Yuki watched the girl at the mirror brush highlighter over high cheekbones, those sharp eyes once again lined with gold.
Era, the girl who could be a murderer, with a string of pearls around her swan-like neck.
Gut clenching, Yuki smoothed her dress down.
Sophia prattled on about the boy she'd convinced to take her to the dance, her words mixing with the burble of the courtyard's giant fountain. A yellow dragon's coils created the fountain tiers, water gushing from its open mouth at the top. The glass dome of the ceiling allowed natural light to spill onto the golden ginkgo trees and a pond of platinum koi.
Era's house struck Yuki as a place out of history, not the palace she'd been imagining or a home like the Tudors'. It possessed a certain peaceful atmosphere, but it was the peace of a museum—somewhere you could visit and admire, but where you weren't welcome to stay for long.
To her left, a maid slid open one of the four doors to the courtyard, the door bearing a lacquered emblem of the White Tiger of the West, Bai Hu. Her slippered feet glided across the wooden floor. After Era took a cup of tea from the tray, the maid offered drinks to Sophia and Yuki.
"Yuki?"
Yuki glanced up at Sophia, who frowned at her expectantly. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch what you were saying," she said, cradling the cup in the pillow of her skirt.
"You've been moping all day, so I asked if Tudor stood you up." Sophia's eyes blazed with unexpected heat. "There isn't much time, but I can call in a favor and get you a date. Make him regret it."
Mustering up a smile, Yuki said, "Thanks for offering, Sophia. I'll be fine going with Era though."
After two weeks of Rhett not coming to school, she'd begun to worry. Flipping her phone open, she viewed the message Minji had sent from her mother's device.
Unnie, my big brothers sick and hes a big baby. I want to visit you but mom says no. But she says I can go to a tea place with you when we are not contagios
Rhett wouldn't be the type to fake illness, but it still didn't explain the lack of reply to her text. She'd been tempted to fight Cyprus for the right to deliver homework to him—she and Rhett were neighbors after all—but didn't think it wise to cross the guy holding the power to nuke the world before she could.
Snapping her phone shut, Yuki tucked the device in the pocket of her dress.
"Whatever you do, sweetheart, don't let some boy break your heart," Sophia advised. "No guy is worth crying over, no matter how great he may seem at the time." Her peony red gown pooled around her stool and trailed behind like a river of bloodied petals...or maybe bleeding hearts left in her wake.
But Rhett wasn't just "some boy" to Yuki.
A phone buzzed and Rhett flashed even brighter in the forefront of her mind, until Sophia fished her phone off the vanity before her with a languid hand. "Hello?" Sophia slipped off her high perch and grabbed her heels. "Alright, I'll be right there."
Era nodded to the maid who set down her tray to help Sophia with her shoes. "Text me if he gives you any trouble, Soph."
"As if he'd dare." Sophia scoffed and leaned close to a mirror to apply red lipstick. The maid secured the straps of the heels around Sophia's ankles.
Yuki felt bad she didn't know the girl's name, though the best word to describe her was unremarkable. Era's family had obviously hired her with that in mind—house staff should be invisible and functional. That's all that mattered.
But Yuki wondered about the girl, if the Wangs paid her a handsome wage to afford college. If she had siblings. Where was her own family maid now? Her nanny? Did they remember her or was she simply another spoiled child in a long list of employers?
"Ciao. Stay stunning," Sophia called before the door leading to the front of the house closed, this one with a black tortoise engraved in it. The sound of it shutting echoed in the courtyard.
"You're not moping because of Tudor," Era said, applying black nail polish. At first it seemed strange she wouldn't have a maid do it, but then Yuki noted the delicate strokes of the brush.
Perfection.
"I'm not?" Yuki deflected.
"Playing coy again, Hime." Era sighed, dipping the brush back in the bottle and swirling it around. "You're acting scared of me, which you've never done before. And I can't stand people who are scared of me. So tell me what's on your mind."
Before I kick you out or decide to kill you, Yuki's thoughts filled in. Though Era would phrase it with more grace than that.
"What was your best friend's name?" Yuki asked, bunching her skirt in her hands. With her makeup finished, she couldn't think of what else to do unless she started pacing the courtyard.
Era's eyes shot up to stare into Yuki's for a brief moment, but she regained control a second later. "Pearl Iwasaki."
That much was true then. This could be dangerous, but something in Yuki craved the thrill of danger, of risk. Even while a sane portion of her screamed that Era should be the last person she pushed against, whose boundaries she tested, she couldn't help it.
"Were you there...when she died?"
But the question didn't faze Era this time. The brush coated her pinkie nail with black lacquer in three flawless strokes. She examined her finished hand before answering, "You should be asking yourself that, Hime."
Yuki frowned. Era had to be deflecting now. But before she could say so, the senior girl's phone chimed.
Era picked it up and opened it with a single hand. As she examined her screen, a small smile tugged at her lips. "Your date's here."
"My what?" Yuki nearly fell off her stool. "But what about you? We were going together," she protested, while Era texted back whoever this person was.
"I'm fine going by myself." Era's tone stated she wouldn't negotiate. "I went through too much trouble making this happen for you to say no."
Yuki wanted to cry out in exasperation. Not only had this person interrupted her interrogation of Era, but it'd been a bother to get them to take her. "And that's supposed to make me want to go with them?"
Era shrugged. "He's waiting for you outside. At least go turn him down yourself." She shook the bottle of polish up before resuming painting her nails.
Jumping off the stool, Yuki picked up her pale blue clutch and matching shoes, not bothering to put them on. Era and her perfect schemes, with her perfect tea pouring, and perfect nails—all of it made Yuki want to crack Era's composure and see if perfection made a girl unbreakable or not.
Instead her bare feet slapped against the wooden floor as she stormed out the tortoise door and down the long foyer. The butler saw her coming and had one of the massive double-doors open by the time she reached the front entrance.
Yuki slipped between the crack of the open door, the afternoon sun blinding her. It outlined a figure standing at the top of the steps, back to her as he faced the sun. Though he wore a beige suit and his hair had been combed back—though she had to hold her hand over her eyes to be able to see—Yuki still recognized him.
She stepped closer, letting his shadow shield her from the sun."Baguette."
Rhett turned. While blue forget-me-nots and hydrangeas bloomed with life in his chest pocket, his face looked anything but. Dark circles marred the skin beneath his eyes and his cheeks looked more sunken.
But he was still Rhett.
"Hi, Snowflake," he said, voice cracking. He cleared his throat, one hand stuck in his pocket, the other holding a box. "I, uh—"
Yuki waited while he fidgeted, his eyes darting over her cloud of a dress, to the shoes in her hand, to the curls of her hair.
He opened his mouth to try again, but started coughing.
Rushing over to him, Yuki kicked herself for thinking only of herself when he'd been sick like this. She patted his back while he hacked into his sleeve. "Are you feeling well enough to go? You look like you should still be in bed."
"I snuck out of the house for this," Rhett said between wheezing breaths. "Are you saying I don't look like a dashing prince come to rescue you from the dragon's lair?"
He must've been held hostage for a movie binge with Minji the past two weeks. Yuki sucked in a breath. "You look pretty terrible if I'm being honest."
"I'll take pretty as a compliment." Rhett held her hand and placed the box in it. "Your corsage, M'lady."
Yuki opened the box to find a bracelet of flowers that matched his. Her fingers brushed the velvet interior as she took it out. He'd done this and come all this way...for her.
"I'm really sorry," she said, looking up at him.
"Do you not like it?" he asked with a puzzled frown.
"No, the corsage is fine," Yuki stammered. "I'm sorry for how I've been treating you, not just the other day but before that—"
"You and me both," Rhett interrupted. "I didn't mean to leave you like that on your birthday. But it'll be different now, right? Tonight is ours and we should enjoy it." He offered his arm to her and took the box and her clutch to carry.
"Even if you pass out on the dance floor?" Yuki teased, looping her arm through his. The stone steps felt cool to her bare feet as they made their way down.
"Especially if I pass out on the dance floor," Rhett replied. "I expect you to carry me off, fan me, and pass smelling salts beneath my nose until I regain consciousness."
Yuki laughed, her chest straining against the confines of her dress. When they reached Rhett's truck and he handed her up into the passenger seat, she climbed in with hardly a second thought. "Has your mother been forcing you to read Jane Austen novels again?"
"How else is my time to be occupied whilst ill?" Rhett asked, his face haggard but beaming. "Not only books though. If you were to invite me over for dinner, I'd be sure to compliment you on your excellent boiled potatoes."
"I'll be sure to serve some," Yuki said. While Rhett circled around to the driver's side, she buckled her seat belt, breathing in the faint scent of coffee and cologne.
"Now, because I'm respecting some of my mother's wishes while disregarding others" —Rhett started up his truck and flicked off the radio— "no music, no distractions, and I'm not going to talk much."
"Fair." Yuki giggled. "Want me to vouch for what a gentleman and perfect son you are? She's going to grill you when you get back."
Rhett shook his head. "It's worth it."
Yuki settled into the comfortable silence, playing with her corsage. While she didn't have Rhett's conversation to occupy her mind, she did have Era's strange response.
Yuki couldn't have been there when Pearl died. The car crash she'd been in had been caused by a drunk driver, true. From there on, the accounts didn't line up. Pearl had supposedly died in a car crash, while the drunk driver who'd killed her family had survived. And hadn't Era said Pearl drove into a tree? Yuki didn't think she'd heard that wrong.
This had to be some misdirection, a cover-up for the real story.
Perfect as she was, Era had to have a fatal flaw. One that could end her legacy.
Era had to be lying.
Chapter Word Count: 1946