SANNA
With Lumi gone, half the army was in the skies, looking for her, which meant Sanna was once again left to her own devices in the palace. She spent days in her room with no one but Sigrún for company. She ate what the servants brought her, and sometimes didn't bother to brush her hair. She felt lost.
The palace was alight with activity, but no one paid Sanna any mind as she walked through the courtyards. Everyone, from the noble starrlings to the ord servants seemed to know that the princess was missing, and every soldier was dispatched to hunt her down.
Sanna stood in front of General Virani's chamber doors, waiting for the servants to announce her, before she walked inside. When she saw that Tai was sitting in front of the fire, talking to Virani, Sanna found her first thought was that she was glad she'd worn a nice dress and braided her hair. She looked nicer today than she'd bothered to look in days.
"Lumi's still missing, then?" Sanna asked, with apparent disinterest, as she helped herself to a cake from her mother's desk and then sat down without being asked.
Tai glared at her. "This is none of your business," he snapped. "Auntie, send her away. We have more important matters to discuss."
"Tai, think," Virani said calmly. "Sanna may be useful to us in this instance."
Tai scoffed. "Unlikely."
"Is she not known to the dragon girl?" Virani asked.
Sanna felt her heart flutter, but she kept her face stoic. "The dragon girl? I keep no such friends," she said.
"A girl on a dragon," Virani repeated. "Ariane Domez. She was Princess Katja's ward, was she not? Somewhat of a companion to the princess, I heard. Sanna, were you not friendly with her?"
Sanna's mouth was suddenly dry, and she swallowed a bite of the cake with difficulty. "The little ward?" she asked. "The one responsible to Raphael's death? I'm sure she's locked in a Lombardian prison."
"She's not," Tai snapped. "She's here."
Sanna felt a jolt of panic. What if Ariane Domez had followed Sanna to Singtsu? But that was impossible, surely.
Why would she come to Singtsu? The girl was smart. There was no reason she'd sail across the world to an inhospitable nation. The very nation that was responsible for the deaths of her parents and older siblings. Ari would never bring herself here. There was no way. And yet...
Sanna felt a glimmer of hope at the idea of seeing Ariane. She tried to push it down. Seeing Ari was a bad idea. If Ari was here, that could only spell bad news. If Ari had somehow got herself to Singtsu, then what could possibly be happening outside these palace walls? How bad would the war have to be for Ari to travel to Singtsu?
"It seems there are intruders to the palace," Virani said to Sanna. "And you may be the best person to get them talking."
"They're my prisoners!" Tai said. "I should interrogate them!"
Sanna rolled her eyes. "I have no interest in intruders. This is all a little too dramatic for me. I think I might go back to bed."
General Virani gave Sanna a disappointed look.
Sanna refused to let either Tai or his aunt know that Ari meant anything to her. It was too dangerous. She needed to pretend that she cared nothing for the Vastien girl. But she was playing a dangerous game here. She needed to find out for herself if Ariane was really here. That meant she would have to escape Tai's notice, and her own guards, to sneak down to the palace barracks.
"May I be excused?" Sanna asked, standing up. "That cake clearly didn't sit well with me."
Virani sighed. "Very well, Sanna."
When she got back, her room suddenly felt claustrophobic. The window overlooking her lap pool afforded her no other view. She wished she was higher, like her room in the Winter House in Lombardia, where she could see every path to and from the entrance. Or her bedroom in Norrlund, where she overlooked the lake. Desperately, she wanted to be able to know what was going on.
It would have been so much easier if Ariane wasn't here. Then Sanna could go on pretending that the girl didn't exist. One day, she might even be happy in this Volcano Palace, pretending that the outside world wasn't waiting for her. She would marry her fire prince and she would become queen of the Fire Lands and eventually, when she had so much power that no one could ever touch her, she would send out a spy to find out whether Ariane had survived the war.
That had always been the plan.
But if Ariane Domez was in Singtsu, it meant the outside world still existed, and Sanna couldn't go on ignoring it. As always, Ariane seemed to barge into everywhere she didn't belong and remind Sanna exactly what was real and what had never been important.
After a few hours of sitting in her bedroom alone, Sanna stood up and walked to the outside area with the pool. Sigrún raised her head from her paws and watched Sanna's movements. From here she was afforded a view over one side of the palace grounds, but it wasn't the side with the barracks. She could see the tops of trees, and the gentle slope of the lip of the volcano, and the dark and cloudy night sky, with no stars in sight.
There were two guards stationed here. They nodded at her as she stood at the wall, looking out. She wondered if they would stop her if she tried to leave. She imagined they would. If their commands weren't from Tai, then they would be from General Virani. Her private courtyard and pool gave her the illusion of freedom, but Sanna knew she was as much a prisoner here as she had been in the Winter House of Lombardia.
Sanna sat at the edge of the pool and removed her shoes. She dipped her toes in the water, and then submerged both of her feet.
Sigrún, who had been staring out at the palace grounds with a look of intent, now moved to sit next to Sanna. Sanna leant against her wolf, staring across the trees as if she might see a dragon.
Eventually there was a knock on her chamber door.
Sanna opened it to find Tai on the other side.
"Did the General send you to convince me to talk to your prisoners?" Sanna asked.
"I want you to tell me where Lumi is," Tai snapped. "I'm sure you know."
She could feel the anger radiating off him and she realised just how very mad he was. And now he was spewing hatred, and somehow Sanna had become the target.
"I don't know where she is," Sanna said, but this time she didn't add her usual air of indifference, or try to act patronising. Instead, she tried to convey every bit of truthfulness into her sentence. She could see just how angry Tai was, and in the darkness of the night, surrounded by palace guards who obeyed Tai's orders, Sanna found a tiny speck of fear take root deep inside her.
"You've been plotting with her, haven't you?" Tai snapped. "You and Ariane and Lumi have planned this, I know it. You were trying to stop me at the Midwinter Championships and now you're trying to stop me again."
Again, Ariane's name sent a flutter through her. She hated the sound of it on his lips.
"Stop you from doing what, Tai?" Sanna asked. "You already won, didn't you? There's nothing for me to stop."
"You want to stop me getting the throne," Tai said.
"And why would I possibly do that?" Sanna asked, genuinely. "If Lumi has indeed run away, like you said, then doesn't that make your path to the throne all the clearer? You know that all I want is to be married to you. It's in my best interests for you to take the throne, isn't it?"
"Then what is Ariane Domez doing here?" Tai snapped, but she could see that the pure heat of his anger had boiled off, leaving him feeling defeated and confused.
"You should ask her."
"She won't talk," Tai said. He was practically trembling with hatred now. "But I can... I can make her talk."
"No," Sanna said quickly. She swallowed. "Perhaps you can..." she paused. "Perhaps we can make her talk. She's scared of you, Tai. People often are. But Ariane truly believes that I am her friend. She'll open up to me. It's happened before."
"You just want to talk to her," Tai scoffed.
Sanna sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'm exhausted. I've had a very long day. I'm going to bed."
Sanna made to close the door.
Tai was rolling his eyes. "I'd rather cut off her fingers and make her talk that way than I would allow you to talk to her."
"I'm sure you would," Sanna said. "You've always delighted in needless violence. Small men often do." She yawned. "Are you leaving, or what? Those fingers won't chop themselves."
Tai glared at her. "If we're to be married, then you need to do what I tell you to do."
"Are you asking for my help?" Sanna asked.
"I'm telling you that you need to pretend to be Ariane's friend. Then we can see what she's doing in Singtsu."
Sanna sighed. "Perhaps in the morning? I'm really tired."
"Now," Tai snapped. "While my aunt's asleep."
Sanna adopted a startled expression. "You're doing this against my mother's will?" she said.
"Your mother isn't the leader of this nation. I am," Tai snapped.
"Of course," Sanna said demurely. "My mistake. Let me put on shoes."
Sanna took her time.
She could feel Tai's irritation returning, but now that Sanna was in control of it she knew she could handle it. She allowed him to burn away while she sat down in her chair and placed her shoes delicately on her feet. Then she crossed to the dresser, took out her brush, and undid her hair.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm brushing my hair," Sanna said. "I had it all ready for bed, but of course now that I'm going out I should put it back in a more appropriate style."
Tai grimaced.
Sanna took her time braiding her hair, then wrapped it up over her head and secured it with pins. She admired her reflection in the mirror, lit by the candles on her dresser and in the brackets on the wall. She had always considered herself stylish when wearing Norrlish fashion, but now that she was in Singtsu the structured dresses, coats, and thick furs weren't appropriate for the hot weather. She thought she looked much less refined wearing a Kaio-style dress. Her nose was slightly burned, she noticed, and her nails needed cutting.
"Hurry up," Tai snapped.
"Come along, Sigrún," Sanna said eventually, and the wolf leapt to attention and followed Sanna out the door.
x
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