Chapter 9: The Bargain

Soyul didn't sit.

"What kind of bargain?"

Yeonseo turned one of the cups toward her with a fingertip.

"You help him choose me," she said. "You stop being interesting."

"No more standing up in halls, no more walking kings through mud. Be dull, Lady Baek. Be very, very dull."

"And in return?"

"When I'm queen, I'll ask him to release you from the rolls. You'll be free to marry whoever you like."

She lifted her own cup.

"He's very tall," she said. "Your whoever."

The room went cold.

Soyul sat down across from her, slowly, because her knees wanted her to.

She kept her wrist turned in, with the scrap against it.

"Why do you want it?" she asked. "The crown."

"Because I'd be good at it."

"That's not a reason."

"It's the only one I'll give you." Yeonseo drank. "Do we have a bargain?"

If Soyul said no, Yeonseo would know she was being hunted.

If she said yes, she could sit beside her every day and watch her hands.

"Yes," Soyul said.

"Good." Yeonseo set her cup down. "You can start by not drinking that. You never drink anything I pour. It's insulting."

Soyul picked up her cup and drank it.

It was barley tea.

Yeonseo almost smiled.

The next morning the king came to watch the finalists walk in the Queen Dowager's chrysanthemum garden.

Soyul was dull.

She was so dull the youngest finalist asked if she had a fever.

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