knew the contractors were Zinc’s people, those who could be paid for their silence.
Sornjia grabbed his head. “I’m sinking. I’m stuck in a black bog. The more I wiggle, the deeper I fall.”
“Enough with the doom and despair,” Tahki said. “Just tell me what you saw.”
Sornjia gulped. He seemed to struggle a moment and then said, “They have Gotem.”
“Gotem?”
Sornjia nodded. “The parcel wasn’t a thing. It was a person. It was Gotem. They’ve captured Gotem, Tahki.”
“That’s impossible. Gotem is back home in Dhaulen’aii.”
“They’re going to do something terrible to him.”
“Why would they capture Gotem? They don’t even know him.”
“I waited on the high road until I saw them,” Sornjia said. “Hona and Zinc, driving a buckboard. I followed them to the castle. They went around back, met up with Dyraien, unloaded a large box from the back.”
“You went back to the castle? What if they had seen you?”
“I was careful. Listen, Tahki, they pried open the box, and there he was, tied and gagged.”
Tahki’s mouth felt dry. “It couldn’t have been Gotem.”
“It was him.”
“How close were you that you were able to distinguish him?”
“Tahki, don’t you understand what this means?”
Tahki shook his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about what would have happened if Sornjia had been caught.
Sornjia put his hand on Tahki’s shoulders and looked him in the
